"I don't think the tablets are as effective as they used to be. They won't suppress his superpowers for much longer."

My brother Henry and I stared at each other in shock, unsure of how to react to this overheard conversation. We had just been trying to sneak down to raid the fridge for a midnight snack. It was not our plan to come across our parents discussing Henry's medication.

He had always been sickly. They told us he had a poor immune system and required medications to stay alive. Henry was always weak and tired. I would have never suspected that he wasn't actually sick.

We had always been different, despite being fraternal twins. He was kept inside, away from potential infections, while I ran around, playing in the dirt and scraping my knees. He was pale and thin, with delicate, fragile features framing bright green eyes. I was tanned from the sun, all rough edges and sharp angles. Most people who saw us together did not realize we were related, much less twins. I didn't care. I was his sister, his protector, he was my best friend.

I held his hand in mine, nervous sweat making our grip slip. His eyes were wide and nervous, a mirror of my own. He mouthed a single word, afraid to make a sound.

Superpowers?

I shook my head, I was just as clueless as him. Our mother started talking again. We listened further.

"Once he shows signs of his powers, even an idiot will be able to tell whose child he is."

Henry's hand tightened on my own. It was just too much to comprehend.

"It's too late to regret it now, dear. When we took him from them, it effectively crippled their heroic activities. It was the best move we've ever made against them!"

No.

I shrunk back against the wall, holding the boy I always thought was my brother tightly against me. He didn't push me away, but clung just as tightly to me.

He was the child of superheroes? He was kidnapped? What about me?

My mother sighed, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a long drag on it. It struck me as odd. I didn't even know she smoked.

Guess there was a lot I didn't know.

"This is why I said we should have just killed him from the start."

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise up at her cold, detached tone.

"Well we cant now." My father sighed. "Erica's attached to him. She thinks he's her real brother."

Mother didn't seem impressed. "She'll get over it. She needs to toughen up, if she's going to get into the family business."

"..." there was a awkward silence. I pulled at Henry's hand trying to put distance between him and the people who were supposed to take care of us.

"I guess you're right." At Father's defeated tone my calm broke, I yanked Henry' arm and ran up the stairs. We sat on the floor, panting for breath. Looking up, I saw an unfamiliar icy chill within my brother's eyes.

"Are you okay?" I reached out a hand to touch his cheek, but he pulled away. I felt a splintering pain in my chest and hung my head.

"...don't cry."

His voice was still cold, but he was warm as his arms wrapped around me in a tight hug. I hadn't even realized that I was crying before he said it, I wiped at my face, but it was no use, new tears just replaced the old.

"We have to escape." I forced to the words out. "We'll slip out tonight, find your real parents..."

"Erica." His face was sad. A bad premonition came over me, but I kept pushing forward.

"They won't look for us until morning, if we leave now we'll have a six hour head start..."

"Erica!" He looked like he was about to cry. I trailed off, my voice breaking with tears.

"... Please..." I shook my head, not wanting to hear his next words.

"I have to go without you."

Pulling away, I glared at him. "So you're leaving me with the psychotic villain kidnappers?"

"They're your real parents. If you go they can claim you ran away, or were kidnapped. The law would be on their side. The police would help look for us. But if it's just me... they might not risk it."

I felt betrayed. He reached out for my hand, but I pulled it back, avoiding him.

"Erica." It came out as a sigh.

"Go. I'll delay them as long as I can."

He hesitated a moment too long. I grabbed a bag and packed it full of clothing, toiletries and all the cash I had hidden under my bed. Pushing the bag into his arms, I simply repeated: "Go."

With another soft sigh he nodded and moved towards the window.

For a long moment we stood there, staring at each other. He was the other half of myself, my best friend, my twin brother.

He was a stranger.

"I'll come back for you."

With a soft promise, he slipped out through the window.

I waited until he was gone before crying myself to sleep.

Years later.

"Have you heard, Erica took down another villain lair."

"That's the third one this month! Does she ever take a break?"

"I heard she has a personal vendetta against supervillains. She even turned in her own parents at sixteen years old!"

