++ Female Amateur Hero x Male Villain Doctor (pt. 7) Villain pours some solvent on a slip of testing paper just as the burner phone in his pocket vibrates. "Goddammit," he cusses, peeling off the stained gloves as he answers. "Yeah, what?" "I told you to put those restraints on better," Supervillain says. Groaning, Villain slumps into the half-broken office chair. Of course she got out. "...how far'd she get?" "To the roof." "You let her go?" "I let her go as far as I want her to go. She's being reminded of that."
Villain strains to hear any sound from Hero across the line. Instead, he only hears the slow breaths of Supervillain vaping. "I thought you quit that shit." "Why do you think I knew to look on the roof? Bad habits save lives, Doctor." Villain detects that stiff cheer in Supervillain's voice, the kind that always preludes something not good. "Fuck, just--don't hurt her, okay? It's my fault the straps were no good. I know you got rawdogged by her folks, too, but--" "She's enjoying the view," Supervillain interrupts, "And soon we'll have operating lights in the loading bay. Well, either that or an electrical fire if she screws this up." Across the line, Villain can hear the sudden him of electric currents. "And that's not going to tell the whole damn city where we are?" "Doctor, we both know our operations here need to be scrubbed at some--ah, Brute is calling. Carry on. We'll be inside soon..." Supervillain switches line, "Mmmm, yes, Brute? Did the lights come back on?...the *bay* lights, Brute, not yours...good. Thank you. Call back if they blow out again." Supervillain closes the phone, folding their arms as they watch Hero work. "Finally you're not useless." Hero winces, a learned reaction. She's knelt by the ancient electrical box on the roof. The wiring looks as if it was dated back when it was installed. She has no idea how to connect the wires or if anything she does will trigger a blackout. "If they're fixed...then we're done, right?" Supervillain pushes down the power lever, then flips it back on. "Do it again." Fuck. Of course they'd say that. How had she done it the first time? Her mind blanks and every wire becomes both the right and wrong answer. The phone in Supervillain's pocket buzzes. WIthout looking away from her, they answer. "Yes, Brute, I know--" A voice rages from the phone, "What the actual fuck, I was minutes away from finalizing her data!" The doctor's voice! Hero pauses to listen. Something jolts through her arm and she yanks back. It hurts, feels wrong. Like when air is forced back into your lungs. Her fingers spastically flex as she fails to get them under control. "Do it again," Supervillain says. The way their hollow eyes look at Hero, though, it sounds more like they're talking to her and not the angry Doctor on the other end of the phone. Hero forces her shaky hands back to the grid. She can still hear his voice, however muffled. Somehow, focusing on that instead of the wires themselves gives her the clarity she needs. The wire placement begins to look familiar. The currents in her fingers flow in time with the needed wattage. At length it clicks again. Still chatting, Supervillain shuts down and powers on the grid again. Hero detects a defeated and manic laugh from the phone. Supervillain leans over her now, watching closely. But that brings the doctor's voice closer. He drowns out her hammering heartbeats. She resets the power in seven minutes. The next time she does it under five. "She'll meet you in the bay," Supervillain says over the phone, then hangs up. But they don't move from their position over Hero. Then she feels a heavy hand on her head. "Good girl. Go to the loading bay." Then, as if nothing happened, Supervillain leans on the crumbling unit, vaping silently. Not daring to admit she doesn't know where that is, Hero slowly gets up from her knelt position. Don't run, don't run, don't-- Fists balling her hospital gown, Hero sprints across the roof. She senses more than hears Supervillain laughing after her. She all but leaps down the concrete steps, barefeet screaming at her enough for her speed. The interior is more lit up than she remembers--bar that pesky bulb over the access door--and now she can finally see the doors in the hall. On the one farthest from her, she can barely make out the scratched out words, "Loading Bay." The thought of escape torments her but she pushes aside. Supervillain will see her if she tries. She already got busted tonight. Hero pushes open the door... ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ previous: part 6 MASTERLIST next: part 8
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