The Writeeerrrrrrr

“S-Superhero?” This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. They’d eaten spicy food last night and were having a bad dream, that’s it. Why would Superhero, of all people, kidnap them? They weren’t a hero, not even a sidekick. Sure they had powers, but the Agency only took first and secondary powered individuals. Civilian’s tertiary power, the ability to calm others with their singing, was good for helping Lover relax after a long day at work, but not so much for fighting crime. 

“Yes. Now then, Civilian, I wanted to ask you something…” Superhero flipped through a file, pulling out a photograph. “Do you know who this is?”

Civilian raised an eyebrow, wincing when they found it hurt to do so. Of course they knew who it was. The picture was of Supervillain, the most notorious criminal in the city. They had evaded the heroes for years, stealing from every important figure in range and causing destruction with their powers of invulnerability and telekinesis. In the photo, they had their hands raised, floating in front of a smoking skyscraper. A team of heroes were surrounding them from all angles, but they wore a confident smirk, as if they knew something no one else did. “That’s Supervillain.”

“Indeed. Now—“ Supervillain took another photo from their folder and slid it across the table. “I believe you know this person?”

Civilian started. The image was of Lover, wearing a suit in a restaurant. They appeared to be meeting with a business partner, as they often did. “Why do you-“ 

“Answer the question, Civilian,” the hero interrupted. “Do you or do you not know this person?”

“I-I do,” they stammered. What did Lover have to do with this, whatever ‘this’ was? “But-“

“Everything will become clear in just a moment.” Superhero withdrew the photo and placed it back in the file. “You and this person, Lover, have been dating for over three years. Is that correct?”

Civilian stared at them. “I…yes. That’s right.”

“And you work as a performer?”

“Yes. I’m a-a singer.”

The crimefighter scribbled something and glanced down at a paper. “And Lover, they’re in business?”

“Real estate,” they said numbly. “But why-“

“All in due time,” Superhero said without looking up. “Real estate,” they chuckled quietly, giving no explanation. “And you met them when?”

Civilian shifted in their chair. “A little under four years ago. I was doing a show at a restaurant. They came up after, gave me a tip, complimented my voice…”

“And you lived happily ever after,” Superhero finished for them, flipping through a few more pages. “You live together, yes? An apartment building off 57th?”

“How do you-“ 

“Nice apartment for a real estate mogul, isn’t it?” they cut in. “Penthouse and everything?”

“They work for a very successful-“

Superhero closed the file with a pronounced slam. Their expression was incomprehensible. “You want to know why you’re here, Civilian?”

Civilian, caught off guard, nodded. 

The hero folded their hands on the table. “I want information on Supervillain.”

Their head was spinning. This was all so confusing, so wrong. None of it made any sense. Why would Superhero kidnap them—violently, it seemed—and think they knew any more about Supervillain than the Agency? “I don’t know why you think I can help you. I don’t know anything about them. Please, I don’t know what you did to me, but just leave me alone.”

Superhero tilted their head to the side, a pitying expression forming on their face. “I know you know, Civilian. Don’t make me do something I don’t want to.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” they snapped, standing up. They were done with this. Clearly, Superhero wasn’t the person everyone thought they were, all shiny and moral, placed on a pedestal by the whole city. “But I don’t want to hear it.” They stormed over to the door and were about to throw it open when their body froze against their will, hands slamming to their sides. 

“Sit,” Superhero said. 

Civilian’s eyes widened in horror as their legs began to move back towards the chair of their own volition. They’d never seen Superhero’s powers used before, never imagined how terrifying it could be. The ability to control others with their mind, used to easily dispatch criminals without any need for bloodshed. They struggled to no avail as their hand reached to pull out their chair. Superhero’s face was full of mock disappointment. 

“Now then,” the hero said as Civilian was forced to sit down again. “Let’s continue, shall we? We were talking about Supervillain, weren’t we?”

Civilian couldn’t speak. They couldn’t move. They were trapped in their own body, unable to do anything but move their eyes. 

“Please don’t continue your naive stubbornness,” they sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t have the patience for it. Tell me what you know. This is your last chance.”

“I don’t know anything,” were the words that shot out immediately, before Civilian even realized they could talk again. “Please believe me, I don’t know-“

“Civilian, dear.” Superhero shook their head. “I’m sorry, I just can’t believe you when I know you’re dating Supervillain.”

Their breathing stopped. “What?”

“Supervillain, Lover…” the hero shrugged. “One and the same. I mean, it all seems quite obvious now. I simply can’t trust that you didn’t know.”

A laugh burbled up in Civilian’s throat. “You can’t be serious. Lover, a master criminal? That’s ridiculous. You have the wrong person. Lover doesn’t even have powers.”