I strode down the hallway, ignoring the two junior agents as they shushed each other loudly once noticing my presence. I had been at the villain suppression unit for 5 years now, I was used to the rumors and odd stares. After all, as the daughter of two of the worst supervillains of all time, I wasn't the typical recruit.

I walked into my captain's office, sighing at the angry look on his face.

"What did I do now?" I stretched out on the chair in front of his desk, ignoring his snort of disapproval as I propped my feet up on his desk. I knew he wouldn't fire me. He wouldn't dare. I was the best agent they had.

"You can start making excuses now." His voice was strained, coming out through clenched teeth.

"For what? The raid went perfectly!"

He reached out, pushing my feet off his desk.

"For what? How about how one of the villains broke an arm 'climbing out a window to escape'?"

I shrugged. "Seems reasonable."

"There are no windows on the that floor."

"Oh, well I guess I made a new one." I grinned, remembering throwing the villain in question through a wall. That had been fairly satisfying.

"How about how the Hero Assistance Unit showing up an hour late?"

"I know, how unprofessional of them."

He ignored my fake disapproval. "Someone hacked into their GPS and gave them the wrong coordinates."

I couldn't help but laugh "Who would do such a terrible thing?!"

"Shut up." The captain glared at me. "You cause me enough headaches, but at least I'm used to it. If you weren't so damn effective I would have fired you years ago." Standing up, he began pacing the room. "But now, I hear the Hero Unit requested you as a senior agent, and you told them to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine."

He sat back down with a sigh. "That job pays three times as much as this one, and you work about half the hours. What do you have against heroes, that you're so set against working with them?"

I stared at him with some surprise. The captain had never asked me about my personal life before. He only cared about results.

"Why don't I like heroes?" My voice was soft, my eyes looking past the dark office into a memory of a pale, sickly boy.

I'll come back for you.

I shook my head. "I just don't trust anyone."

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

"You can't live like that." He sounded resigned.

"Watch me."

"No. You're being reassigned." The captain pulled out a paper and started scribbling furiously on it. "We have a new hero liaison coming to the VSU later today. You're the only one without a partner, since you put Greg in the hospital."

"Can you blame me? I told him to keep his hands to himself. I'm ten times more efficient without him, anyways."

"We have a process for a reason..."

I cut him off, irritated. "So you're going to make me babysit this tights-wearing goody two shoes just because I don't like to play nice with the other units?"

"Just do it, Erica." He rubbed his forehead, groaning. "You owe me."

Damn. He was right. I did owe him.

"Fine. But he better not slow me down."

The captain grinned. "He's the strongest and fastest man alive. I don't think it will be a problem."

It was time to pick up the superhero.

Irritated, I watched my watch and tapped a foot, keeping an eye out to the front doors of the Hero Assistance Unit building. I didn't want to go inside, it never turned out well.

There were two branches of government that dealt with individuals with super powers. The first was the Hero Assistance Unit. Their main focus was working with super heroes: developing gadgets, tracking disasters, transportation, finances, etc. They worked with the good guys; focused solely on helping the heroes do their job.

The second was my unit, the Villain Suppression Unit. The lesser funded, disliked, hidden in the corner unit that focused on the darker side of superpowers. We tracked villains, took down their infrastructure, raided their lairs. It suited me. I turned in my unconscious parents with all the evidence I had gathered over the six years since discovering they were supervillains. They got life in prison. I got emancipated as a reward. I joined the unit as soon as I was old enough, and threw everything I had into taking supervillains down. No matter how many I arrested, however, it wasn't enough.

It would never be enough.

The sound of the doors opening broke me from my daze. My head snapped up, focusing on the pair of figures walking towards me.

One was Greg, my former partner. After he tried to put his hand up my shirt, and I sent him to the ICU, he was subsequently recruited to the HAU. Lowering my opinion of the unit further in general. He grinned at me, immediately causing my head to hurt.

"If it isn't the number one violent agent of the VSU." He kept his hands securely in his pockets, I noticed. "Haven't they locked you up yet? "

I started to reply, but then, all of my attention, my entire being became completely focused on the man standing next to Greg.

