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Vendetta sighed at his desktop in the gallery, hands in hair, lying on the backrest of the boss chair. He was currently having a problem, along many others: His money were running low because he redecorated the gallery, bought new merchandise for the shop section of the gallery, bought drugs of course and food. He knew he had to rob another bank sooner or later, and he dreaded the moment when he would.
It’s been about a week since he last saw the hero. He just couldn’t imagine the moment they would meet again. It would be awkward and … God, how much did he want things to get back to the way they used to be! To just be able to face the hero and put up a fight without feeling guilty, to show up as Vendetta any time he wanted… He really wished he could just go back in time.
He was well aware of the fact that the citizens didn’t see the villain since ever. He could see the way everyone felt safer and always had smiles on their faces. The newspaper were all over that subject, and people started thinking he died. It angered him.
He was brought out of his thoughts the moment a weird feeling made its way inside his guts. Frowning, he sat up in his chair and looked around. After standing up, he slowly went at the wall sized window of the gallery, looking outside. The winter was clearly making its way in the town. The sky was a dark gray and the trees’ branches were gracefully caressed by the cold wind. But watching the sight, Vendetta just felt like something wasn’t right. Seeing the few people walk around, surrounded by the ghostly melody of the wind, he couldn’t help but feel like it was the silence before disaster.
And sure enough, his thoughts proved to be true as a horrid scream of pain cut the sinister quietness. In the blink of an eye, everything changed drastically. The once calm atmosphere turned frantic, as people started running and screaming like their lives depended on it.
Everyone in the gallery panicked at the sudden twist, and not even knowing what was going on they just started looking for places to hide, while Vendetta just stood there like a stone, trying to figure out what was going on.
He ignored the people yelling at him to not go outside, and just opened the door and slowly walked on the street, a frown on his face as he saw everyone running. Looking towards the opposite direction they ran at he was shocked to find a body on the ground. A dead one at that. And standing next to it was what seemed to cause all of this.
Standing there, watching everything with an amused smirk, was a man. He was tall, pale and slender. His long black hair was like waves of darkness, surrounding his white face which stood in contrast with the heavy black eye makeup he had on. He was wearing a black and grey unbuttoned checkered shirt despite the cold season, and a red sleeveless shirt underneath. His jeans were black and tight, held by a belt to which what looked like a weapon support was attached. He was wearing army boots and his lower arms were covered by long leather arm cuffs. His eyes were black and even though he was smirking, it wasn’t reaching them. The only emotion they showed was hatred.
A pitch black cat was suspiciously comfortable on his shoulder, looking around with its bright green eyes, similar to Vendetta’s. It was beautifully shaped, slim and graceful.
Vendetta’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. Putting two and two together, he easily realized the man was a super villain. He didn’t know him, nor his purpose there, but he felt anger taking over his whole body. He was supposed to be in his place, doing evil stuff, but he was stupid enough to let relationships and emotions push him away from his path. Now he felt replaced, but he would make sure to change that.
“Stop.” the man said calmly, his husky voice managing to get above the screams. But no one seemed to listen, fact which instantly erased the smirk off his face. ” I will fucking kill every person moving, so if you care for your pathetic useless lives you better stop. ” he yelled, his furious voice making everyone in the area freeze and cover their heads in fear. Vendetta didn’t even flinch, he just kept staring at him.
The man’s smirk once again made its way on his porcelain face, as his eyes went over every single person around him. His eyes stopped the moment they met Vendetta’s. He was the only one to not show fear, instead, his face held a glare, glare which caught the newcomer’s attention. Vendetta managed to hold back a gasp from escaping his lips the moment he saw the man stepping towards him. He flinched when the newcomer grabbed his chin, forcing eye contact.
“Why so serious? ” he asked mockingly, enjoying his superiority. “Is that how you welcome people in this town? With a glare…? ” he continued. When he didn’t receive an answer, his grip on Vendetta’s chin grew violent. ” Answer.” he demanded.