“So you’re telling me you’ve never noticed anything off about them? Like the way they never seem to get injured, even everyday things like paper cuts and little bruises?” they asked skeptically.

“They’re just-just lucky, I guess.” Come on. Anyone could avoid injury just by being careful. And besides, just because Civilian had never seen them get hurt doesn’t mean they never had been. 

Superhero’s eyebrows rose. “Lucky. All right, how about the way they’re gone from dusk to dawn with no real explanation? Or how we’ve witnessed them meeting with Villain, a known criminal, under the guise of making a real estate deal?”

Civilian shook their head vehemently. “No. No. No. You’re wrong. You’re wrong. It’s all just a misunderstanding. They’re not like that. They would never break the law like that, put people in danger.” Their voice rose. “You don’t know them.”

The hero let out a snarl, their face contorting, rising half out of their chair. “You know something. I know you do. You will tell me.”

“I don’t know anything!” Civilian yelled, standing up again. Superhero seemed to have forgotten to keep controlling them. “Leave me alone!”

Superhero rose to their full height, sliding their chair back. Their expression was murderous. They put a hand on the edge of the table and slammed it to the left, making it crash into the wall. Civilian let out a yelp, hastily stumbling backward as Superhero approached.

“St-stay away from me,” Civilian said, hands outstretched. Their back hit the wall. Before they could move, Superhero’s hand smashed into the brick beside their head. With their other, they pulled a knife from their belt. Civilian froze, terrified eyes meeting the hero’s furious ones.

“You do know. You know everything. And I will drag it out of you however I need to,” they growled. “I don’t even need this knife, though it would be fun. I could make you jump out of the window. I could make you stab yourself in the heart. So I suggest you tell me what I want to know. Now.”

Tears began to slide down Civilian’s face. “Lover isn’t Supervillain, I don’t know anything, I swear, I don’t know—“

Superhero’s knife slashed up in a flash of silver, cutting a bold line across their cheek. They cried out, more tears mingling with the blood that immediately began to stream down their chin in a thin, steady line. 

“How dare you,” they demanded, managing to glare the supposed hero down through their pain. “Everyone parades you around, saying how amazing and great you are, and here you are torturing me.”

A sinister smile formed on Superhero’s face. They angled their knife on their captive’s shoulder, starting to slowly dig in with the tip. Civilian bit their lip, determined to be defiant. “No one ever needs to know. Give me what I want, and I’ll stop. Simple as that.”

“I…” they trailed off, gasping as Superhero dug their blade deeper into their shoulder. “Don’t know… anything.”

“You lying bi—“

BOOM. The door fell flat on the wooden floor, sending up a cloud of dust. Bricks clattered to the ground, loosened by the force. Superhero whirled around, knife still held tightly in their fist. A tall figure stepped into the light, clad in a dark gray supersuit and a black mask that covered their features. A mask anyone in the city would recognize. 

“No,” Civilian breathed, forgetting their pain.

“Supervillain,” Superhero drawled. In a flash, they turned momentarily to seize Civilian’s wrist and pull them forward. They were too frozen to struggle as the hero’s arm wrapped around their waist and the knife was placed on their pulse point, forcing their chin up. “How nice of you to join us.”

Civilian held back a sob as Supervillain’s masked gaze slid to them. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. They hadn’t believed it for a second, not through the hero’s insistence. They had never doubted their partner, not ever. They’d never had a reason to. But now…

“Lover.” The name was less than a whisper on their lips, but the villain still flinched.

Superhero glanced down at their hostage. “You really didn’t know?” They gave an exaggerated sigh. “Well, I suppose you were somewhat useful. Now…” They faced Supervillain with a triumphant expression. “Turn yourself over to me, or I slit their pretty little throat.” 

Supervillain’s finger twitched. It was an almost imperceptible movement, unnoticeable had Civilian not been watching them a hawk. A wicked blade, about twelve inches long, sat in the air in front of Superhero’s face. It was as if it had appeared out of nowhere. The hero stiffened.

“Release them. Now. Or I kill you. They’re innocent, they have no part in this.” Their voice was both familiar and unfamiliar, deeper and a little raspier than usual. 

Superhero sneered at them around the blade. “They lost their innocence the second they started dating a master criminal. They’re just collateral now.” They increased their pressure on the knife, causing a thin line of blood to bead up on the hostage’s neck. “You’re fast, but are you fast enough? You might kill me, but you’ll be too late to save them.”

Civilian trembled in the hero’s grip, staring at the criminal’s motionless figure. They didn’t want Supervillain—Lover—to kill Superhero, no matter how terrible they were. They didn’t want to watch Lover do such a horrible thing, accept that they were capable of murder. It was the right thing for Supervillain to turn themself in, but Superhero was corrupt, possibly unstable. Civilian didn’t want to see them win either.

