"I hate this class!" Belladonna practically screamed in Hal & Mal's Diner.

"What happened today?" Jade asked.

"Professor Thinks-He-Knows-Everything gave me a C- on my paper. That paper was worth 35% of my grade! Do you know how hard I'm gonna have to work just to get a B?!"

"Well, why'd you get a C-?"

Bella sighed. "Apparently he disagrees with my thought process behind saying that taking over the world is impossible. Which it is! Usurping power would lead to world-wide revolution or would become too much for one person. Getting the entire world to agree to giving over leadership would never happen with all the power-hungry leaders we've got. Even if you threatened to destroy the world, no one is stupid enough to believe that you'd actually do it when you live on this world too!"

"Did you say all of that in your paper?"

Bella glared at Jade as if that question should be unnecessary. "Of course I did. I even had sources to back up every claim. I had newspaper articles, academic articles, books... heck, I had two primary sources because I went to the prison and asked two villains about why they think they failed at taking over the world. Two well known villains. Professor Crap-for-Brains is simply too conceited to think that maybe he's wrong."

"Did you tell him that?" Jade questioned before taking another bite of her burger.

"I did and he brought my grade down from a B- to a C-."

"Well-"

"Hey! It's not like I said it in front of the whole class! I went to his office hours and said it to his face, like a mature adult."

Jade chuckled under her breath as her friend got more and more angry. "Fine," Bella continued. "What would you have done."

Jade rolled her eyes. "I'd have taken the grade and moved forward in the class knowing that this was a professor you need to side with to get a grade worth getting."

"Well, you go ahead and continue to be a meek little pup with her tail between her legs, but I'm not gonna do that!" Bella took an angry sip of her milkshake before smiling as the taste wrapped around her tongue.  When she'd first saw the cherry vanilla milkshake, she'd felt a mixture of emotions.  Of course she loved how the color was so close to that of her hair, but then "cherry vanilla" sounded like much to happy a flavor.  She was right, of course, it is much to happy a flavor, but she enjoys it none-the-less.

"Hey, I'll argue away during discussions, but I'm smart enough to realize that in the end, the professor controls the grades. Why should my grade suffer because of a difference in opinion?"

"It shouldn't!  Either way, your grade should depend on your work not the professor's sensitivity to whether or not people agree with him... or her."

"That's the world we live in.  You've got to accept it."

"Aren't you a hero?  Shouldn't you be, I don't know, fighting for what's right and making sure everyone's fair."

Jade shook her head as she finished the bite of her burger.  "I'm not going to be a front-lines superhero, remember?  I don't think it'd be a good idea since... well, you know.  Anyways, I'm all behind the scenes; support and development and the like.  Rescue of other heroes, if necessary.  But mostly, I'll just be working with the judicial system to help rehabilitating villains to reenter the world."

Bella sighed.  "Still, you work for the greater good or whatever.  Making sure professors, of all people, aren't being biased idiots when it comes to students' grades is part of the greater good."

"Not my job and it's better that way."

"I disagree completely, but that's one of those things we'll just never agree on.  I still think you should be a real superhero.  But enough about me anyway. How'd your presentation go?" Bella asked, a smirk gracing her lips.

Bella knew well how Jade's presentation probably went.  She'd been working on a presentation for her psychology class with three others, though Bella couldn't remember anyone's name except Quinn.  The number of times Jade had complained about how controlling Quinn had been about the entire thing and how he was testing her patience... Bella never cared to remember the names of anyone she hadn't at least met, but Quinn's name was burned into her brain from all of Jade's complaints.

"It went fine," Jade said with a roll of her eyes. "Quinn was more than willing to loosen the reins a bit after I talked with him and I think Portia might be a new friend now."

"Ugh, you heroes and all your 'friends.'  Why is that the end goal with everyone?  Not everyone has to be a friend."

Jade laughed, almost choking on her soda.  "I still don't understand the logic behind villains not creating friendships, bonds with each other."

