Arch Frenemies

Part 5: What's In A Name?

A suprise Thanksgiving bonus chapter!

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Sylvester rolled over in bed and whacked the alarm clock violently to the floor. Throwing off his black silk sheets, he sat up and rubbed his sore jaw. Next the lanky, pale and ridiculously tall teenager headed to the bathroom. After nature had been dealt with, he caught sight of his face in the mirror, and exactly like he had predicted, his jaw was swollen and bruised.

The Villain reached into the cabinet under his sink, and pulled out his emergency vial of Mendonium. After injecting a small amount directly into the center of the bruise, he took his usual cold shower. Sure enough by the time he was finished, the serum which he had created had taken full effect; and his jawline was healed completely.
Once again, it was its usual pale color, and he could now shave over it without any pain.

The Criminal Genius had waited for Galaxy Girl to leave before returning immediately to his lair. Sylvester Stockman realized he should have returned to his actual house, but to the only child, this lair felt more like a home than any isolated mansion ever could. He began the transformation into his villainous persona, smudging on his dark makeup, and running some product through his still damp, curly black hair. He took all the time that was necessary to perfect his iconic appearance because after all, half of being a Villain was looking the part. Reaching into his wardrobe, he donned his costume. When his boots had been laced up, he pulled his lime green coat and black gloves from the rack, made with material modified from a design stolen from a Chernobyl scientist.

Taking a look in the mirror, Toxic watched the green flame-like light his body produced dance all around him.
Reaching a gloved hand into his pocket, he powered on his jacket and a small surge of electricity tightened every pore in the green, leather-like fabric, visibly containing his green glowing aura. The painstakingly created material did a tremendous job of cloaking the radiation's unmistakable color, and making his appearance more normal.

Not forgetting the fact that it also reduced his body's poisoning effect from its usual three foot sickening radius, to the distance of approximately two inches. This ensured Toxic's alter ego Sylvester Stockman, son of respected billionaire businessman Stephen Stockman, could remain undetected, so long as he didn't touch anyone without his black gloves, or get too close to any of the fair city's citizens.

Picking up his dented but durable alarm clock, he noted that it was the 5th of June. Today was Galaxy Girl's birthday, his memory reminded him. Walking back into the threshold of his lair, he noticed what a disastrous mess it was in; all thanks to his most recent battle with Galaxy Girl. Chunks of what once was his front wall, along with the remnants of his door lay on the floor near the entrance.
"Why doesn't she ever just use the door? She's here so often I'd give her a key. That is if I kept it locked." He muttered outloud to himself, something he did quite often.

Before stepping into his syndicate transmit portal, a gift from his father when he turned 9; he programmed his maidbots to fix up and rebuild the place. Five seconds later his molecules re-materialized in the Syndicate of Extraordinary Supervillains underground structure, which was located directly beneath Portland. A little out of the way for the taste of this specific evil doer, but his father had vehemently insisted that it be built there. Who would ever suspect the world's most feared and dangerous people to congregate beneath a city that didn't even have a single permanent hero residing in it?

It was exactly 8:59 am as he stepped through the door of the boardroom, his timing as perfectly calculated and impeccable as usual. He entered the boardroom and crossed the room in swift strided. Most of Toxic's fellow, higher ranking villains had already arrived. Taking his seat beside Mastermind's empty chair, he leaned back and began twiddling his thumbs through his thick black gloves. Soon the few stragglers who lacked the courtesy to show up on time finally arrived and seated themselves. The door across the room slid open; every set of eyes went wide, and their was a collective wave of vocal suprise, for standing in the doorway was Mastermind, and beside him was non other than Captain Galaxy.