█▓▒▒░░░ A BLUSH & STUTTER ░░░▒▒▓█

Music blared in the Beating Dungan. I silently trailed behind Chapa with my shoulders straight, and my head held high. Being around this many villains honestly put me on edge, and I couldn't help but act slightly over-protective. My katanas were like fire against my back, and they almost seemed to weigh ten pounds heavier. They attracted many eyes around me as I walked by, and my fingers often twitched to grab them and run away with Chapa.

Chapa and I stood by the bar, another blonde woman with an eyepatch standing beside us. She had a cup in hand, and I quickly caught Chapas arm before the spikes on her jacket could puncture the drink. I could hear Chapa audibly inhaled, not a gasp but a deep breath of surprise. I released her as Ray, or Hawkfist, walked over to us.

"Hello? Hi, can I have everyone's attention, please?" Someone called out. I looked over at the man standing on a chair, which he honestly did not need because he was tall as it was. He had a rich and dark skin tone with an even darker beard. He wore a paper hat with two gold lines, a white t-shirt and an extremely dirty apron.

My nose curled in disgust at the evidently unwashed fabric. Chapa somehow noticed despite the cloth mask that covered the bottom of my face, and one side of her lips quirked up.

"For those of you who don't know, I am The Butcher, and I just want to give everybody a big thank you for attending Villains Only NIght!" The man smiled as Ray and Chapa exchanged looks.

The crowd cheered and applauded before a glowing blue weapon whirled across the room. My hand reached back and latched onto one katana in preparation. Chapa looked over as I shifted closer to her, a hand extending out and grabbing my biceps. She didn't try to pull my grip away, only resting her hand there in comfort after noticing my unease.

"Whoa! Simmer down there, Betty Blades..." He grinned and pointed to the smiling girl. "I throw rocket blades!" She cheered, her voice high pitched and irritating to my ears. The man nodded and smiled back.

"And we love you for it, but tonight is about our evil community coming together to say 𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦." The crowd cheered again, and I noticed Miles across the room also clapping. "And we must give a big thank you to our free, evil face painter!"

Everyone cheered again as The Butcher pointed to Schwoz, who stood not far from us. He turned around from the woman he was painting and smiled with a bow. He wore an afro and fake beard with an eyepatch. It wasn't hard to recognize he was dressed as evil Bob Ross.

"Now, what I want everyone to do is to talk to three villains you haven't talked to before because an evil stranger is just an evil friend you haven't met yet." He said as he held up three fingers. I rolled my eyes, knowing I wasn't going to talk with anyone.

Chapa grinned and turned to me. "Don't worry, Angel, I'll do the talking for you." and for once, I was glad the mask covered up the blush that painted my cheeks at the name.

❂

"No, no, I love the name 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘵." The green man said to Ray as the five of us stood huddled in a group. Well, the four of them and me standing over Chapas shoulder, almost like a bodyguard.

"Appreciate that." Ray said in a deep and cringeworthy voice. I glanced over at Mika, who stood in another group a short distance away. She locked eyes with me, and I gave her a small, barely noticeable nod. Fortunately, the smart girl caught the action and gave one of her own back.

"But, do hawks... have fists?" the other snake girl said, making me tune back in. Ray groaned and threw up his hands, "Yes!"

"I told you no one would get it." Chapa boasted. The snake woman looked over at her words, but her eyes soon trailed over Chapas shoulder and landed on me.

She gave me a weird look before glaring at me. "You got a staring problem or something?"

I raised an unamused eyebrow at her words. Chapa glanced over before turning back, "She The Silencer so she doesn't speak. It's kinda in the name." She explained for me.

The woman didn't seem to like the answer because she spoke up again. "Why? Do you have a freakish voice or something?"

My eyes narrowed in a glare, and Chapa spoke. "I'd drop it if I were you. Her name is The Silencer for a reason."

I couldn't help but smile at the fear on their faces as I pulled out the sharpened blade. It was about the length of my arm and reflected off the lights.

Chapa sharply smiled as she walked away, trusting me to follow. I trailed after her, my boots making a heavy 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥 as I walked. I made sure to let my weapon drag across the floor where they stood before we left.

We walked around the room before making it to Miles, who spoke up as someone walked over as well.

"So, you know anything about all those books that got stolen from The Swelview Library?"

"Stealing books? Nah, that's too evil for me. " I narrowed my eyes and glared at him as Chapa pointed toward me. "She agrees." The man, Doug the Thug as his nametag said, slightly reeled back at the look. He side eyed me before they flickered to the weapons on my back. They grew in size before he looked over at Chapa.

"You got that from one look? One that looks like she'd like to run me through with her swords." My glare intensified, and I tilted my head, "They're actually katanas. She doesn't like it when you disrespect her weapons." Chapa informed him.

He nodded in dismay. Or maybe it was fear. "Anyway, I'm just trying to flood a children's hospital."

