A/N: I've always wanted to write a comic book story, but I guess neither attempts were that great. This came well before Devil Wears Prada. It definitely inspired several elements of Prada though.

Description:

When two new villains emerge from the darkness, the strong heroes find themselves faltering. To add to their struggle in trying to defend their city, the leader of the most powerful team finds himself infatuated with the arising terror.

Superhero AU | Ghorror

Disclaimer: This story contains scenes of violence, vulgar language, sexual content, and depictions of mental illness.

Profiles

Name: Christopher Cerulli
Alias/League ID: Misfit - ID 001
Abilities: Shadow Shapeshifting, Nightmare Manipulation
Team: The Creatures - Leader

Name: Angelo Parente
Alias/League ID: Angel - ID 002
Abilities: Flight, Fire Manipulation
Team: RETIRED

Name: Joshua Balz
Alias/League ID: Bones - ID 003
Abilities: Life Absorption, Memory Absorption
Team: The Creatures

Name: Ryan-Ashley Malarkey
Alias/League ID: Ink Master - ID 004
Abilities: Ink Generation/Manipulation
Team: The Creatures

Name: Thomas "TJ" Bell
Alias/League ID: Raider - 005
Abilities: Marksman
Team: Escapers

Name: Ryan Sitkowski
Alias/League ID: Stormchaser - ID 006
Abilities: Weather Control, Future Vision
Team: The Creatures

Name: Kylie Devyn
Alias/League ID: Cobra - ID 007
Abilities: Acid Projectile Spit
Team: The Creatures

Name: Vincent "Vinny" Mauro
Alias/League ID: Jersey - ID 008
Abilities: Archer, Acrobat
Team: The Creatures

Name: Ashley Costello
Alias/League ID: Harlequin - ID 009
Abilities: Sonic Scream
Team: The Creeps - Leader

Name: Nikki Misery
Alias/League ID: Misery - ID 010
Abilities: Diamond Skin, Phasing
Team: The Creeps

Name: Jeremy Valentyne
Alias/League ID: Valentyne - ID 011
Abilities: Hypnotism
Team: The Creeps

Name: Brandon Wolf
Alias/League ID: Curse - ID 012
Abilities: Superspeed
Team: The Creeps

Name: --
Alias/League ID: Trixx - ID 013
Abilities: Telekinesis
Team: The Creeps

Name: Richard "Ricky" Olson
Alias/League ID: Raccoon - N/A
Abilities: Wall Crawling, Superhuman Strength, Spy/Assassin Skills
Team: --

Name: Devin Sola
Alias/League ID: Ghost - N/A
Abilities: Phasing, Invisibility, Possession
Team: --

Chapter 1 | Pages

The floorboards of a dusty bar subtly creaked under black heels as the ashy skinned beauty approached the bar. Tattoos ran along every inch of her skin, all the way down to the sharp nails along the hand she used to flag down the bartender. An old barkeep made his way down to her, grabbing her usual from the tap. She thanked him as he set a cold beverage in front of her.

Mutters of poker games filled the space but it was nothing that would distract the man to her left from reading carefully over a contract. Beads of sweat hung from his porous skin as he nervously took each word on the letter into consideration. He did not notice the beauty to his right, let alone the approach of another on his left.

The new approach smoothly took her cat-eye sunglasses off her pale face. Her ruby lips stayed straight, yet she could never remove the Cheshire's stare from her irises. She glanced over to the first woman briefly. The exchanged looks of confirmation before continuing about their individual business. What the man between them did not realize was, his business was theirs as well.

Pages of sins with a line to sell his soul laid in front of him. He had spent so many nights stressing over this contract and wasted many dollars on alcohol to easy the pain. Yet, despite his worries, he still dared to raise a pen to the papers. As the ballpoint came down, the words began to shift. He blinked many times to try to wash away the allusion, but wasn't false visions. The ink melted off the pages like wax off a lit candle.

"I wouldn't sign that if I were you." The first woman spoke through a cautious and threatening tone.

She raised her glass to her grey painted lips, unfazed by his panicking state. His eyes doubled in size when he saw who exactly was sharing the bar with him. He stumbled back in efforts to get away from such a powerful creature, only to be stopped by the second woman.

"Don't leave so soon." She slyly said.

The inked one looked up at the TV hanging behind the bar. An aged woman with dried brown hair spoke over video from downtown that day.

"It's another proud day for New Yorkers, as another criminal has been detained by out resident superheroes." The reporter spoke. "The heroes known as Jersey, Bones, and Stormchaser have brought down the leader of an illegal gun trade, thus making our streets even safer and keeping guns from the hands of criminals."

