The Games of Supervillainy (The Supervillainy Saga Book 2) (5 page)

“Hey Mandy,” I said, waving. “Good to see you.”

“My lady.” Angel Eyes looked embarrassed. “I was just warning your husband about the fact the zombie forms of the Ice Cream Man and Typewriter, those supervillains he killed last month, are searching out him.”

“Oh, is that what you were doing? Because you didn’t mention those two losers in your speech about how much I sucked,” I said, having well and truly had enough of his shit. “Oh, and, Angel Eyes?”

“Yes?” he turned to me.

“Goodbye,” I said, pointing my rifle at him and opening fire.

All of the bullets I fired at Angel Eyes bounced off an invisible force field surrounding him. The shots ricocheted and took out three stage lights and one of Angel Eyes's punks. They screamed and went instantly, bleeding out on the ground. Thankfully, none of the bullets hit Mandy.

Angel Eyes retaliated by pulling out a wand and shooting a blast of pure mystical force at me. I conjured a shield of super-condensed ice in front of it which was shattered to pieces, but dissipated the effects of his spell. Angel Eyes prepared another blast only to be knocked backwards by Diabloman's hellhound slamming into him. Apparently, the demonic poochie had marshaled its courage while everything was going to hell.

“He is vulnerable to my magic,” Diabloman said. “We can kill him if we work together.”

“Good work!” I said, ready to take advantage of that fact.

Angel Eyes grabbed the hellhound by its throat and proceeded to snap the creature’s neck, causing it to disappear in a puff of brimstone and fire. Angel Eyes was, officially, pissed off now.

“Gary!” Mandy shouted.

I waved for her to run to us. “Run away, Mandy! He's a crazed stalker! Who knows what he's capable of!”

Angel Eyes got up, glowing with bright and brilliant energy which caused the entire opera house to shine. “You
dare
strike the Chosen of Aphrodite?!”

“When they tell me they kidnap my wife and hold her prisoner?” I said, snapping. “Yes. Prepare to die, pretty boy!”

Mandy pulled out a pistol attached to a holster hidden against her leg and fired it in the air. “Please!”

Everyone stopped.

“Gary, I'm not a prisoner,” Mandy said, staring between me and Angel Eyes.

“You're not?” I asked.

“I said she wasn’t!” Angel Eyes snapped.

One of the surviving punks said, “Hell no, she’s not a prisoner. When we tried to bring her in, she killed two of us! She forced Barry to bring her to the Boss at gunpoint.”

Mandy looked annoyed. “I was hijacking a food truck for refugees when they tried to ambush me. How the hell would you react?”

The punk looked down. “Sorry.”

I stared at Angel Eyes. “So you did try to kidnap her but you failed.”

“She did, technically, come to me rather than the reverse,” Angel Eyes said, looking embarrassed. “She came to me, this brown-haired warrior goddess, holding my men at gun point.” Angel Eyes placed his hands over his heart.  “I was smitten and it took it upon myself to woo her. I would never have sent my challenge to you if I'd known what a charming creature she was.”

“Okay, Angel Eyes, you're going to die,” I said. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it but it’s going to happen.”

“Gary!” Mandy shouted. “You are
not
killing him.”             

“I'm not?” I said, really wanting to teach this guy a lesson.

Mandy explained her reasoning for coming here. “Angel Eyes is the leader of the most powerful gang left in the city. He controls territory, weapons, magic, and supplies. I came to him to negotiate a truce for the good of the refugees. I was just about to seal the deal when you guys came barging in.”

“What's with the evening dress then?” Cindy asked, staring.

Mandy looked at her next. It was a death-glare worse than the one she'd given Angel Eyes. She didn't have to justify it to me, even if I found the implications she'd use whatever method she could to influence him...disquieting.

Cindy then looked to me, only to see a similar expression. “Right, this is none of my business. I'll be shutting up now.”