"Why not just flood the whole town?" Chapa countered. "What?" Doug asked.

"Yeah, what?" Miles sassed in astonishment. Chapa gave a small shrug, "I'm just sayin'... You wanna be evil, blow up the Swellview Dam. You'll flood the whole town." She said with a smirk and breathy chuckle.

"I dont think thats a-"

"Okay, that is fantastic." Doug applauded. "You're welcome." Chapa slightly smiled.

"I liked you." Doug said as I tensed behind her. Chapa slightly leaned back, her weight bearing down on my chest, giving a delightful amount of pressure. The feeling eased my anxiety, and I released a heavy sigh.

"I like me, too." She smiled.

"You are going places, evil little girl." Doug said as he pointed at her, totally ignoring my presence.

"Maybe I'm already there." Chapa retorted. The man snapped his fingers and slightly crouched, giving her finger guns. Chapa widely smiled as she nodded as she pointed back, two razor sharp claw armor rings enveloped her pointer fingers. I couldn't fight the grin that took over my face.

MIles groaned in frustration and pointed his hand at her. "I have ideas." Chapa sharply smiled before looking me in the eyes and jerking her head in a different direction. I smiled slightly and, once again, followed after her.

❂

My head snapped to the side as I heard Mika sonic scream. I tense and silently brought out one of my katanas. This was 𝘯𝘰𝘵 going to go well. A guy who somehow looked like a classic nerd and a street artist at the same time flew up into the raptors.

"Face.. I was gonna say my face." He groaned and held his stomach. Everyone seemed to freeze before a man with grass for hair pointed, "It's ShoutOut!"

"Who?" Betty Blades asked in confusion.

"She's not a villain. She's in Danger Force!" The Butcher yelled. The tension rose as Schwoxx pulled out a grappling hook, "Im outta here." he said before she flew to the roof for the second time today. "𝘉𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦!"

❂

The rest of us had grouped together as the villains argued about Mika, who was pinned to a wall by hatchets.

"You know what you should do with her is-'' Before Chapa could continue, I reached up from behind her and covered her mouth, draping my arms over her shoulders, almost in a hug. Miles seemed grateful for me, saving him from listening to Chapa create ways to torture his sister.

"What are we going to do?" Bose asked as Chapas skin warmed under my hand. I patted her on the shoulder before pulling away. Bose looked over and paused at Chapa, his painted eyebrows momentarily furrowing before something seemed to click in his mind. I didn't bother to ask and turned to Ray as he spoke.

"Relax. Hawkfist as a plan." He said. My brows were the next to furrow as I noted multiple name tags. Most were crossed out, and Chapa seemed to have the same thought.

"I-um... I thought you changed your name to 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴?" She stuttered.

"Oh, yeah, then I changed it again." Ray rasped. "I'm now 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘺."

I shook my head and spoke up for the first time in hours. "𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 was better." I rasped out as well. My voice had dropped a bit and was slightly gravelly. My throat was dry from being unable to take off my mask, and my voice was rather rough and harsh.

I cleared my throat and rolled out the slight strain in my neck, I had my arms crossed and head tilted back with my hip slightly pointing out because I was leaning on one foot. I only then noticed that Chapa was staring at me. She quickly turned away when she was caught, and I saw Bose grin out of the corner of my eye.

I side eyed Ray as he crowed like a bird and skipped away. I sighed and couldn't help but shake my head in amused disappointment.

"I do not feel good about this plan." I nodded my head and raised my hand in agreement with Miles' words. Ray squirmed his way through the crowd as they continued to argue.

"Alright everybody, let's cut the chatter!" Ray yelled. Everyone immediately went quiet. It was honestly impressive, and Ray grinned as if he agreed. "Nice. All right. The 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘺 will deal with this girl."

"Who's that Hawkfist?" The snake woman enthusiastically asked. Ray smoldered, "Me."

"I thought you were Hawkules." The snake man whined.

"Gah, moving on!" Ray interrupted the snake man. "I'm going to scratch this girl! And she will 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘥." The crowd around him hollered as Ray and the Snake woman argued about hawk anatomy.

"𝘾'𝘾𝘼𝘼𝘼𝙒!"

Ray and Mika put on a dramatic and embarrassing show as Betty walked up to him, "Wait a second.." She muttered as she swiped off the 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 from Rays claws and sucked it into her mouth. The crowd all made disgusted noises and pulled faces. I could help but make one too. What if that really 𝘩𝘢𝘥 been blood?

"It tastes sweet." She said in a questioning tone. The crowd consecutively made a 𝘩𝘶𝘩 sound. "Of course it does! The taste of victory is always sweet."

"Yeah but that's just jelly." Betty pointed.

"𝘖𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘩."

"Raspberry, if I'm not mistaken." Betty said the same words as Bose earlier. She took another taste before curling her nose and walking away.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘺 must have used that donut!" The Butcher pointed out as he mockingly used quotation marks. The group gasped as they looked at the squashed dough with red slipping out of it.

