What is a hero supposed to do when her only healthy relationship is with her villian?
For Galaxy Girl and Toxic, their entire lives mirrored in the grandiose rivalry of their fathers. Both playing their parts of arch enemies as the world expected of...
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"Mmmm, chocolate! How did you know?" she questioned, licking the dairy treat as she quickened her pace to keep up beside the tall villain. "You told me when you were seven." Toxic answered her before taking another bite out of his cone. His mind settled on that time when he'd built his first disintegration ray when he was only eight years old. It was during that battle the two of them had discussed their favorite flavors of ice cream, as children do.
"You remember that?" Her familiar blue eyes gazed at him with a nostalgic smile. He looked down at her let out a laugh, a normal one, not his practiced and ominous one. "I remember everything, remember?" He tapped two fingers to his temple, reminding her of his iconic memory. Toxic always thought it must be strange to forget things, as he'd discovered normal humans do; to have a certain blank spot in your history that proved to be beyond recall.
Reaching his lair with his ice cream only halfway finished, he sat down on the stone steps, and nodded for her to sit as well. She bit her lip, unsure of how to proceed, before sighing in mild defeat and sitting down beside her enemy. Toxic felt some of his radiation stream into her, like it usually did whenever he'd come into proximity with another living creature.; it couldn't kill her like it did everything else. Toxic couldn't even have potted plants in his lair or home for that reason. He felt pleasantly lighter at the slight loss, like the fog that permanently surrounded him had cleared a bit. This was like one of their time outs, but ironically, they were resting from a battle they hadn't even begun yet. The pair sat in mutual silence, finishing up the comfort food that she believed was solely for her benefit. The truth is that Toxic needed it for himself too. Tryptophan and serotonin, the compounds found in chocolate, release feelings of relaxation and wellbeing, and though he'd never admit it to any of those spandex-clad fools back at the syndicate, the last meeting had really ruffled his feathers. Right about then, he craved the release of those relaxing chemicals, and was enjoying the comfort food a quite a lot. He remembered that chocolate also released phenylethylamine, the compound that causes feelings of love, though Toxic had never felt that particular side effect. His educated guess would be that his core radiation cancelled it out. Galaxy Girl pulled her knees to her chest, and curiosity got the best of him. "What's wrong?" The words tumbled out of his mouth with more emotion than he expected them to carry. She looked at him oddly, raising an eyebrow for the millionth time. Why did even you ask, it's not any of your business, his inner voice scolded.
"Me," she replied after an awkward pause, eyes cast down upon the stone steps. Before he could ask why she continued. "Me, and well, everything I guess." "How so?" he inquired, again without thinking. "My father, he loves me but...he alienates me in favor of that Dauntless jerk!" Her eyes flashed with annoyance at the thought of that particular braindead pretty boy hero. "Maybe he's right to." She took on a look of defeat. "I mean, who wants the legacy of a daughter who's always breaking things, who can't even fly in space, and whose regular flight speed can be beaten by most commercial planes!"