“This town already has a villain, mind you.”
“Does it… From what I heard, this -villain- isn’t doing a great job…”
The cat suddenly jumped from the man’s shoulder on Vendetta’s. The villain felt himself shivering as the cat started touching his cheek with it’s warm snout. Then it started pushing it’s head against Vendetta’s, purring loudly.
“It likes you.” the newcomer said monotonously, with a confused frown on his face. After scowling intently at Vendetta, his face suddenly cleared in realisation, as his lips formed a grin. He looked at the gallery, then back at him. “Oooh, I see!” he laughed.
Vendetta froze. He knew…He fucking knew.
He grabbed the cat and roughly threw it away from him, but the newcomer seemed unfazed, still keeping eye contact. Vendetta was terrified. As he saw the man’s lips part, he knew he couldn’t do anything to stop him from outing him to the citizens. As he was about to talk, a different voice filled the air.
“May I help you? You seem to be lost.”
It was official. Someone up there hated the villain.
The newcomer grabbed Vendetta’s shoulders, then turned towards the source of the voice. The villain avoided eye contact, looking anywhere but at him.
“I know well and clear where I am, kind sir. I didn’t quite catch your name.” the man said mockingly.
“My name’s Blaze. I’m the hero in this town.”
“Why hello there. Glad we got to know each other already. We’re going to have great times together.” he laughed.
“I’m sorry to announce you, but one villain is enough for me to handle. ” the hero spat bitterly, clearly not comfortable with the way the newcomer held Vendetta.
“Don’t even worry about it, I’ll handle this .. ‘villain’ I heard about, and then we’ll have this town to ourselves.”
Vendetta froze. Was this man trying to kick him out of his own town? Well, he had other thoughts coming.
“Oh well. Glad I got the chance to meet the citizens, the hero… Blaze, be kind and let the villain know I’d like to meet him tomorrow? ”
Blaze just glared at him, then looked at Vendetta who was still nervously standing under the man’s arm.
“Have a nice day.” the man ended, and shamelessly slapped the villain’s butt.
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The next day, Vendetta stood uneasy in front of his gallery, in his villain outfit. The man wanted to meet him but forgot to mention the place, so he just figured he’d come where he showed up the day before. His hands were in the pockets of his leather jacket he wore, having changed the vest to adjust to the season. He was aching to take a cigarette out, the nerves killing him, but the mask he wore prevented him from doing so, which annoyed him to no end. People around him were watching curiously, and some of them even dared to take pictures for the newspaper which where surely going to go all crazy about the fact that he finally showed up.
He started tapping his foot impatiently, uncomfortable under the gazes of the citizens. As he was about to leave, something caught his eyes. When he moved his gaze to the black mass down the street, he recognised the green eyes watching him. It was the cat.
Not wasting time, he started walking towards it, scaring a few people with his sudden movement. The cat started leading the way and he quickly followed it. With each step he started moving faster, the cat having started running.
The villain was as graceful and agile as the animal, and he soon found himself enjoying what started to feel like a race. It was evening, and the sky was covered by dark clouds so it was hard to distinguish the dark figure of the cat, which made it even more exciting.
The black shape took a sudden turn to the left, into an alley, and the villain crouched touching the ground with his hand for balance, and slid on the ice managing to take a swift turn after the animal, then resumed running. The cat gracefully climbed a chain link fence and the villain followed quickly, remembering the way he used to go all parkour around the town when he was younger.
The cat took a turn to the right and the villain slid on the cement, ready to drift for the curve, and as soon as he rounded the corner he fell on his butt at the sight of the newcomer. He almost forgot the purpose of the whole thing, having been caught in the adrenaline.
“Nice. I admire your skills.” the man laughed, caressing the purring cat’s neck. “Surprised you managed to catch up with him, he tends to be competitive.”