"No I didn't."

"But you did, though."

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘵?"

"Right before you fake scratched her." The snakeman said as he crossed his arms like a disappointed mother.

"And unstuck her for the wall." The snake woman agreed.

Doug was the next person to chime in, "Are you even a villain, bro?"

The group seemed to all start talking about the different hawk-related names for a moment before Ray seemed to explode as he stormed out, going to change into his superhero attire.

I looked over at Chapa as she nodded at my look. "Of course I'm ready for a fight." She grinned as she rolled her eyes. Her words got Miles and Bose's attention as they looked over. "Are you?"

I couldn't help but smirk under my mask, a smile line appearing on one side of my mouth. Chapa shook her head as she grinned, "Yeah, yeah, brag all you want."

Miles and Bose exchanged looks before the former spoke up. "How in the fudgenuggets did you get all of that from one look?"

Chapa only had time to smile and shrug before Miles sighed and walked over to his sister.

"Are there any other members of Danger Force here?" The Butcher asked. Miles squatted down and grabbed his sister. "Yes. But not for long. 𝘉𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦!" With that, he disappeared in an explosion of yellow.

"Okay, are there any 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 members of Danger Force here?" The Butcher asked, obviously astonished. Before I could stop him, Bose spoke up.

"My guys! My guy!" He called out as he pointed to himself on my right. I face palmed with my empty hand as Chapa yelled in complete bafflement on my left, "What are you doing?" she made a strangling movement with her hands as she faced him.

"Right here. Call myself brainstorm. Of course, my real name is-"

Chapa and I both acted quickly, her red bots of energy hit The Butcher's chest with a yell while green wisps tangled around my fingers and more wrapped around the mouth of Bose. The man stiffly collapsed to the ground, falling unconscious.

"It's Volt!" The snake woman yelled.

"And Safeguard!" The other snake person shouted.

Before we could panic, Ray walked in dressed as Captain man. "Alright you jerks! Anyone wanna make fun of my book now?"

Ray obviously didn't expect everyone to start objecting, "Yes!" Ray quickly pushed the three of us to the side. "I hate you all." He groaned as music started to play.

"𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙃𝙄𝙈!"

And the battle was on. I quickly pulled out my other katana and sliced them through the air, my arms extending, so they were in front of Bose and Chapa. Betty pulled her arm back, but Chapa was quick to send a blot. Only it bounced off her weapon and was heading back. I reached out and tried to form a shield in front of Bose.

Instead, the green formed at my hand and traveled up my arm, creating a barrier with my katana. Chapas shot was absorbed by my green like usual, but instead of dissolving, it wrapped around the sword, turning my green shield a fiery orange.

I paused and stared in awe. Looking over, Chapa and Bose wore the same expression. I slowly turned to Betty, who looked reasonably terrified, and sliced my weapon in her direction. Instead of a shield forming or a volt shooting, a wave of orange light rippled towards her.

As soon as whatever hit her, she yelled and flew backward, crashing into the wall. However, It seems so strong that she went 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 the wall. The orange flickered before it went back to green, my shield dissolving as well. Before we could say anything, the book thief walked by us.

Chapa and Bose quickly grabbed him by the arms as I froze, looking at the katana. I barely noticed the fight ending until a hand touched my shoulder. I swung on instinct, and Captain Man quickly caught it before it could hit him.

"Whoa there... you alright, kid?" For a moment, I could only stare at him. I barely realized my eyes were watering until I could only make out the vague shape of him. I didn't notice him take the weapon from my hands, nor Chapas' look of concern and how my hands shook. When I did respond, my voice was shaking and cracked.

"Can we talk?"

❂

"So youre saying..."

"Yeah." I whispered as tears slowly dropped down my face. I didn't know why I was crying. I wasn't sad. Nothing 𝘣𝘢𝘥 happened.

Yet my face was wet.

Ray sighed as he slowly walked over to me. We were in his room, a place that gave us privacy. He sat beside me at the bottom of the bed.

"Who else knows?"

My lips thinned as I looked down. "Bose."

His gaze burned as he stared down at me. I slowly looked up and met his sad eyes. "You mean he's the only one?"

I slowly nodded, "And you now."

He frowned and rested his hand on my shoulder. "It'll be okay, kiddo."

I nodded and wiped my nose. I couldn't help but doubt him. How could it be? When I've caused so much pain? When I've 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 them so deeply.

"Do you still have it?" Ray asked.

I sniffled and nodded. "Yeah. I made a promise. Even if I couldn't find her, I wasn't going to break it."

He nodded and sadly smiled. "You're a good kid, you know that?"

I only chuckled and shook my head. "No. No, I'm really not."

░▒▓▆▅▃▂▁ 𝐀 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐇 & 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑▁▂▃▅▆▓▒░