#tw dread

Logic and Anxiety: Dating Confirmed?!

The picture below it was a slightly blurry photo of Virgil and Logan making out the day before.

Virgil’s face was drained of blood. There. He was done. His hero reputation was ruined by this scandal. A hero soul mates with a villain? He was surely going to be treated as a traitor within his agency. And outside his agency, things would be worse. People would shoot him dirty looks in the streets and outright harass him. He was ruined, like how Hamilton when he had published the Reynolds Pamphlet.

How would Virgil pay his bills if he wasn’t a hero? He supposed he could get a different job, but he had dropped out of college to become a full time hero. Virgil would have to freeload off of Patton, but he didn’t want to strain Patton’s finances, especially if Patton suffers the consequences of the scandal, too. Patton had a higher position in the agency, if Patton’s bank account was anything to go by.

And L? Villainy was his job, it was how he kept food on the table. He would get treated as a traitor, too. His own friends would probably turn their backs to him. Virgil scrolled through the news, heart sinking when he realized that the pictures were all over the news. On social media, both villain and hero agencies worked hard to get them off the Internet or to loudly dismiss it as photoshop. Half other people on the Internet thought it was just as “fake” as the proofs of Anxiety and Logic being soul mates.

Corbin: When are you going to get your BUTT over to St. Claudia’s Park?! I’m freezing! And I know you’ve read my texts!

Corbin. Could Corbin fix it? Virgil hoped so. Corbin could fix a lot of things. Corbin fixed his cracked pot once, and Virgil still had no idea how.

Corbin: Virgil! Don’t ignore me!

On second thought, maybe Corbin couldn’t fix his way out of a paper bag, but he could sure as heck order others to. Virgil slipped his phone into his pocket and flew out the door to go to the park.

Reluctantly, Virgil went to work the next day with a pit in his stomach. Some other superheroes shot him murderous glances and others shot him pitying ones. It was a paperwork day, not one in the field, to which Virgil was thankful for. He didn’t think he could handle all of the taunts of villains and the heavy suspicion citizens. He worked quietly at his desk, thanking the universe that he had a private office. His assistant, Imani, typed furiously in a separate desk a few feet away from him. Imani sniffled as she filled out the forms. For the sake of not having awkward silence, Virgil played some classical music from his computer.

“So,” Virgil said, breaking the silence for first time in the hour they had been working silently. He drummed his fingers on the wooden desk, trying to manage a way to get words past his lips without sounding like a fool. “Have you, uh, seen the news recently?”

Imani looked up but kept typing. “Yes, I have!” she said in her British accent. She grinned. “I read the article on the dog and the rabbit becoming friends!”

Virgil stared at Imani in disbelief. “…So you don’t know about the Code Orange?”

Imani’s grin wavered and her eyes seemed lifeless for once. “I do know about that.” She stopped typing. Her smile dropped. “Is it true?”

Virgil ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah,” he sighed.

“Goodness!” she gasped. Imani stood up and slammed her hands onto her desk. “How could you do that? Logic? I didn’t believe all those rumors, but this…this…”

Virgil sank further into his chair and hid his face in his sweater. “I-I-I’m sorry…”

Imani teared up and sniffled. “I’m afraid ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it. Logic almost put my family business out of business!”

Virgil squinted and wondered if this was going where he thought it was going. “…What’s your family business?” he asked hesitantly.

“Family Hashen Bakery,” Imani sniveled. Virgil handed her a tissue, which she took gratefully. “We think someone broke into it sometime ago.” She aggressively blew her nose.

Virgil winced and guilt ate at his heavy heart. “Oh…”

After a few minutes of Virgil passing tissues to her, Imani calmed down a little with only some sniffles. “Virgil, I know you’re a good person, but Logic…Logic isn’t.”

“I know,” Virgil admitted. “I think the universe made a mistake.”

“Virgil, this is the plot of a million books,” Imani said as-a-matter-of-factly as she could when wiping tears from her face. “The universe doesn’t make mistakes.” She and Virgil solemnly locked eyes. “I hope that’s true.” Then she sat down and continued typing almost as if nothing had ever happened. Virgil stared at her, surprised to see how easily she had slipped back into work. After a few minutes, Virgil sat back down, too, and filled out more paperwork.

The two sat in tense silence, except for the music Virgil still played. He had turned it a little louder, to cut the tension. An hour later, Virgil stood up. “I’m going to take a break,” Virgil muttered at Imani. He watched her for a reaction, permission, something.

She looked up. “Then take one,” she said professionally, almost coldly.