A tall man dressed in black. His appearance was average, the type of person that you wouldn't look at twice on the street. His hair was a little too long, hanging in front of his eyes...

His eyes.

Bright green, intelligent, and heartbreakingly familiar.

He smiled, the expression feeling like a knife in my heart.

"Long time no see, Erica."

Henry, the boy I grew up with. The one who I had thought was my brother, until an overheard conversation destroyed my life.

I stared silently at him, trying to process my shock. I knew he had become a superhero, but I had thought he was still out of the country. I never would have suspected that he would be the liaison to the VSU. I thought it would be pawned off on one of the less powerful ones, the ones they wouldn't miss. Not one of their top guys...

I had apparently been silent too long. Henry shook his head and reached a hand towards my face.

"Nothing to say after all these years? Maybe we should..."

I stepped around his outstretched hand and punched him in the face.

Shit. I felt a bone in my hand break on contact. Nursing the injured digits, I backed away from both of them.

"Are you okay?" Henry looked concerned.

"Stay away. Don't talk to me. And Greg? Do me a favor and drop dead before I help you do so."

Both of them ignored my words and stepped closer. I sighed, drew my weapon, and shot them with darts.

They both fell down to the ground, stunned.

"Paralysis darts, you'll recover in 30 minutes." I holstered my gun, and headed towards the nearest hospital to get my hand splinted.

The next morning, I hadn't spent two minutes in the building before I was called into the captain's office. I wasn't surprised; I had ignored his calls all night. What did surprise me was Henry's presence in the room.

"You're lucky I don't fire you." Was my captains greeting for me.

"I didn't throw anyone through a wall this time."

The captain was almost foaming at the mouth. "You drugged a hero and a HAU agent in broad daylight and left them paralyzed on the street."

"Like I said." I shrugged, carefully not looking at the hero sitting in the corner. "I showed restraint."

A low chuckle could be heard from the corner of the room. I ignored it. I didn't need his approval.

"This is Jarrod, also known as the Indestructible Man. He will be your partner for the next three weeks."

"Nice to meet you." A slim hand reached out to shake mine.

Jarrod? Not Henry? I guess Henry might have been a fake name that my parents had given after kidnapping him. I shrugged off the new piece of information,

just as I ignored the hand hanging in the air. He silently retracted it.

"Erica..." the captain growled out a warning.

"It's fine." Jarrod smiled and shook his head, indicating he wasn't offended. "I understand."

I snorted derisively, and walked out of the office, not caring if he followed or not.

He understood? Not even close.

"I get that you're mad at me." As we walked towards my car, Jarrod talked fast, as if hoping to get out his explanation before I could talk. "I know I promised to come back for you, and I never did. It was complicated..."

I stopped, smiling, feeling a brief flash of enjoyment when he backed away nervously. "No. It's very, very simple. You didn't come back. I survived. End of story. We have nothing to do with each other once this partnership ends in a few weeks."

His brow wrinkled. "But..."

"No buts. You aren't my real partner, my brother, my boyfriend or even a friend. You're a distant acquaintance at best. One that I would prefer to keep as distant as possible. Alright?"

"If that's what you want..." he nodded slowly, looking troubled.

"Good, now that we've settled that, let's get moving."

I got into the car and started it up, forcing Jarrod to scramble into the passenger seat next to me.

"Where are we going?"

I grinned. "Where else? Some hole in the wall bar to beat information out of minions."

"I really don't know anything." The tattooed man sweated bullets as he looked back and forth between us.

I patted him on the back gently. "Don't worry. I believe you, though thousands wouldn't."

"Really?"

"No. Now start talking or I'll start taking body pieces off."

He looked up, panicked, at Jarrod who shrugged. "Don't look at me, she's in charge."

"Poor guy, did they team you up with the Demon Witch on your first day." The minion shook his head. "Get out before she kills you."

I idly flipped a knife between the fingers of my good hand. "You're ignoring me, Spike. You know how I get when I feel ignored."