Vendetta stood up, patted his pants and straightened his back, glaring at the man while trying to catch his breath. They were in an alley, and he just now realized he completely forgot how he got there, having been focused on the cat and not the surroundings.
“Forgot to introduce myself yesterday, my name’s Vladimir. Call me Vlad. Or Daddy.” he winked, to which Vendetta rolled his eyes. “I didn’t catch your name yesterday.”
“Vendetta. Now will you shut up already? Lets just get this done with. ” he rudely interrupted.
“Well someone’s eager.” Vlad laughed.
Vendetta reached in his pocket and took the cards out of the pack, letting them float around him, while he stood in a fighting position. He watched as Vladimir reached for the support attached to his belt and took out a blade.
The villain’s eyes widened at the weapon. It was pure art. Whenever moved it left behind it waves of blood red and black, and it had a beautiful model on it. It looked surreal.
“I take it you like my baby? Named it Spencer.” the man cockily said. Vendetta kept himself from commenting on the fact that he’d actually name his weapon, and with a swift move of his hand he sent three steel cards towards him.
Vlad held his arms in front of him in a X position, his leather arm cuffs stopping the cards from hitting his face. Then, he ran towards Vendetta and attempted on stabbing him, but the villain dodged, crouched and spun, tripping Vlad and then pinning him to the ground, his lower arm pressing against Vlad’s neck. He lifted his free hand, a card making its way to it, and as he was about to shove it in the man’s neck, something scratched his back painfully. He hissed, then rolled off Vlad.
That cat..
Glaring at the animal, he sent his cards towards it, but it swiftly ran away before they hit it. He was seriously starting a grudge on the cat, ever since it the moment it outed his identity to Vlad. It probably hated humans and since it showed affection towards Vendetta, it indicated the fact that he wasn’t one, and so Vlad realized he was a villain, therefore knowing the way he looked like when showing up as a citizen. Damn cat..
Being distracted by the animal, he didn’t notice the other villain creeping up behind him, and he soon felt Vlad’s arm around his neck and his back pressed against the taller man’s chest. Then, his neck made contact with the cold sharp edge of the blade. It was so sharp that the one delicate touch was enough to cut his skin, and soon enough blood was pouring down his pale neck. His eyes widened at the pain, and a loud gasp escaped his throat.
“I could kill you now, you know… Just a little more pressure and you’re dead. “
Vendetta just clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. He didn’t expect the man to hold back, he had no reason to do so, so he felt like that was it… He couldn’t help but think about Blaze, and he felt empty and sad knowing he hadn’t had the chance to see him before he’d die…
“Giving up already?” Vlad laughed. “You don’t really have the villain spirit in you, do you? Now. How about a deal? ” he asked, then shoved Vendetta roughly, who in turn fell on the ground. After turning around, just as he was about to get up, Vlad shoved him back and knelt down with his knees on both sides of Vendetta’s hips, then grabbed his throat and pinned him against the cement. Leaning, he forced eye contact, holding the blade against his neck.
“I won’t kill you now if you accept to team up with me. ” he proposed, much to Vendetta’s surprise.
“Why would you want that? ” he asked, his voice shaking.
“It gets lonely, you know, and after thinking about it… I realized that one of the many reasons the villains always loose is the fact that they never team up. Everyone acts on their own and all that… Just imagine how powerful we’d be together! ”
Vendetta frowned in confusion. Was he serious? It did seem like a great idea, but was there more to it?
“That and I don’t have where to stay.” he added with a goofy grin.
Well… He did wish for things to be the way they were before… And in the past he wouldn’t have missed a chance like this. Besides, he didn’t really have too much of a choice.
He nodded, a lump forming in his throat as he thought of how Blaze would react once he’d find out. Sure, Blaze did a selfish thing by not telling him he was the hero all that time, but it couldn’t be compared to what he was doing.
“May I add a condition to that?”
“Pretty pretentious seeing the situation you’re in…” Vlad commented, tightening his hold on the villain’s throat. “Go ahead.”