Cindy put away her ray gun, which she hadn’t fired anyway. Maybe it was harder for her to strike Angel Eyes than she let on.

“Wise idea,” Diabloman said.

I sighed, putting my hands on my hips. “Fine. D, stand down. Punks? Know I could kill you all with my brain. As I'm enjoying this insanity. I need a few moments alone with my wife. Can we call a ten minute truce?”

Angel Eyes bowed his head, placing his hand over his heart. “As you wish.”

“That works?” Diabloman sounded surprised. “Dammit, I could have done that with the Nightwalker.”

Climbing up on the stage, I walked over to my wife and took her by the hands. Looking over my shoulders to make sure no one else could hear our conversation, I whispered, “
Please
don't divorce me.”

“What?” My wife looked as confused as she’d ever been, which was impressive given she was married to me.

I started to ramble, cupping my hands together. “I know I've been gone a month and it's my own damn fault for being involved in all of this supervillainy stuff. I swear to God, though, I did everything in my power to get back here as fast as I could. It was an accident with the teleporter and I never meant to leave you alone for a day let alone a month. I love you more than life itself and can't bear to imagine life without you.”

I was feeling more than a little bit guilty about my missing time, becoming a supervillain, and most of all about the kiss I shared with Gabrielle on the moon. It had been a moment of weakness between the two of us. This whole supervillain thing had spiraled out of control and if I had to choose between it and my marriage, well, my marriage came first.

As hard as it would be.

“Gary, I'm not divorcing you,” Mandy said, looking surprised I even thought it was possible.

“Oh thank God.” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I knew you weren’t deliberately avoiding me,” Mandy said, stared at me. “Ultragod called me within ten minutes of your teleportation and said you were stuck in the fold-space relay’s feedback loop.  I was pissed off at you for getting involved in a supervillain prison riot but he explained you saved his life. You saved a lot of lives, something about a giant demon, and you killing it.”

“Shh!” I put a finger over my mouth. “Don’t talk about that. It would destroy my reputation forever.”

Cindy shouted over at us. “Gary, we already know you're a VINO. We forgive you.”

Apparently, I’d underestimated the distance necessary to not be heard.

Either that or she just had really good hearing.

Mandy raised an eyebrow. “Vino?”

“Villain In Name Only,” I replied, glaring at Cindy. “It's about the worst label which can be attached to a villain. It’s all downhill from there. Hell, you might as well defect to becoming a hero. Thankfully, I’m just beginning my career and can always work my way up to Villain In Actuality.”

“
You just are incapable of having an epiphany about yourself, aren’t you
?” Cloak muttered.

“Hmm?” I said back.

Mandy sighed and felt her head.  “We do need to have a serious talk about your henchmen but otherwise, I'm fine.”

“Hench
persons
,” Cindy corrected.

“What part of
a few moments
alone
did not register with you, Cindy?” I shouted back at her.

“Clearly the entire concept,” Cindy said, throwing her hands up. “I’ll be over here.”

Mandy looked tired of this entire business. “I like Cindy, sort of, but I do think we need to set some boundaries.”

“Will do,” I said, looking over at Angel Eyes. “What about the Phantom of the Opera?”

“We need to recruit him,” Mandy said. “We need more power to fight the zombie infestation and he’s a heavy hitter. I also don’t think he’s evil. I…I think he’s mentally ill.”

“I never would have guessed!”

“
Remember the old adage about people throwing stones in glass houses
?”

“I think we can help him,” Mandy said, diverting the subject. “With the right treatment, he could not only help this city but become a powerful force for good in general. I think he just needs the right encouragement to get help.”

“You're kidding, right?” I asked, appalled.

Mandy stared right back. “I've been putting up with your henchpeople for a month. Look what they did to our basement. By the way, I want it put back to the way it was. I don't need to walk two stories to do our laundry.”

“Okay.” I waved my hand dismissively. “I don't need a lair, anyway.”

“Seriously, your henchmen
need
their own place.”