"Do you know who that is?" She asked the frantic man as she pointed towards the picture of the victors on the television. Though he seemed very aware, he was too terrified to conjure words. "Those are our teammates. One's even my boyfriend, but you want to know something? They aren't the only ones that will be capturing a villain today."

He shook as he responded, "I-I haven't done anything wrong!"

"You obviously know who we are, but let me remind you." The shorter girl stated as she grabbed him by his collar. She slammed his back against the bar as she continued, "I'm Cobra, and that's Ink Master. Agents 005 and 006 of The Creatures."

The entire bar was now staring at this scene. Some were paralyzed by fear and others captivated at the rare sighting of the heroes. Sweat rapidly fell down the criminal's face as Cobra's manicured hand held him by his jugular.

Ink Master leaned over, whispering in his ear, "We're also the people that know what you did in Mexico last month. You know how it goes. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"Go to Hell." He spat through gritted teeth and a mouth struggling for full breaths.

"Wrong answer." Cobra joyfully piped.

She lifted him by his neck and threw him across the room. The man landed on top of a poker table, ruining the current game. Cowboys sitting around the table shot up and earned scowls as they looked at the destroyed gamble.

One cocked his lip, sneering, "What in Hell-"

"Don't blame me!" He responded. "It was their fault."

The dirty man threw his arm in the direction of the girls to blame them for the interruption of the game. They weren't taking lightly to anyone distracting them from a possible payday. Not one cared about the gender of whom they began to draw their guns on because any witch is no human in their book.

Cobra picked up a glass from the bar and slammed a huge gulp. Then she spit it back at the men, burning them with her acid spit. Her venom blinded two, but left three. Ink Master targeted the tattoos on their arms and used her abilities to make the ink boil. They screamed in pain as they dropped their weapons and started to claw at their own skin.

She grabbed one of the guns from the floor and approached their target. "Give up, Cyrus. It's over."

He grunted and glanced out the front window. With a cunning smile, he said, "I wouldn't count on it."

"The calvary has arrived!" Cobra announced with weariness infecting her voice.

Outside, two hummers rolled up in front of the hole in the wall bar. Ink Master growled to herself out of frustration. As the load of men began to storm towards the building, she grabbed her companion and pulled her behind the bar top. Gun shots rang out in heavy rounds in efforts to strike them. Luckily the bar top held up and provided them with cover. However, the shots weren't stopping. Round after round was unloaded with no end, until it suddenly stopped as quickly as it had began.

The two girls looked at each other with concern. Did the men decide to surrender? They highly doubted that. Why would they all run out of ammo at the same time? Something wasn't adding up. It all turned to a situation they understood, once a voice echoed through the bar. One of which caused them both to roll their eyes.

"Oh, Ry-Ry!" A male called. "It's safe to come out!"

Carefully, the women rose to their feet. Standing in the dead center of the room with bodies littering the floor around them, a rough looking pirate stood. Adorned in several necklaces, his black hair was pulled back with a blue bandana.

"What are you doing here?" Ink Master snapped as she crossed her arms.

He looked around and gestured towards the bodies as he replied, "Saving your ass, it looks like."

"We were doing just fine, TJ. And I mean, what are you doing in New York?" She asked.

"I thought I'd come visit my favorite cousin." He smiled unconvincingly.

She raised her eyebrow and gave him a look of disbelief. "I'm your only cousin. What do you need?"

He sighed as his disguise was broken. "My team is missing. I know you're still mad at me for everything, but I could use some help. Please, Ryan."

"It's Chris' call, not mine. C'mon, let's get back to headquarters. We'll talk about it there." Ink Master spoke as she began to walk around the bar, towards him.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed as he hugged her tightly.

She was hesitant to reciprocate at first, but settled into his embrace. Their jagged history left her weary of her own blood's intentions. However, the look of loneliness in his eyes seemed so genuine. Blood or not, any missing hero is alarming. As they parted from each other, they heard a cry from the back of the room. They turned towards Cobra to see volts surging through her body. She fell to the ground with a loss of consciousness.

Ink Master quickly whipped back around as she heard TJ emit a similar yelp. His body fell and what was left behind in the space he just stood was a silent creature. He had not been in the bar prior, nor had his face ever been in the criminal database. A detailed steel black mask covered his mouth and nose, accompanied by form fitting goggles. Midnight colored hair draped over his metallic face, falling short of his shoulders.

Any further details she was unable to take in. The man lit a smoke bomb in front of her. It's toxins filled the space, yet didn't affect him. She, however, fell to the ground. The last thing she saw before the darkness over took her, was a second pair of feet walking up behind the first.