Arch Frenemies

Part 2: The Right Line For Justice

Present Day:

With a sigh, Toxic leaned into the high-backed leather chair, gripping the armrest with his long, deathly pale fingers.

An aura of lime-green radiation calmly rippled through the air around him, the only source of light in his dark and appropriately gloomy office. Alone in his meticulously clean lair, there was no need to mask his deadly green halo.
His ingeniously designed radiation-absorbent leather gloves lay sprung across his gothic desk, and his booted feet were ever so casually propped up onto the darkly stained, priceless antique.

From his giant monitor, the teenage villain watched on as the President prepared to address the nation. The tall and slim career politician looked very dignified in his starched grey suit, with that typical presidential haircut. Under his obviously dyed black hair, there was still a little bit of grey hair; so as to give the illusion of the wisdom that allegedly comes with age. And sure, he did look respectable to the masses, but Toxic knew better.

"My fellow Americans,"
the President began.
"So Commander in Chief, let's see what you're hiding,"
Toxic said outloud to himself.
The practiced politician went on with his speech, but this particular viewer wasn't focusing on his words; rather, he was concentrating on the sounds of his voice. Besides having an IQ over 325, the tall, dark-haired Toxic had been born with the ability to sense guilt or wrongdoing. Not only was he able to sense it, he could also accurately detect exactly what criminal or immoral action was at the root of the guilt.

All of these incredible feats were achieved just by hearing a person's voice, and Toxic could immediately list off every bad thing they'd ever done, from worst to least when someone opened the mouth to speak. He then focused on the President's voice, teasing it out from all other sounds in the background and as he did so, a lot of fresh information was revealed to him.

Interesting, Toxic thought to himself. It seemed that the Commander-in-Chief and his pretty, 20-something year old secretary had been doing far more than just official business behind the doors of the oval office.

Toxic fiddled with the blaster in his hand as he listened to what most other Americans would consider another boring state of the nation. Thanks to Captain Galaxy and his global Peace League, the world was now, for the most part, quite safe, which left the President with less and less to address each year. To the general public, things seemed to be quite dull, repetitive and boring; but to the scheming Toxic, the version he was getting was quite juicy.

This might even be more scandalous than the last thing I blackmailed him for, Toxic mused internally.
He waited a good hour after the speech had ended before he hacked into the President's cell phone. He looked out his lair window as the phone began to ring, noticing that it was starting to get dark above the big city. He immediately thought about how Galaxy Girl would be starting her evening patrol soon.

"Hello?" a surprised voice on the other end of the phone answered. Toxic could once again filter out the guilt in that voice with just a single word and it made him smile.
"Why, hello Mr. President,"
Toxic greeted him smugly.
"I believe you already know who this is." Toxic smiled; he was the man truly in charge. Not like it was official or that the general populace knew it; but nonetheless, it was true! The villain who could read the world's guilt, owned the President by the seat of his finely tailored pants just like he owned 60 percent of the rest of the world's leaders.

"How did you get this number?"
The President choked. "I already paid the money you asked for 3 months ago, what more do you want?"
The President's voice betrayed a mixture of anger and panic; Toxic could safely bet that the president was sweating like a pig on a spit. He remembered his first encounter with this sleazy politician; it'd happened only a few months after the inauguration. Toxic's amazing revelation at this time was that the Number 1 citizen of the country was already embezzling funds from the military, stealing money that was supposed to go to injured veterans.