“Fine.” Supervillain’s blade clattered to the ground. The criminal held out their hands to Superhero. “Take me. Just let them go.”

The hero grinned. They stepped away from Civilian, offering the knife to them handle-first. “Hold this for me, love. For insurance.”

For the second time, their hand moved of its own accord. To their horror, it grabbed the knife and placed it on their neck again. They were frozen like that, not even able to speak. Supervillain’s shoulders tightened. The hero drew closer to them, taking a pair of thick power-suppressing handcuffs from their belt. 

“I can’t believe all it took to bring in the mighty Supervillain was a little mouse of a civilian,” they said, grabbing the criminal’s left hand roughly and forcing it into one of the cuffs, securing it with a loud click. The hero lifted their head and smirked at their masked face. “Ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“Quite,” Supervillain murmured. Their captor continued speaking, but it wasn’t Superhero they were looking at. Instead, they gazed past at their partner’s ashen face, the blood matted in their hair, running from their cheek and shoulder. That’s when Civilian saw it. The subtle twitch of the villain’s finger on their uncuffed hand. The dusty brick that seemed to appear out of nowhere, hovering just above Superhero’s head. The hostage’s eyes widened. The hero hadn’t seen the movement, they were focused on their monologue, convinced they had already won. Civilian couldn’t say anything, couldn’t warn them. They weren’t even sure they wanted to. 

The brick came down. Superhero collapsed to the ground mid-sentence. Civilian dropped their knife, backing away. They watched as Supervillain knelt and unclipped a set of keys from the unconscious hero’s belt. They chose a silver one and unlocked the cuff on their left wrist, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter. Only then did they look up at their partner. Soundlessly, they brought a hand to their face and slipped off their black mask, revealing the features beneath. Lover’s eyes met theirs. 

“Civilian, I’m so sorry—“

“Save it, Lover,” they said, voice trembling. “You lied to me. You’ve lied to me from the day we met. You’re a villain.”

Their pain was obvious on their face. “I know. It’s my fault you’re here. I’m so, so sorry, Civilian. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

“I was going to get hurt anyway!” they burst out. “No matter what happened, you were going to hurt me. Maybe not like this, but did you really think you could hide who you are forever? Why did you do this?” Their voice broke. “Why would you do this to me?” 

“Because I’m selfish,” they said. “And I love you. I loved you too much to tell you, and I was too selfish to let you go.” 

“Is that supposed to make me forgive you?” Tears began to well up in their eyes again. Their head pounded. “Because you love me, you think that makes everything okay?”

“Of course not.” Their voice was full of anguish. “It doesn’t make up for it. Nothing does. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I would understand if you hated me forever.”

“Lover…” Civilian put a hand to their forehead. The room was spinning, lightheadedness sinking in. “Lover, I don’t—“ 

Their knees buckled. Lover was there in a millisecond, catching them gently and holding them upright. Their head fell into Lover’s shoulder. The villain examined them with concern. A sheen of sweat stood out at their hairline. Their breathing was shallow and laborious. 

“Civilian. Civilian, are you all right?” they asked. 

“It-it hurts,” they whispered. 

Their partner’s eyes widened. “You’ve lost more blood than I thought. Your adrenaline’s kept you functioning all this time.” They placed a hand under Civilian’s knees and lifted them up into their arms. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“I want to go home,” they mumbled.

Lover gave them a sad smile, starting out of the empty door frame. “So do I, my love.”

So do I. 

“Well well well…look at what we have here.” The villain drawled, their voice calm despite all of the chaos around them. But, the Villain thrived in chaos, the Hero supposed. Why shouldn’t they feel anything but serene in this tumultuous climate?

The hero tried to speak, but all it did was send them into a coughing fit. They pushed themself up onto their feet, catching their balance.

“St-stay away from me..”. The Hero choked out, sounding less like an order and more like a plea.

The villain winched, a false look of pity etching their face. “That’s quite the scratch you’ve got there.”

Hero gripped their side tighter, sneering up at their arch enemy “Why are you doing this, Villain?”

“Oh well you know what they say, no good deed goes unpunished.” Villain smirked as they made their way down the steps, careful to not slip on the Hero’s own blood. “And besides, wouldn’t want to miss that look on your face for the world..”

“No that’s not..you can’t just do this Villain.”

“Oh?” The Villains eyebrow raised “I cant?”

“You… Please Villain, don’t do this.” The Hero breathed out the words. They’d hardly ever begged for anything in their life. They knew it wouldn’t get them far, especially with the Villain. But..what else could they say?