“We won’t kill him…” he said, and got a confused look in response. “I mean… We’ll fight him and all that to get whatever it is we’ll want but lets never go as far as killing him. ” he explained quickly, avoiding eye contact at all cost.
“Hah. You have a thing for him, don’t you? That’s why you were all awkward yesterday, right? Oh, and the looks he gave me… It all makes sense now!” he laughed. “Oh dear God, what kind of villain are you? I mean… You suck at fighting, you’re freaking gay and to top it off you’re in a relationship with a hero? What the fuck is up with you? ” he started laughing loudly, shaking his head. “Satan must have been high when he decided on sending you on earth, holly shit ” he continued.
Vendetta’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, then he lifted his leg, mercilessly hitting the man on top of him in between his legs. He instantly stopped laughing, grabbed his manly-hood (or whatever was left of it) and rolled off of Vendetta to curl up in a ball and hiss in pain. Vendetta stood up and grabbed his bleeding neck, then went to Vlad, turned him around and cut his neck with a steel card.
“Now that we’re even. How about that alliance? ” he asked, his voice barely covering Vlad’s instant hiss of pain, and smirking behind his mask, he extended his hand.
Vladimir groaned and reached for it, then stood up with Vendetta’s help.
“Looks like God does not approve…” Vladimir managed to joke between gasps of pain as soon as snowflakes slowly made their way around them. Vendetta laughed at that, and then sighed. He did not like winter, much less snow.
“Oh and uh… I do not want that cat anywhere near my apartment. ” Vendetta said, then scowled at the cat currently sitting on a trash can.
“Don’t worry, you won’t even notice it.”
“Yeah, I’ll only notice the cat poop on my fancy couches”
“Psh. At the way you’re treating your villain job I can imagine how fancy your couches really are.” he laughed, and gained himself a hit on the back of his head.
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“Oh. Those do look fancy.” Vlad said, eyeing the fine furniture.
“Yeah. As much as I’d want to show off, my brother bought them.”
“Oh, then you’re still a sucky villain.”
“Dude. I robbed a bank, and… and… that’s about it but I sure as hell ruined lots of people’s days!” he snapped back, taking off his mask.
“Oh watch out, we got a badass in the house.” Vlad laughed.
Vendetta just sighed and after climbing down the stairs of the deck, he froze. The drawings. They were still on the walls. More like, all over the walls. Ever since he stopped talking to Blaze, he din an unhealthy amount of drawings of him. As he heard Vlad’s step approaching, he turned and ushered him in the kitchen.
“Uh, fancy a drink? ” he asked with a polite smile on his face. Maybe too polite, judging by the looks Vlad gave him.
“No thanks…” he smirked, then started walking towards the end of the deck, but was stopped the moment Vendetta stepped in front of him.
“You sure? How about a towel? That cut on your neck healed but the blood is.. ruining your shirt and… stuff.”
Vladimir just laughed, pushed him aside and climbed down the two steps, then looked around, and soon enough he found what the villain was trying to hide. The moment he did, the grin on his face left and was replaced by a blank expression.
“Holly shit.” he stared in awe. After what seemed like forever of processing, he finally said “You’re obsessed.”
Vendetta blushed and cursed himself for having took off the mask, his cheeks now red for all to see.
“Jesus Christ, dude, what the … This … This will get a lot of time getting used to.” Vladimir said as he slowly approached the drawings.
“I’ll just take them down. They cause me so much fucking trouble…” he said, remembering when ‘Blake’ first came in his apartment and saw them. A small smile made its way on his face as he remembered the way he reacted… All happy and hyper… Looking up, he was ashamed to notice that Vladimir was staring at him confused, not knowing the reason he was randomly smiling.
He just sighed and moved towards the drawings, starting to take them off.
“I feel bad now.” Vlad laughed.
“Don’t .. just help me take them down.”
“Oooh…Someone is moving on.” he teased, and started taking down the drawings as well, scanning every one of them.
