Work Text:
I'll wear all pink to your white wedding
I'll dance all night and do something upsetting
I'll laugh when you kick me out
It's been the third time already
Whether he was the guest of honor at a charity ball or it was the inauguration ceremony of the city’s newest orphanage, Malachite Haze had many times been questioned if there was a ‘Mrs. Haze’ (or the prospect of one), that he was keeping from the public. Henry, in all his masked glory, would oftentimes laugh at the ever prevalent question and reply that he was married to the city and to his job. The interviewer would then proceed to laugh right along with him and move along, onto the next question.
This was an ever-present pattern that within time, came to be expected whenever a casual interview or some type of hero comic-con style panel occurred. It was always made in the same fun, light-hearted, manner. It was a type of question that was more intended for the gossip magazines rather than his actual job, never meant to be taken too seriously. As time went on however, despite constantly giving the same ‘joking’ retort in a playful tone, Henry found himself actually meaning his answer more and more.
Because as the weeks turned to months and months turned to years, it just came to be that in a way, he really was.
The overtime, the demanding tasks, the physical strain he put his body through, the hours of research, the sleepless nights, the mental drain, etc. All of this, also went without mentioning the first and most important thing that attached Henry to the city. That, being the fact that not only was he devoted to being Asilo’s fulltime superhero, but he was also tied down to its biggest threat.
All he had to do was remember his cousin’s wedding.
Henry had been standing outside, a few meters away from the chapel, just in its parking lot prior to the ceremony starting. He had been in the middle of talking with some of his family members, discussing the various preparations that had been done a few days before the wedding, and being mostly grateful that today all of that chaos would be over and they could all finally relax.
Then, the explosion happened.
A few screams and shouts rang out as the small crowd that had gathered around, immediately began to disperse. His arm instinctively went in front of his aunt who he had been talking to as he stared in shock at the building that was now in flames.
“What the-” the out of disguise hero began before seeing some of his younger cousins standing a couple meters in front of him, frozen in their spots. Immediately his protective instincts took over and he started shouting at the younger family members to get back.
“Remy! Charlie! Get away from there, go to your parents!” He went up to the two children and carefully, yet swiftly pulled them back. “Everyone get your families in your cars and get out of here! Uncle Jake, don’t try to get any closer, just take my cousins with you and go! Don’t worry about me, I’ll call the fire department, I got it!” With priorities in mind, he attempted to get his family and any other people nearby to evacuate the place as quickly as possible.
The sooner they left, the more at ease he would be that his loved ones were away from danger, not to mention that with everyone gone (and calling 911 from a safe distance their to report the situation) the sooner he could sneak away to transform into Malachite Haze and rush the burning chapel for anyone who might have been inside during the explosion.
Just as he was running towards the church’s private gardens so he could transform away from prying eyes, did he see… her.
Dressed in her signature pink and black outfit. Unmasked of course (why should she? She didn’t give a shit if people knew her identity, in fact she didn’t give a shit about most things), her hair flailing wildly around her as she jumped up and down in what he could only guess was sick pleasure at the event that had just transpired before them. She herself, Henry deduced, had most likely been the cause of it, if the way she laughed and bounced around her spot, clapping her hands together like an excited child, was anything to go by.
Charlotte, or as she was formally known to the masses, Ember.
Of course she was behind it. Because what other degenerate in the city would just go around setting ablaze a sacred place like a Catholic chapel for no reason?
Henry briefly considered rushing her and taking her down on the spot. Unfortunately, there was a burning building behind him and possible trapped humans inside, so he had more pressing matters to attend to. After all, there was no way the fire department would get there on time.
He still made a mental note to track her down on the evening and bring her to justice. Even as he hid behind the hedges, transformed into his superhero persona, activated his shield and ran into the deteriorating building, this was most definitely not something that would go unaddressed.
Running home, I laugh alone
At least I stole the show
Charlotte happily hummed a quiet little tune as she walked around the 4th floor of the abandoned multi-leveled parking lot, her tall needle-heels echoing through the empty lot.
She was dressed in a lovely, flattering white dress that hugged her in all of the right places showing off her curves, whose length stopped just a few inches above her ankles, a tasteful slit ridding up her left leg, all the way to her thigh. Her loose curls hung around her, framing her face and the soft neutral eyeshadow look accompanied with a bold liner that adorned her eyes.
The villain had put visible effort into her appearance tonight, and was quite proud of the outcome. After all, it was a special night and the petite woman wanted to make sure that everything turned out perfect (everything that she could help at least).
Now, Charlotte was on her way, just about to finish her little set up that she had prepared in the middle of the parking square for the special occasion when she was suddenly grabbed by the throat and all but slammed into the nearest concrete pillar. The act made her drop the glass bottle she had been carrying in her hands, glass crashing beneath her.
“Awww, come on!” She whined, seemingly unconcerned at the hand that was currently wrapped around her jugular, the arm that was making bruising pressure against her stomach, or the fact that she had been extremely close to suffering a concussion. “That was a 500 dollar champagne bottle! I mean, I didn’t pay for it, but still…” The woman pouted.
Malachite was not in the mood.
He all but yelled in her face as he moved his hands from her neck in order to hold her in place by the shoulders. “You blew up St. Ivan’s chapel this morning! Why?!”
The woman under his pin just rolled her eyes. Only looking slightly irked at her current predicament, as if this whole thing was just a mild inconvenience for her. “ Wooow , are you actually blaming me for that?”
Henry was losing his patience (if he had any to begin with). “ Ember… ” he growled in a low voice, he didn’t track her down tonight to play any of her games.
Finally, the young woman cracked a smile and started giggling, again, acting like she had just been caught in a tiny, harmless prank. “Ok, you got me. I did it.”
