Nothing Left to Lose {Prinxiety}

Chapter 17

Logan's POV

Day 9

As 'fun' as it is leading shows or giving tours at the planetarium normally is, I can't help but feel puzzled over my power-restraining cuffs. My schedule may be quite full but usually I would have found several solutions to try by now, instead I've devised two. Obviously, neither have worked, and one even backfired resulting in Virgil being, quite literally, shocked.

One of my coworkers approaches me after I finish the first show of the day, "Is everything alright, Logan? You seem a bit distracted."

"I'm quite alright Morgan, just stuck on a small problem of mine," I respond, sorting through the notecards for my next show. Even if I already have them memorized, I might as well look like I'm doing a productive activity to keep up my professional persona.

"What's the problem?" She asks, sitting down next to me.

I may not be able to tell her the whole truth without compromising my superhero identity, but making excuses is not my strong suit, "I've come across a large problem with one of my inventions, and have yet to find a solution."

She purses her lips, "I would offer to help, but I'm not good with technology."

"That's quite alright Morgan," I assure her. She smiles sympathetically before going back to her position at the front desk.

In time for the next showing, I manage to focus on the relatively simple speech about our galaxy. The display above entrances the majority of the group, most likely because a large portion of the crowd is fourth graders. I have to admit one of my favorite parts of this job is teaching children about our world, but I would never admit that to Patton or Roman considering they would accuse me of having a 'soft spot' for the younger generation. I don't necessarily have a vendetta against them, but saying I'm particularly fond of them is not exactly accurate either. But of course, Patton and Roman wouldn't understand that, and insist otherwise. It's both surprising and amazing that I consider them my friends.

Day 10

"Remind me again why we can't have Roman tear these off of me with his superstrength," Virgil says as I start tinkering with the cuff again.

"Simple; these are meant to be power-restricting. It may be hard to detect and therefore hard to prevent Roman from using his enhanced strength if he were the one wearing them, so I made sure to make them out of avandium," I explain. Even with his powers, Roman can't break nor melt avandium, another reason why these handcuffs would be perfect if I can get rid of all malfunctions, "Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't trust that dolt to carry an egg without breaking it," He laughs, before seizing up and promptly falling off the couch, "Another failure, I presume?"

He coughs, "Ya think?" He says sarcastically from the carpet.

"I don't see how sarcasm will help the situation," I comment.

"Okay, here's an idea; whenever you get an idea on how to fix this," He gestures to the cuff, "Try testing it on the other one first."

"I- I did not think of that," I admit.

He frowns up at me, "At least you haven't been shocking me for the heck of it."

He resumes his previous position on the floor, sitting with his legs crossed as he opens his sketchbook. I take this as a sign that the conversation is over, and decide that working tirelessly isn't going to help anything. Whether I wish to admit it or not, everyone needs a break at some point, even me. Temporarily focusing consciously on something other than the project at hand can be quite beneficial. I believe the saying would be 'looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes' even though I will not actually renew my eyes before returning to the project. Actually, making some new vocabulary cards of modern slang would be a decent idea with a relatively new roommate around. I opened up my laptop to find the definitions of several slang words that I had yet to learn the meaning of. Deciding that the living room could be a good, quiet environment without Patton or Roman around. Several studies have shown that simply being in the presence of another, even one as antisocial as Virgil, can have several benefits.

I settle down in the armchair, with my laptop sitting on my legs, and use the flat surface under the keyboard to write. It may be a bit of an unorthodox way to take notes, and my posture is horrendous, but my attention isn't exactly (figuratively) pointed towards that fact at the moment. Eventually, I finish defining the list of butchered English and roll out my neck. It pops a concerning amount of times, but I had been hunched over for a couple of hours in a row so it seemed fitting.

At some point Virgil had presumably finished his drawing, seeing as he was now flipping through his sketchbook, "May I look through your sketchbook?" I don't know where this spark of curiosity came from exactly, but drawings supposedly reveal a lot about the artist.

He looks up, jumping slightly, "Um, yeah sure," He says, handing me the book.

I flip through the pages, immediately being struck by how good they are. Even without color, there is no denying the skill of the artist. Most of the drawings appear to be of strangers in everyday positions, such as a young girl at an ice cream stand, "These are...very well done Virgil."

"Oh, thanks," He says, rubbing the back of his neck, a gesture I've learned is generally done when someone is embarrassed.

Eventually, I find back-to-back drawings of Deceit and the Duke, each with basic descriptions. What I find the most intriguing is that there is a list of 'weaknesses' by each. Deceit's listed weaknesses are mirrors and...raccoons? The Duke's weaknesses are apparently electricity, anger issues, and hijackers, whatever that means.

"One question, well two actually," I say, showing him the specific pages I was referring to, "Would you mind explaining all of Deceit's and the Duke's 'weaknesses' and why did you add those in if you were previously working with them?"

"Well I wrote those after I got here, because if they ever saw that they'd get pretty mad. Mirrors can apparently reflect Deceit's mind control, if that makes sense. Raccoons because he's absolutely terrified of them, probably because of his connection to snakes. For Duke, electricity kinda-"

I cough, "Kind of."

"Kind of scrambles him, and he can't really control his powers that well when shocked. He has anger issues, so if you annoy him enough he'll blindly attack and become pretty predictable. And by hijackers I mean if someone were to jump on him right before he teleports, it would mess with him a bit," He explains.

"This information will be very useful Virgil, thank you," I say, returning his sketchbook to go make note of these newfound weaknesses.