“Oh shush it. ” Vendetta snapped, then stared at the drawings in his hands. He wasn’t sure if he was doing that to move on… Did he want to move on? But… were they officially broken up? Actually, have they even been a couple in the first place?? Jesus, was their relationship weird! He’d make sure to have a talk with Blaze to just clear things up once and for all… Or he could just pretend nothing ever happened between them and go along with the whole alliance thing going on.
He glanced at Vladimir, just then realizing the situation. Basically, a stranger was in his apartment, yet he felt some sort of bond between them. It was weird, like, earlier they were fighting each other and now they were officially a team. Were they acting like that because they were both villains, therefore having some sort of natural link between them? He wasn’t sure, since he didn’t meet too many villains in his life except from family, but it was a plausible explanation.
“What are you staring at? ” Vladimir asked out of the blue, taking the villain out of his thoughts.
“At your face.” he responded swiftly.
“Take a picture, it will las-“
“That line is just overused.” he interrupted rudely, then continued taking down the drawings.
When they were done taking them down, he felt… lonely. Watching the bricks that formed the walls, he found it hard to accept the fact that the drawings were actually off. It felt like there was too much space around him.
“Are you going to have a girly breakdown in my arms now? ” Vlad joked, managing to replace Vendetta’s saddened expression with a small sad smile.
“If you don’t shut up, the only girly person in this room will be you as soon as I cut your balls off.” he replied, the sad smile turning into a smirk. Vladimir just laughed and turned towards the wall sized window, staring outside at the snowflakes being violently shoved by the wind.
The villain went to the kitchen and silently prepared hot chocolate, suddenly in a good mood. After filling the two mugs and adding whipped cream, he made his way back to the other man, finding him in the exact same spot. He brought him out of his thoughts the moment he held the mug in front of his face, blocking his view on the town.
Vladimir was taken aback by the gesture, and hesitantly took the mug, eyeing the villain who innocently stood next to him, not so silently sipping the hot chocolate.
“Is it poisoned or something? ” Vlad asked, and Vendetta just laughed, looking outside the window. The building was tall and his apartment was at the last floor, and so the window embraced a beautiful view of the town. It was at the moment covered by darkness, which stood in contrast with the almost glowing snow and the lights of the cars leaving waves of light behind them in their rush.
“Yeah, because I always keep poison in my cupboards, you know, just in case. ” the villain laughed.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Vendetta turned his head towards Vlad as his curiosity begged to be fed with answers.
“How did you know I wasn’t ‘doing a great job’, as you kindly put it the other day? And why did you randomly decide to come in this town from all the places?”
“Well.. Back in my town there already is a villain and a hero. I was just a waste of space, you know? And I just watched the news one day and there was a subject on villains and heroes and how the heroes are better and they gave some examples of deceased villains just to rub it in our faces. And they mentioned you, having thought you were dead, and how the Wednesday town is in peace and all that, and I was like ‘Yeap. That’s my cue to leave this shithole'” he explained.
“Oh, and…” he continued, his voice taking a serious tone. “Sorry…About, you know… your cousin…”
Vendetta gulped. There wasn’t a strong bond between him and his cousin, it’s just the cause of his death that disturbed him. His cousin’s enemy, a hero, managed to trick him into being in a relationship and that got him killed in the end. He knew Blaze wouldn’t do that but… his cousin wouldn’t have guessed either.
“You’re not sorry. Why would you be? ” Vendetta laughed bitterly.
“Wow. Sue me for trying to be nice. Jesus. ” Vlad rolled his eyes. “Prepare mentally. Tomorrow we’re robbing a bank. So don’t jizz when Blaze shows up. ”
“Vladimir?”
“Yes?”
“Fuck you.”
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Author note: The image I posted is of Vladimir, his cat (Jack) and his blade. I spent allot time editing that thing :)) So yeah. Hope you like the chapter… Let me know what you think about the story? 😀
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