Supervillain Stalker

4 || bite me

Half of the wall is blown off, debris exploding inwards in a hailstorm of fire and agony. One shard of concrete pierces me through the shoulder, others pepper Blade's chest. Doubling over, he collapses to his knees, clutching at his bloody clothing as red water pours from his wounds.

Seconds afterwards, I can hear the hollers of people below, engine sirens blaring at full capacity, and a child wailing in the street. My heart clenches as I rush to Blade's side, my fingers slamming down on him before I can think through anything much.

The energy flows instinctively. My heart pumps manically as I feel the white hot strings stream from my fingers into his veins, trickling towards his wounds and kneading them from the flesh. There's no man to intercept this time, no idiot super villain sidekick to grab my arm, and so the body is healed within seconds, his breaths gradually deepening and my strength gradually sapping. With his body completely clear, I collapse onto my back, huffing, as he sits up.

Up again, he's like a new man. Securing his mask, he bounds up onto the bed, atop the windowsill, and leaps into the street. As he drops out of sight, my eyes fall closed. I try to see past the darkness, to force back my lids again, but I can't. My own breaths are thinning now as I struggle to keep my lungs flailing, my heart thumping, my soul gleaming.

Light glares against my lids. I can see the veins against them, pinkish red. Just outside, I can hear inhuman screams as villain battles villain. I contemplate rising and helping fight but then my muscles only tighten more and I groan, allowing my body to slump deeper and deeper into the ground.

"You must be Daisy," a voice hums thoughtfully near my ear as someone crouches beside me. Frowning through slits, I try to make out the colourful human in front of me but all of my systems are shutting down and I can hardly stay awake. "You should probably rest up," the voice comments wisely. "Don't worry. I'll carry you."

When I wake up, my body has fully healed and there's an eerie dripping sound. Pealing my eyes open, I begin to make out my dull grey surroundings and the stench of sewage water. Clichés, I think to myself. It seems everybody has one these days.

Glancing around wearily, I try to absorb my surroundings but find it increasingly difficult to remain calm when I feel cold metal rings strung around my wrists. An iron chair is grating into my back, ropes are gnawing at my ankles, and water is leaking onto my nose from somewhere above. Whimpering, I tug at the steel circles.

"Why does metal have to be my weakness?" I mutter to myself as a scalding sensation explodes across the assaulted skin.

"Don't worry, Daisy," a voice - a very familiar voice - reassures me as a man sidesteps into my line of sight. "I'll let you go as soon as I've got what I need."

My jaw drops. "Dad?"

"Hi there."

My dad is wearing a skintight lime green suit, a long metal tail whipping about behind him. His body, which was - in my mind's eye - always a little robust, is solidified with stony muscle. The pallor of his face has drained away and his smartly pressed suit is torn to shreds in the corner of the compound. A lump forms in my throat.

"Dad, what're you doing?" I ask furiously, my thoughts overloading as I try to think of a way out.

"I'm getting what I want," he clarifies. "Just behave, okay? And then I'll have Skull and you'll be released."

A whine rises in my throat. "Appa, why are you using me?" I cry, my voice pleading and desperate, every part of me burning with blisters as deadly metal strokes my tender flesh. "Why do you need Skull?"

My father tilts his head towards me and blinks – but it's a strange blink; a snakey blink. Lids beneath his own slide horizontally across his eyes and as they peel away, I glimpse a slit pupil just before his main set slide over and sort them into circles.

"I intend to complete my experiment," he declares, sneering.

At this point I begin to feel uneasy about the identity of this person in front of me. My father never sneers; he rarely even smiles. A man who has used his daughter as a pincushion since she was four years old needs to have no emotion whatsoever.

So, either my father has gone insane or this is an intruder. My eyes narrow.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I take in this new information as the suit in the corner of the room begins to ripple and pixelate and dissolve. My eyebrow shoots up in surprise.

"But Skull didn't do anything to you dad," I say calmly, watching as the metal tail becomes muscle and blood. "Why do you need him for an experiment?"

"Because since he killed my Chameleobots, I plan to use his set of genes to recreate them," the voice hisses as the skin tight suit moulds to skin and the wide waist becomes narrow and curved. "He deserves to pay! Pay for it all!" Blonde locks sprout from a now heart-shaped face and wrinkles smooth out while green eyes turn silver. "And for it I'll capture him and—"

"And what?" a new voice retorts casually from above. "You do realise his skin is impenetrable, right?"

We both look up at the same time to see a familiar boy in a spandex suit hovering overhead, balanced on a pole. His light brown and gold eyes glitter mischievously as the blonde women steams with anger, her green tail wrapping around her waist.

"What are you doing here?" she spits venomously. Her crouch is defensive, her gleaming fangs offensive. The contrast is almost comical.

"Wasn't the whole point of this to catch me?" Blade looks so at ease, his arms hanging by his sides with this thumbs hooked casually into the corners of his pockets. Wait, his suit has pockets? It takes all my self control not to burst out laughing. How convenient! I think, smiling up at him.

The Lizard Lady doesn't seem as pleased, glowering up at her fellow villain. "That monster was supposed to stop you! How did you escape?"

A cocky smirk unfurls across his lips. "You can thank yourself and your distraction for that! When your massive friend threw me at the ground a couple minutes ago, I broke through the pavement and ended up in the sewers. Then I saw a big green tail tiptoeing round a corner and followed you." He scratches his head with his right hand. "I woulda come sooner if your buddy hadn't blocked the way. Quite a formidable friend you have with you."

"Who? Leo?" the Lizard Lady laughs haughtily. "The idiot thinks we have a chance together. As if I'd ever date a man as tall as a building! I need me a boy whose lean and pretty. Like the father of my Chameleobots! The father that your master killed!"

Blade chuckles. "He's not my master." My breath catches when I feel lips by my ear. Standing behind me, eyes covered by a light blue mask, is Skull. Shushing me, he gets to work picking the bonds that brand me into this chair. "He's my friend."

"Master, friend," Lizard Lady sneers, holding her hands like weights, "what's the difference? You do what he says without question. And what does he do for you?" Twisting slightly, her eyes scan the sewer mockingly. "I don't see him here, do you?" Skull smirks at me, eyes glistening. "Do you see him trying to help you? Help you save your friend?"

The bonds have broken off by now and he's cutting away at the ropes with a dagger. It's familiar – black with rings on the ends, an engraving I can't quite read etched onto the tip. For a second, I frown at it in confusion, and then recognition knocks me upside the head. It looks like one of Blade's!

"Actually, I do see him," Blade says coolly, dropping into a squat and propping his elbows on his knees to provide support for his chin. "He's busy unchaining my friend as you call her. And once she's free, I'll wager she's going to beat you silly..." Pausing, Blade shoots me a sly wink, "sweetheart."

The Lizard Lady turns to me, horrified by the sight, but barely had time to react before I've struck her with a pulse of power, burying her beneath a tumbling of rubble.

"Bite me," I breathe with a scowl.