He shuddered at her warmthless voice and opened the door. The hallway was suddenly a lot more inviting than his office, and most other heroes didn’t give him any more trouble other than glares. He made his way to the first floor. He was almost at the vending machine to get his usual granola bar when he was stopped by a thick hand on his shoulder.

“Well, Anxiety, so good to see you,” a man boomed high above Virgil’s head.

Virgil silently cursed his luck. Why did it have to be Chad, of all people? He was very much a jerk, and he only got through the ranks of the agency because of nepotism. At least, that was what everyone thought. Virgil had seen Chad fight, and he was afraid of Chad. He was the stereotypical jock of the agency, which was saying a lot.

“Hi, Chad,” Virgil said. He tried to walk away, but Chad’s hand kept him firmly in place. He wondered why Chad of all people had to have super strength, but that’s how the universe went. Virgil had heard Chad’s soul mate’s power was to weaken others. Balance, Virgil supposed.

Chad’s grip on Virgil tightened, bringing Virgil out of thought. “I heard about the Code Orange,” he said. Some heroes started to take notice of the scrawny 21-year-old and the jacked 30 something by the vending machine.

Now, Virgil knew he was lucky to be at his polite, well-mannered agency, but that didn’t mean that fights between heroes still didn’t happen. He had heard about an argument that escalated into a full-on brawl, but the heroes had telekinesis and pyrokinesis, so naturally, the fight was destructive.

“I see,” Virgil said politely.

“Are you soul mates with Logic?”

Virgil winced at Chad’s fingernails digging into his shoulder, and he was sure that Chad was using his power. He needed to defuse the situation before it turned into a fight, but if he wanted to not cause a scene, he had to stall for time. He subtly started to adjust the gravity around them.

“What?” Virgil asked innocently. In his peripheral vision, he saw a figure in black and grey. He hoped that was who he thought it was. “Yeah, I thought it was obvious by now.” Virgil heard some dramatic gasps the shouts of his colleagues, and perhaps the exasperated sigh of some after Dot fainted. Again.

“You’re not going to betray the heroes for that scum, are you?” Chad spat.

“No,” Virgil said as calmly as he could. The black and grey outline started to come closer, and Virgil’s and Chad’s feet were almost off of the ground.

After that happened, Virgil would have the advantage. Chad would have to float aimlessly about. And if he wanted to go anywhere, let alone fight, he would have to push himself. Considering Chad’s power, that would be very destructive, and with all of the precious or dangerous items in the building, even Chad’s father wouldn’t be able to pay that amount of money. All of this banked on whether or not Chad could figure this out, and Chad wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box. That’s where they came in.

“No,” Virgil repeated a little louder. “Really the opposite!” With that, they shot off of the floor, and Virgil was once again thankful for the high ceilings and the interior balconies of other floors. Before Chad could do anything, Virgil wiggled out of his grasp and dropped himself off at the second floor.

“Hey!” Chad roared and tried to sprint after Virgil but he propelled himself upside down.

“Chad, don’t!” Elliot yelled from the ground.

Chad grumbled loudly, but he knew he couldn’t do anything. Elliot was 90% of Chad’s impulse control.

With light feet, Virgil sprinted down the halls into his office. He almost ran past his door. He quickly opened his office, shut the door behind him, and locked it with his keys. He trembled with nerves and panted from exhaustion.

Imani quickly sat up straight. “What happened?” she said, shocked.

“Everything,” Virgil gasped in between puffs. “But more precisely, Chad.”

Envy looked around the dark and dirty street around him. A few shady people milled about the place as Envy looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. He entered into Killer Koffee warily and looked around at the black sofas with suspiciously red splatters. “Hello,” he greeted the grumpy barista. He pretended to squint at the menu as if he wasn’t already instructed on what drink to get. “I would like a mocha with whip cream, extra sugar, and hold the milk.”

The barista raised an eyebrow. “Who is it for?”

Envy smiled. “Phthonus.”

“Well then,” the barista said, “right this way, sir.” She led him into the back of the store, where only employees could enter. The employee led the villain into a broom closet and shut the door behind Envy, almost nipping his heels.

“Code word?” a man chirped in a dreadfully cheerful manner. Envy could almost see the spy’s glasses highlighted in the dark closet and shivered. People like the spy in front of him always intimidated him.

“Confucius,” Envy answered. “Now, what’s the info?”

Taglist:

@cyberpunkjinx

@jemthebookworm

@preyed-llama

@a-ghosts

Fog flooded the area as if it were mere air as a cracking of glass could be heard, thudding footsteps rang out through out the area as the shadowy figure was backed  into a wall, merely clutching onto the wound that licked a liquid that slipped past their thrown fingers.