He leaned back in his chair. "Okay I'll talk, just put the knife away!"

Jarrod chuckled. "They call you the demon witch?"

"Only the ones who are tired of living." My tone wasn't friendly.

"Point taken."

"Tell me what's going on with the villain raids." I kept my attention on the suspect.

"What about them?" Spike was trying to be stubborn. I brought my hand and the knife closer to his face.

"How do you guys keep getting ahead of the raids in time?"

"Well..." He delated a few moments.

"I know you have a mole, I just need to know which branch."

"You know?!" He shook his head. "No wonder you've been so sucessfful lately. The bosses have been crapping bricks all day."

I grinned, and he leaned away further. "Happy to ruin their day. Now... Which. Unit?

"The Hero Assistance Unit."

I sat down, rubbing my head with a sigh of relief. I was right.

"Can I go?

"Almost, just one more thing. I've been seeing signs of new big things going down behind the scenes. Is there a big name back in town?"

Spike froze. "You promise you guys won't rat me out?"

"Have I ever?" I rolled my eyes.

"You don't get it." He glared at me. "Everyone has their breaking point, and these guys pretty much define it for most people."

"Stop stalling." I didn't have to threaten him, he knew I was capable of it.

"The Shadow Couple."

Three simple words, but every else faded into nothingness.

I was twelve years old again. Covered in blood, only some of it mine.

"Again." My mother commanded, her voice cold."

"I can't move, my arm and leg are broken."

"Try harder."

I was forteen, the taste of blood in my mouth. "Why did you have to kill him?"

My father's expression didn't change. "Because he was useless."

"What if I'm not useful?"

"Then I'll kill you too."

Years of pain and torture, of blood and death and my mind being forcibly reshaped to think like a villain came back to me all at once. I vaguely heard Henry/Jarrod shouting at me, pulling at my hand.

Slowly I focused in to realize I had pressed a gun to Spike's head. His face was pale, his eyes were bulging with fear.

"They are in prison for life." I spat the words out. He flinched backwards and shook his head.

"I've seen them with my own eyes. They're back out."

"..." I kicked his chair out from under him. When he fell on the floor, I picked him up by his collar, putting his face next to mine.

"Talk about this to anyone else, and you will wish that I had killed you."

With that I strode back towards the car.

"Wait, Erica!" My temporary partner was confused. "Wasn't he talking about your parents?"

"What do you think?" I was already texting the captain. Had he known?

"I mean, I know you're angry, but it's not the end of the world, we can capture them again and put them away."

I chuckled, getting into the car. "Not the end of the world, huh? You obviously didn't know them well."

"I mean, they kept me for 10 years without hurting me, how bad could they be?"

With my good hand I grabbed his collar, pulling him closer, With my splinted hand I parted my collar, revealing 3 scars on my left pectoral. Old bullet wounds. They throbbed with remembered pain.

"Not that bad huh? You should have stuck around for the good stuff."

His eyes were wide. "When did they?"

"8 hours after you left." I released him, adjusting my collar and turning towards the road.

"Wait... you were ten years old!"

"I was."

"They shot a child."

"Among other things."

"..." There was a pregnant pause.

"I'll help you take them down."

"I don't need it."

He thought it over. "I do have one thing you don't"

"Superpowers?"

"Besides that." He laughed. "I have access to the traitor in the HAU. If we take that person down, I'm sure they can lead us to your parents."

I thought it over, it wasn't a terrible idea. I still hated it.

"I'm in charge."

"Obviously."

"This partnership is only temporary."

He nodded. "Good enough for now." He stuck out his hand to shake for the third time since we had met.

I hoped I wouldn't regret this. I sighed and shook his hand slowly, ignoring the warmth of his palm against mine.

"Let's go."

And so I drove on, unsure of what the future would hold. This partnership was a bad idea. I didn't trust him. I didn't trust anyone. But I didn't have too much of a choice. I needed to find my parents and take them down, before they could do something ridiculous like destroy the world.

I stared at the road ahead, trying desperately to push thoughts of the past behind me.

It was time to get to work.