#hero's code

Villain B: teach me what? How to love?

Villain A: yeah!

Villain B: isn't that what got you in this mess?

Villain A: well, yeah... But I've never regretted it. Not even once

Villain B: ... No thank you. You can't trust people who say they love you. They're bound to betray you.

Villain A: and yet you trust me

Villain B: you've never said you loved me

Carmela flinched, not having expected Santiago to utter a single word. Let alone about their complicated past. "I did."

"But, not anymore?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. Her voice dropped just above a whisper. "You changed."

Oh. A lump formed in his throat. "I didn't think, I mean, since you said you didn't care. That I should be honest with myself."

"What? No, not." Carmela forced herself to exhale slowly. 'Look, Santi. When we met, you were just a lonely kid, like me. I guess that's why I started reaching out. Maybe we could've been less lonely together, and then you talked about yourself and I knew I had to have you in my life. I was ready to fight for a world where we could be together, but then she started to notice you. Started praising you, and you became desperate for her approval. So desperate you started to hurt others without thinking." She gave him a sad smile full of anguish and betrayal. "Anything for mommy, right?"

"What is love?" Erica repeated. Unsure if she had even heard the words correctly. Her stomach twisted when Adam nodded. Did he think she had an answer because she was still part human? Had he forgotten she had incurable amnesia? No, it was unlike Adam to forget anything. Even when half his memory processor was fried, he had found a way to continue storing information. Then... "I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask."

Adam blinked. Then, his head tilted slightly. "You were married."

Not a question, but Erica still huffed out a response. "In the past. She was married, but I'm not her. Not anymore." Erica touched a hand to her chest and frowned. "Whatever memories she built, and whatever feelings came with them, she kept. Until I can regain her, I'm no better than you are at understanding human emotions."

"You are empathetic. Unlike myself, you have successfully consoled others and have connected with their emotions even if you failed to name them. I, on the other hand, can name over 25 emotions and will never be able to understand them the way you can." His eyes shifted to look past her. He glanced over the cafeteria and took in all the different expressions of their companions. "I could identify almost all visual cues, and still fail to accurately place them with the appropriate 'feeling'. If anything, asking you is my only option."

"What? That doesn't make sense. Jimena would be much better at answering that."

He blinked again. It was his way of expressing frustration. "Jimena is an adequate teacher for you, but she will never be able to explain things to a machine."

A frown formed on Erica's face. "You are so much more than just a machine."

Adam hardly curved his lips. "An intelligent machine is still just a machine, Erica. I can never regenerate my body, even with the slightest abrasions, and I will never be able to understand humans. You are my only connection to them."

"Because I'm part machine?"

"Because I'm half of your world." Adam glanced down at her liquid-only meal. "You are not inadequate. You fit perfectly in my world and you fit perfectly in their world. It is us who fit strangely in yours." His eyes shifted over to his hand as he flexed it. "I am always conscious of my every movement. Even if I wish not to. That is something you may not always experience, not to the same degree, but you understand. Only you understand my frustrations at being trapped in this body. However, there are also processes in your body I will never experience."

"Like breathing. Yes, I know. I'm half and half."

"No." Adam glanced back at the people around them. "You are more whole than either I or they could ever be. That is why only you could teach me. It is not because you are half like me, or half like them. Quite the opposite: you can teach us because we are half of you. We are half of you."

There was a beat of silence as Erica gaped at her companion. He remembered. Of course he did but, it was more than stored information. Adam remembered her frustrations as a cyborg. "Are you consoling me?"

Adam tensed and then tried for another smile. "I suspect it may be easier for them."

"Only because they've been alive longer." Erica smiled back. "You aren't unlike them, you know. It isn't you or them. You're all people. You just haven't been a 'person' for as long as they have, and you have access to far more information for your age than they ever will at theirs. Smart people have always been intimidating."

Adam laughed. He actually laughed. A chuckle, maybe, but a genuinely impulsive reaction came from the man who was always conscious of his entire existence. It was nice to witness. "Now I assume it is your turn to console me?"

"That's how friends work."

The sentence must have struck him somehow, because Adam's eyes unfocused for a moment. Then, a much more natural smile managed to grace his face. "We are friends."

Oh!! Good question! Pheromone is one of the first metahumans "saved" by Location Alpha 4B. With the ability to change her pheromones to force a desired response, Pheromone is actually a massive threat to The Organization. Which is also bad news for her since she's also one of the first to see through The Organization's facade and go against them.

Pheromone actually has quite a lot of trauma. She ended up causing her family's death back when she first discovered her abilities and was orphaned and abandoned in the house for a very long time before The Organization found a way to capture her. She later causes the death of her partner in the same fashion after being overwhelmed in a mission and has never quite remained her mind since.

Haha sure! Fun fact: it started off as a way to naturally include my OC into any superhero fanfic (DC, Marvel, BNHA etc). However, I can never write a nice story without some sort of trauma and it totally evolved after.

Hero's Code is a dystopia where metahumans are literally being hunted down and brainwashed to become living weapons. Any that become "disobedient" are either terminated or tortured to be "repaired".

I also wanted to focus on different super powers with this one. So, I don't have a speedster, there's no Superman strength or invulnerability, but I do have someone as smart as Batman. Though, obviously, that's not a metahuman so they're not actually in the organization.

Meet Karina, my hero-turned-villain. She's a part of "Hero's Code". Which is a story currently in the making and I'm totally procrastinating in drawing then instead of writing anything

So, that's not her hero or her villain uniform. That's "The Organization"s uniform~ but it is styled to help her control her ability