"Simple," Bella said, leaning back in her chair. "Villainy 101: 'Creating friendships creates weakness, but making allies increases strength. Friends who become enemies will result in failure or death, but allies who become enemies will result in nothing more than one more fight.' It actually makes plenty of sense."

"It sounds lonely and depressing."

"It's not.  It's basically the opposite.  If you're betrayed, you'd feel lonely and may become depressed, but if you never give someone the chance to turn on you..."

"Then you're lonely."

"Then you're alone," Bella corrected.  "Alone doesn't necessarily mean lonely.  Besides, I've already kind of broken that a little by being friends with you."

"Well if you weren't friends with me, you wouldn't have anyone to complain about your lousy professor to.  I think that proves this little 'rule' is completely bogus."

"Not really, but I'll accept that you'll never understand.  Besides, I'm kind of friends with Hades as well.  Well, not really friends, but definitely amicable... So I guess I haven't really broken the rule with him."

"Oh yes, Hades..."  Jade wiggled her eyebrows and Bella frowned at her in response.

"Don't even start with that."

"Start with what?  I'm not doing anything."  Bella reached over and grabbed one of Jade's onion rings as Jade teased her for the thousandth time about Hades, apparently the only one from Gallimore that Bella speaks about but doesn't complain about.

"You know exactly what you're doing."

"OK, fine, but that doesn't mean I don't think something is going on with you two."  Jade smiled at Bella and looked her in the eye as she grabbed one of Bella's fries in retribution.

"There's nothing going on."

"Sure, sure.  Either way, you always seem so much happier when you talk about him or hear his name."

Bella hadn't even realized she'd been smiling until Jade brought it up.  She quickly fixed that problem, but Jade just smirked at her as she took another bite of her burger.

"That's just because of how happy I am to finally be surrounded by other villains with crazy backstories and even crazier lives," Bella said in an attempt to save herself.  "I'm telling you, going to Gallimore must have been the best decision of my life."

"I agree," Jade said with a smile. "You've never looked happier.  It's been good for you so it can't be all bad."

Bella frowned. The fact that Jade didn't either bring up Hades again or roll her eyes and say something about how ridiculous it was that there was a college that focused on creating new villains that hadn't been shut down yet was suspicious enough. The fact that she had gone so far as to say there was anything positive about it meant something was up.

"What are you up to?" Bella asked.

"I'm a hero. I'm not 'up to' any-"

"What. Are. You. Up. To."

They stared at each other for several moments.  Bella's face was completely neutral as she ignored both her food and her milkshake to focus completely on making Jade crumble beneath her stare.  Jade met her eyes and stared back, but faltered with a smile, a chuckle, and a shake of her head.

Jade sighed. "Fine. I was being a little too nice, huh?"

"Not saying something negative about my school pretty much gave it away."

Jade nodded. "I appreciate the advice but I feel weird that I'm learning how to become a better liar-"

"Stop dancing around the subject. What are you up to?" Bella asked, glaring at her nervous-looking friend.

"Quinn, you remember Quinn, right? He's really sweet, always helpful, kind of curious, maybe a little too controlling with schoolwork but still..."

"The civilian who couldn't settle for just being a bystander like all the others?  The controlling group member who couldn't loosen the reins for weeks? Yeah, I remember you complaining about him nonstop. What about him?"

"Well, he's decided that his thesis is going to be on why someone decides to become a villain."

"He's starting his sophomore year? What an overachiever," Bella mumbled.  "But why do I care?"

"Well, he needs to interview someone and none of the villains in the prisons are willing to talk to an up-and-coming hero."

"And he wants me to get one to talk to him? That's gonna be hard," Bella sighed before taking another sip of her shake.  "Plus I don't really want to.  So the answer is pretty much no."

