The Fibbs had left hours ago to see their precious superhero.

Poison stands on their balcony, sipping a root beer through a cheap plastic straw. He knows they'll be back soon. The sky is dark and a chilly wind blows through the city, marking nightfall. They'll recollect their little prize and plop her back in the neighboring apartment, hoping they'll keep her safe. A stupid thought. Poison's father could rip them apart if he wanted, storm their places with big guns and destroy everything they have. But Fallout isn't like that. He's a shadow of a man, a hanging threat. People cow at the thought of him, but he hasn't killed in years.

Poison tries to smile at the view, but he can't. He can only think about Heaven and his plans to catch her. He feels his anger grow. He doesn't want to hurt her, besides, he shouldn't have to. She should like him.

He had her! And yet she slipped away, because of Catboy and Lucifer.

Poison kicks a flower pot. Pitiful. The way Fallout's eyes light up at the mention of Luce's name, you'd think he's the damned chosen one, but no. He's a whiny crybaby who deserves to have his face smashed into the nearest lampost.

And Poison's no idiot. He knows how disappointing siren-powers are to Fallout. He knows how much his father values Luce over him. That if Luce ever willfully cooperated, Fallout wouldn't just keep him in a basement as the occasional weapon. No, he would be the heir to all of Snare and Poison would be out. Booted off.

"I care about my boy, don't get me wrong," Fallout once said at a late night party when he thought Poison was asleep, "but I can't see him running my organization. He'll be eaten alive before he's eighteen. His only use would be to seduce information out of people, but by God! Jacob, it's embarrassing. My son, a seductor. But that's all he'll ever be."

The Fibbs' front door creaks open. "What do you mean, you promised me to Snare?" Heaven asks, her voice clear to Poison's sharpened senses. He sets his root beer on the dainty little glass table, his heart beating that much faster. There's something so entrancing about hearing her speak, even when she sounds like she wants to strangle small animals.

"It was for the drugs that kept you alive! If it weren't for Snare, you'd be dead!" her brother shouts.

"They experiment on children! I'd rather be dead than work with them!"

Stubborn thing. Poison smiles to himself. "Go ahead, make this hard on yourself," he whispers. She won't get away this time. Whether she loves him standing or on her knees is up to her, and he's okay with either.

The one girl who fought his powers. The one girl who's a siren like him. She's the one girl Poison can't have, and she's the only one he wants.

"Could you be any more ungrateful?" Cat asks. Traitor. Soon Cat'll be very, very sorry for what she did.

"Look, I'm glad to be alive. Thank you, Toby. But I can't join their cause, no matter what deal you struck."

Luce titters. "Why don't we talk about this over Monopoly?" he asks his stupid, metal singer voice. 

"Why would Snare would want a superhero in their ranks?" Juniper asks. Her footsteps clip back and forth, back and forth. "Heaven could destroy the organization. For Fallout to take such a risk, something big has to be on the horizon."

"You should've told us you needed SEs," her husband, Rain something or other, says. "We could've helped you."

"What can we do now?" Catboy asks.

"I think I'll get the board out..." Luce says, and Poison slips a loop of cord out of his pocket. This will be easy. He steps up on the balcony and throws himself over the rails, his wings snapping out. Catboy's never-locked window isn't very far. Poison clicks it open and slips through it, listening for Luce. This can't fail. For his plan to work, he has to get the guy before the rest of Snare or Syndicate does. How can he drain Luce of his powers otherwise? 

Luce passes the door, and that's when Poison snatches him.

***

I hit the panic button in my head. This isn't good. For the record, it's never 'good' when you leave to get a gameboard and end up sucked into your best friend's room, an arm on your throat and a hand over your mouth. Either you're about to get kidnapped or axe-murdered, and honestly, with the way my "parents" obsess over me like I'm the lead singer of a boy band rhyming with Mon Shmirection, I'd hope for the latter. "Don't make a sound or I'll break every bone in your body."

Poison. Great. I give him a shrug and see how he interprets it. Today has been a sucky day anyway. I spent half of it chasing Jaylin around the hospital, trying to tell her the good news of Heaven being alive. She hid in a bathroom stall, which led to me slipping into the lady's room to talk to her. That didn't end well, to say the least, it barely ended without jail time on my part. Which is insulting to think about, frankly. I'm a gentleman. 