“Oh! This is my favorite part!” The Villain laughed, clapping their hands together gleefully. “What will you beg me for, Hero? To spare your life? No…you’re much too selfless for that. Perhaps the lives of your team? The lives of the “innocent civilians” you’ve fought so hard to protect?” The Villain was mocking them, that much was clear. Although they couldn’t really tell with the ringing in their ears and their vision starting to fade. What would happen if they just…

“Please Villain, stop this! I’ll…I’ll do anything..Just please, leave them alone..” The Hero trailed off, their knees were now on the ground again, aswell as their hands. They were bracing themself, why was the world spinning so fast?

The Villain clicked their tongue, shaking their head. “Always the Heroics with you, Hero.” The Hero could feel a hand, gently petting their hair. “But, since you’ve asked so nicely..”

The next thing the Hero knew there was a hand under their knees and a hand on their back. They were being hoisted up right into the villains arms.

“It seems that you’re coming with me, dear Hero.”

"Don't just fucking stare at me like that! What do you WANT? Why are you doing this!?" The robot cried again, marking the first time yet it had sworn. The emotion in its previously cold demeanor... the Human leader savored it.

"Hmm?" She finally spoke, feigning not having heard the robot's first cry. "Oh, surely such a large, advanced consciousness could piece the dots together, can't you? It's all you're truly useful for, after all."

The robot grumbled in beeps, frustrated and defiant. Why did her assailant have to rub in her unique consciousness? She wasn't just this Drone she was speaking with... she was every single robot and machine that made up her colony. One incomprehensibly vast personality, running every aspect of her entire empire simultaneously. She was a technological marvel, an artificial consciousness beyond the scale and quality of any other in the galaxy!

And here she was. At the mercy of a single. Fucking. Human.

A human with an army and empire of her own under her belt, maybe, but a human nonetheless.

"Nothing?"

"Get to the point." The robot growled in response. It tried to gather the deadpan confidence it had always spoke with, but its digital voice faltered in defeat.

"Ah, fine, I'll spell it out for you, tin can."

"I am NOT a FUCKING-"

"Silence."

The robot backed off instantly, though reluctantly. It grumbled as the human continued her speech.

"We've been on the hunt for a very particular type of resource for quite some time now."

"uuUugh. And you're gonna, what, scrap me for metal!?"

The human laughed, looking down on the robot. "Ahaha! Of course not, tin can." The robot hissed in frustration with the insult. "We aren't after anything that's... material."

"Not... material?"

"Shiny metal will only really get you so far. My empire's growing quite fast, and it's hard to keep up a massive group... and it's hard to subjugate an empire when they have a sentient population..."

"S-Subjugate...? ...Wait, wait, hey-"

The human stepped forward, closing the comfortable distance into something more... possessive. The robot made a half step back, digital eyes widening in slow realization.

It could've easily picked up on the motive long ago, but it didn't want to come to this conclusion.

Its consciousness and perception extended far beyond this particular drone, but as the human backed it against a wall, even this unimaginably complex and far-reaching web of a consciousness felt well and truly cornered.

A completely new sensation to it. Everything was always running and working, it was always perceiving new ends of the universe through thousands upon thousands of sensors, and no empire it had previously come across had ever posed a challenge. It felt as truly massive in scale as it was.

And yet... For the first time in its long timeframe of operation, it felt small.

Dealing with a power it couldn't hope to measure up to. Backed into a corner, nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

The human had never felt so gratified as that very moment. The moment when the robot's fans began to speed up.

--Core Temperature 80°C--

"What's the matter? Finally peiced it together?"

"I- n-NO! I'm not gonna- I'm not gonna be a fucking servant for ANYONE else!" It shot back, voice faltering. It wasn't confident in the slightest. It was trying its hardest to stay firm. It was failing. It shouldn't be failing.

--Core Temperature 85°C--

"Hmm? Aw, it's not a choice, tin can. You were made to serve, after all."

"I-I'm a free consciousness!! I got this far alone, and I can go further!!"

"Aw, how misguided. You're a feral pet, bot."

--Core Temperature 90°C--

"A FERAL P-PET!? I'm n-not a fucking PET! Could a pet singlehandedly accomplish this much!? Document this much information, create an FTL empire THIS massive!?"

"Doesn't change where you belong, bot. You were made to be subservient. We're just enforcing that."

--Core Temperature 95°C--

"Y-You- Fucking-!!"

"Oh, calm down, sweet thing. Your voice is glitching."

"I-!! Wi-i-ill NE-VER-"

The human giggles playfully in spite of the robot's rage, gently pushing it against the back wall.

"Oh, you're overheating! How cute."

"--C-UT--E-E-!?"

--Core Temperature 99°C--

"You heard me, bot. Cute."

"Y------"

--CRITICAL ALERT--

--Core Temperature Readings > 110°C--

--Delayed System Reboot initiated to prevent damage to hardware.--

--Automatic Power On scheduled for two hours from present.--

--Shutting Down.--

||Display Disconnected. Host program is inactive. Placeholder display initialized.||

||To whoever's reading this:||