"No. Nothing like that," Jade laughed nervously, which made Bella even more suspicious. "He knows my roommate is a villain in training-"

"Why does he know I'm a villain?  I don't go around telling people you're a hero."

"I don't know how anyone found out, but practically everyone knows."  Jade shook her head and sighed before returning the conversation to its original topic.  "He knows my roommate is a villain in training and asked me if I could get her to talk to-"

"No. Absolutely not." Bella crossed her arms and frowned. "I won't talk to more superheroes than I already do."

"I'm the only one you ever talk to!"

"And you're already too good of an influence on me."

"We both know that's not true.  And besides, it's not like you have to be best friends with the guy!" Jade exclaimed.

"And I won't. More importantly, though, I won't have yet another superhero knowing my secret identity. It's not something only heroes worry about anymore."

"This could be that nice thing you do this month."

"I'll figure something else out."

Jade sighed as she watched Bella dip a french fry into her milkshake and shrug happily before doing it again. Jade dropped her head to the table before coming up with an amazing idea. "You do this," she said, "and I'll get Quinn to change your grade in the system so that you have an A on that paper."

Bella perked up. "You will?  Wait, isn't that a little... villainous."  Bella whispered the last word with a smile that earned an eyeroll from Jade.  Jade completely ignored the comment, though.

"You'll have to get Quinn onto the campus, but I don't think you'll have a problem with that, will you?"

Bella smiled mischievously. "No, I won't... But are you sure Quinn will be able to do it?"

"He'll be able to do it.   I promise."

Bella wasn't excited about the arrangement, but up until this stupid class with this insufferable professor, she had a 4.0 in college. She wasn't going to let it drop because he gave her a C- on a paper that was worth 35% of her grade when she so clearly deserved an A- at worst. For a grade that reflected her work, she'd talk to a powerless bug she could squash if the need arose.

********************************************

"So, this is your apartment, huh?" Quinn said as he walked in.

"Yeah, not bad, right? We kind of got lucky," Jade said, trailing off a bit at the end.

"Not bad? I'd think you guys were rich!"

"No, but our parents pay the rent, we just pay for everything else. That was the deal we made with them."

"Pretty good deal."

"Sometimes."

Quinn turned and smiled at Jade when he was done ogling her apartment. He was right, though. The apartment itself was beautiful. The kitchen twice the size of Quinn's bedroom and looked brand new, the living room was large enough for them to have a small party, and they each had their own room. Not to mention the view. They could see everything: the entire city, including the pier. Jade hadn't the slightest clue how much it cost, but she was happy she didn't have to pay for it.

"So," Quinn asked, "where's the roommate?"

"She'll be here," Jade shrugged. "She planned her schedule so that she had all morning classes Monday, Wednesday, Friday and all afternoon and night classes Tuesday and Thursday. She's usually done and back by 2ish on Fridays so she should be here soon."

"It's kind of scary how well you know my schedule," Bella said causing both Jade and Quinn to spin around quickly.

"It's kind of scary how quiet you can be when you enter a room. Does your key not make noise when it's unlocking a door?" Jade said after taking a breath to calm her heart.

"Sneaking and Creeping 205 is How to Break in Without Being Noticed. I aced that class," Bella said, smiling to herself.

"There's an entire class for that?" Quinn asked curiously.

"Yes, and I aced it. Were you paying attention?"

"Uh..."

"Don't mind her," Jade said. "She's just grouchy because she hates one of her professors."

"Whatever," Bella said, rolling her eyes. Jade was partially right, but most of Bella's attitude came from trying to convey her villainous status. After all, it's hard to gain if it isn't settled with a bad first interaction.

"Let's just get to it, then," Quinn suggested.

"Good idea," Jade said, leading Quinn to the table to sit. She waved Bella over, who came slowly with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

Bella cleared her throat and gave her best look of indifference. "What do you want?"

"Well, I guess my first question should be: why do you want to be a villain?" Quinn said.

"Because it's my destiny," Bella shrugged.