“Will do,” I answered. “I’ll buy them a nightclub or decaying mansion to stay in. I have a small fortune in gold down in the baseme—”

“And you need to return all that stolen money.”

“That might be a problem.”

“Gary... “

“Can't we donate half of it to charity?” 

“Gary, I'm allowing you to be a supervillain. Don't press me on this.”

“I'll return all the money which belonged to people who either didn't deserve it being taken away or couldn't afford it,” I replied, sighing. “If I can't find them, I'll put it in a generic zombie relief fund. Can we at least keep what we extort from criminals?”

“Fine.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I'm still not sure about this 'not killing Angel Eyes' thing, though.”

“He's a demigod, Gary, how would you even go about killing him?” Mandy pointed out an obvious problem with my plan.

“I'm sure the Society of Superheroes has some hydra blood somewhere. I'll sneak back into New Avalon and take it,” I said. Technically, I’d already killed a god during my prison break. I’d destroyed Magog the Nephilim, a being which was just sort of Godzilla in terms of strength and power. I’d done that with Death’s help, though, and I wasn’t sure what kind of cost I was going to be paying for that down the line. None of that was relevant now.

Mandy glared again.

“No dice?”

“No dice,” Mandy repeated. “Now I want you to go over there and make peace with Adonis.”

I glanced over at him, taking in the man's majestic presence. “The fact he looks like Brad Pitt's more attractive younger brother isn't influencing your decision, is it?”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Mandy said. “You can't even see his face.”

“No,” I said. “Just his rippling biceps, long flowing hair, and s... I'll stop now.”

“Please do. Unless there's something you want to admit to me.” Mandy gave me a half-smile.

“No,” I said. “I have nothing to admit.”

“Are you
sure
?” Mandy teased.

“Absolutely.”

Mandy made a little 'go hither' gesture with her fingers. “Then go make peace. Maybe we’ll be able to save this city with one of the city’s most notorious occultists at our side. Reformed and redeemed.”

“Yeah, because that's what I'm all about, redemption,” I grumbled.

“Gary… ” Mandy trailed off.

“
Fine-fine
, I’ll do it.” Walking over to Angel Eyes, I said, “Okay, after a long discussion with my wife, I've decided to let you into my gang.”

“
Your ability to take refuge in audacity never ceases to amaze me.
This
is how you're going to make peace
?”

“You know, you weren't this snarky when you were the Nightwalker,” I mentally said to Cloak.

“
I've got eighty years of dry observations to cut loose with
.”

“
Trust me, though
,” I said, prepping my upcoming speech in my head. “
I know how to speak this guy’s language
.”

“
Ancient Greek
?”

Angel Eyes reached up to his white plaster mask. Pulling it very off less than an inch, I caught a glimpse of the face underneath. He was beautiful, possibly the handsomest man on Earth. The male Guinevere if you will. I could just make out the
tiny
scar on his right cheek.  It was only a slight blemish, almost unnoticeable. I suppose, though, to Adonis it was probably equivalent of having acid thrown in his face.

“I'm thousands of years old, I've made love with goddesses, I know the secret arts of Circe and Medea, and you want to
hire me to be part of your gang
?” Angel Eyes asked. His tone had none of its earlier melodrama. It was clear he was serious.

“That's about the size of it, yeah,” I answered, stretching my arms behind my back.

“I will have to decline,” Angel Eyes replied, putting his mask back on. “It demeans the Chosen of Aphrodite to subordinate himself to mere mortals.”

I clasped my hands behind my back in order to keep myself from strangling the pompous ass. I hadn’t been this insulted since high school.

“
I can't believe I'm doing this, but let me help. Angel Eyes is obsessed with his image above all else. Even more than his pseudo-romantic worldview, he's vain
.
You can use this to direct his actions
.”

“Thanks, Cloak. I forgive you for hiding your true identity for me.”

“Hmm?” Angel Eyes said, obviously not able to hear Cloak like some of my companions.