Poison eases me back and brings his arm down from my neck. When he reaches for my wrists, I slam my foot on his instep and wrench out of his grip. I spin. He lunges for me, crouched, wrestler-takedown style, but I fix him with a knee to the head. He crumples to the ground in a glassy-eyed daze. "June! Storm!" I shout, wiping my hands. Well. That was easy. I watch him in case he's faking, but after he doesn't move for a minute, I kneel by him. I hope I haven't hurt him too much.

He blinks and rasps something I can't hear. June, Storm, and the rest of the gang (minus Jaylin) file in, but before they can gasp in awe at my kick-butt fighting skills, Poison kicks my legs out from under me. I hit the ground and he slams on top of me, smothering me with his weight. He has me in another choke, just like that. Before my brain even processes what happened, l lose the stupid fight.

"Get out of my home," Juniper says, and she sounds shaky, nothing like she usually speaks. It's almost scary, and I'm the guy with his face smashed into the floor.

"Hippies," Poison says with a laugh, "the best cover for cold-blooded killers. Does Lucifer know what you do on your spare time?"

What? I blink. Sure, Jupes and Storm are pretty--how should I put this--eccentric, but killers? No way. I almost laugh. If Juniper weren't squeaking random, nonsensical words, I probably would.

"Hey!" Heaven barges in. "Get your hands off him!"

"And get out of my room," Gats adds with a grunt. He's probably mad we're getting his carpet dirty.

"I'm calling the police," Storm says.

At this, Poison absolutely loses it, howling like a maniac. I kick, buck my weight, and try to throw him off, but he won't have it. He just squeezes me tighter until I'm wheezing. "You! Call the police! God, does Heaven know this? It seems a bit hypocritical for you to back her superhero stuff when you literally--"

"That's enough!" June barks. "Get out!"

"What are you going to do with Luce--"

"--it's Angel," I say through gritted teeth.

He continues. "What are you going to do with Lucifer and Cat-guy, huh? Sell them? Use them in a new organization? They aren't your children, my dad has full rights to Luce, you know."

Oh, and of course he has to sound like a lawyer. One who's seventeen and dresses like a juvenile delinquent from 1956. I'm talking the Fonzie-style white tee shirt, jeans, and leather jacket combo I could never pull off. And he rocks it.

Heaven races toward me. She pounces onto the pile, and the weight is free as she shoves him across the room. I fling myself to my feet. Poison escapes to the window, where he perches, wings spread. He offers his hand to Heaven. "Don't interfere. I'm taking Luce--"

"--that's not my flipping name!"

"I'm taking Lucifer to Snare, and if you do anything to stop it, you'll only make it worse for him."

I roll the eye he can see and step to him. "Get out." June and Storm don't say a thing, and I'm a wee bit annoyed they're just standing there while this super villain threatens my welfare/life/freedom/whatever.

Gats laughs, which is just as helpful. "Threaten all you want, you won't do a thing."

"Don't be so sure of that," Poison says. "Plans have already been put in action. Make this easy on yourself." He scans Heaven up and down in that creepy-stalker way. I want to punch him. "I'd be glad to escort you to Snare's headquarters now. It would save both of us quite a bit of time. And frankly, it would save Snare the effort."

"Out." She lunges for him. He dodges.

"We made a deal, princess. You're mine."

Valentine's Day is the only day when 'You're mine' isn't creepy,  and even then, it still reeks of stalker. Gats hisses, Heaven bristles, and I do them both a favor by kicking Poison in the stomach so he tumbles out the open window. "This is why we lock stuff in this house," I say and slam the panel shut, taking care to click the lock. Silly Gats. Can't follow basic safety precautions. Poison laughs like the psychopath he is, and to my dismay, I hear it Crystal Springs clear, enhanced senses and all. He smirks, eyeing Heaven in that weird inside-joke way, like he knows something about her that none of us do.

"I'll get you, and it'll be hell for you when it happens."

She pushes me out of the way and slams her hands onto the window. "Yeah?"

He grins wolfishly. His blue eyes glow through the glass. "Those drugs we gave Toby, they could be destroying you. You might need us more than you think."

"Nice try." She flips him off and walks out of the room. Poison leans against the window, watching her all doey-eyed. I draw the blinds.

Gats turns his attention towards Jupes. "So what's this about you being a murderer?" he asks.

"Oh, Heaven. She'll never know what hit her," Poison say, leaning his head against the glass with a dreamy sigh.

***
Next update, Friday! This is the first time I've used third person in this series, and I want to know if you like it or if I should use first for Poison's too. Sorry about this update being a bit late again, hopefully won't happen next week. Thanks again for reading, peace out!