"Destiny?" Quinn asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, I was born to be a villain. Literally, my parents wanted to have me so that I could be a villain.  They wanted to brag to their friends about their powerful, villain child."

Quinn's mouth dropped open as if he simply couldn't believe what he'd just heard.  That couldn't possibly be the real reason.

"Well, that's what you wanted to know, right-"

"But why'd you decide to become a villain?"

"I just told you-"

"No, why did you decide that you were going to be a villain?  Why did you make that decision?  All you told me was the reason for others wanting you to be a villain," Quinn explained.

Bella sighed.  She always hated this question.  It was one of those questions where the answer never had the perfect wording even though it was generally the same every time.  "Here's the thing, I don't understand heroes any more than you understand villains.  Why should I use my powers to help people who are right now creating a weapon to kill me in case they ever need it?  Why should I save people who are calling for the police to arrest me because I'm causing damage to the city and five people died when if I hadn't helped, there would no longer be a city and hundreds would have died?  Why should I put myself out there for them and risk my life if they don't care about me at all?"

"They care-" Quinn started.

"They don't.  Not really.  One slip up, one sin and you're out of their good graces.  They'll hunt you down just as they hunt me now.  I've been hunted my whole life for things I've never done and you think they won't turn against you if you cause just a little too much damage or if it's their son or mother that dies instead of some arbitrary number of people?  They will.  So, no, I won't be a hero, but then there aren't many choices left, are there?  If I don't want the government to come after me to exploit my powers, I have to stay hidden and never use them.  I'm not going to hide my powers for anyone, so the only thing left is to become a villain.  I do what I want.  I get what I want.  And I remove any obstacles in my way with little guilt because I know that if I didn't remove the obstacle, it would remove me."

"That's a very pessimistic way of looking at things.  I think people generally trust and respect superheroes."

Bella snapped in front of Quinn's face several times.  "Wake up, Quinn.  Stop being such a child.  There's no trust, no respect.  Look at what happened to Babydoll and Synch.  One mistake and all of a sudden they were on the most wanted list, just like any villain.  It's all conditional, but you still build universities to become great superheroes so that you can save people who would turn on you in a second.  Villains are a lot of things, but we aren't the type to let people walk all over us like that.  We make sure of that now.  We've finally gotten one thing to help us take care of our own, though that seems to be the bane of superheroes or something."

"Wait, are you trying to hint towards saying that it's a good thing that there's a school to train villains?"

"There are all types of supports for heroes," Bella said angrily. "There's schools and mentors and even government aid sometimes. We just want one thing, ONE THING, to help us reach our potential."

"Potential to be villains?" Quinn asked, exasperated.

"Yes! And don't sound so judgmental. Without us, none of you would have any purpose. We supply the demand for your services. You're welcome."

Jade wasn't sure when this interview had become a debate, but it had quickly turned and she didn't know how to get it back on track.  "Guys..." she said.  "This started off as an interview."

"You're right, sorry," Quinn sighed.  "I do just have one more question about it, though.  I promise won't argue it too much more, but wouldn't it make more sense for those supports you talked about to be to intervene before anyone becomes a villain?"

"That's assuming that the end goal should be for everyone to be heroes, but if there were only heroes, there would be no heroes.  Besides, the world needs a little chaos in order for there to be order, don't you think?  And anyways, we don't want to be like you.  We don't want to help people who, in their heart of hearts, hate us.  That's that."

"Your thought process is... dizzying," Quinn said, rubbing his temples.

"Maybe your mental capacity isn't at the same height as that of a villain," Bella smiled.

Jade sighed.  "Don't be mean, Bella."

Bella rolled her eyes.  "Well, if we're done with this interview, I think I was promised a worthwhile grade on my paper."

"Oh yeah," Quinn said.  "How are you getting me in there?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Bella responded.

****************************************************************************************

Enjoy the songs! Or don't, your choice.