She continued to let out bursts of small giggles and didn’t really stop until she saw the hero in front of her wasn’t letting up his furious look. Her laughter came to a halter and she only gave out an annoyed groan. “Oh my god ! I can’t believe you’re genuinely getting mad at me, when it should be me the one who’s angry at you .” At her masked counterpart's seemingly confused frown she continued. “I mean you’re the one who decided to get married to someone else on MY birthday!”
“Wh-” Henry was astounded, he could only stare at her in stunned surprise before snapping out of his dumbfounded pause “That wasn’t- I was never getting married! That was my cousin's wedding, you goddamn lunatic!”
After his outburst, a silence overcame the parking space. Nobody talked or made any sound. Ember only gave a wide eyed stare in response. The sound of the sizzling champagne that remained spilt on the floor still being ever present and if one strained their ears sufficiently, a man could have probably been heard coughing in the distance.
“Ooooooooh!” Came the overly drawled out expression from the criminal in his arms.
‘I’m going to have a fucking aneurysm’ thought Henry as he watched a cheerful smile make it’s way into Ember’s features.
“Yeah that makes sense, seeing as how, you don’t even have a girlfriend…” She let out a small ‘pfft’ “I mean if that were the case, I would be the first to know.” She smacked the palm of her hand against her temple and let out a goofy ‘Doh!’ “Whoopsy! My bad!” She finished whilst giggling at her own statement.
Like it was the cutest shit in the world.
Feeling his frustration come to a boiling point. The blond hero only snarled in return before ramming her once again against the concrete wall and dropping her to the ground.
(In the beginning of her villainous crusade, many people had been outraged at his brutality with the villain. This was not only due to her gender but many detractors also made it a point to emphasize the fact that she was much smaller than him in both weight and height.
Nowadays, most of the population in Asilo didn’t think he was nearly as harsh on her as he should be.)
Charlotte collided with the ground harshly. She coughed a couple of times and took a moment to shut her eyes for a few seconds in response to the sharp pain that began to bloom on her scalp.
“I’m okay.” She said into the mostly empty lot.
Looking around, there really wasn’t anybody else in the building with them, but knowing her from many years past, Henry was well aware that her goons were somewhere around here, hiding away from plain sight, never daring to interrupt, but always awaiting their leader’s orders to attack on command.
Slowly but steadily, Charlotte got up and brushed any dirt that may have appeared on her dress. She then produced a small compact mirror from her bosom and proceeded to fix her hair, pulling back any curls that may have strayed in the fall.
Satisfied with her appearance, she closed the mirror and placed it back where she had gotten it, making Henry who had until then been intently watching her in disbelief (mild disbelief, mostly because he had long gotten used to her sudden mood swings and behaviors shifts) look away in what was most definitely not embarrassment.
“Well then.” The now cheerful villain spoke up once again. “Aren’t you going to tell me that I look nice?” She asked in a sickly sweet tone. Doing a little spin in front of her rival before striking a tiny pose at the end. She batted her eyelashes, as if she hadn’t just nearly suffered from mild cranial trauma after being slammed into hard concrete. “After all,” Her voice grew slower, softer. “I picked out this dress while thinking of you.” The glammed up woman gave him a sweet smile while looking at him from under her lashes.
Henry kept his gaze firmly on her face, not at all fighting the urge to let his eyes wander down and rake over her form.
Part of me wanna do stupid shit
Gotta admit, I'm a hypocrite
I like it way better than being on the side of it
I'm a psycho, loving it
“You could’ve killed everyone.” The hero’s tone was angry, serious. He wanted to let her know that tonight, he wasn’t going to humor her in any way, shape or form (not that he usually did, but still).
“But I didn’t!” Charlotte whined, purposely dragging out the word, and purposely getting on his nerves. “I made sure there was no one inside the chapel” She stomped her heeled shoe beside her, resembling a child on the verge of having a temper tantrum. Once again displaying that to her, this whole conversation was nothing more than an unnecessary hassle and not the deliberate discussion on how she could have committed mass murder. Henry could feel his anger start to take over once again.
“You still could’ve-”
“Birthday! Birthday! It’s my birthday and I don’t wanna hear about work stuff anymore!” The darker skinned woman threw her hands up exasperatedly, quickly turning on her heel and stepping away from her heroic companion.
If this had been a movie, or a cartoon, Henry would have probably laughed at the idea of blowing up a church and almost killing up to three hundred people in the process, being referred to as ‘work’. Nevertheless, this was reality and he actually had to deal with it. By himself.
“Now.” Charlotte stopped in her tracks and once again turned to face her emerald-green clad rival, addressing him in a much happier tone than the one she had just used not but ten seconds ago. “Whyyy don’t you pull out my chair for me and join me for dinner? I cooked it all myself and I really don’t feel like eating alone.” She was back to doing her cutesy thing again. Hands behind her back and bowing her head slightly. “Pretty please? It will be your birthday present to me.”
Henry’s grimace deepened at the request that his arch-nemesis was making of him. He had only now noticed the small but elaborate display that Charlotte had been walking towards before being interrupted and manhandled by him.
There in the middle of the parking lot was a small rounded table, enough to fit around two people, adorned by a white, lacey, tablecloth and two (expensive looking) white chairs. On top of the table there seemed to be situated two plates covered by a silver rounded metal dish and a three armed silver candlestick.
There were also red rose petals scattered around the table.
The hero looked back to his rival and began walking towards her.
“And why the hell would I do that instead of taking you, bending you over this table and-”
“Oh Malachite" Charlotte interrupted with a giggle, placing a hand over her chest in faux indignation. "While I do appreciate your boldness, I really rather be wined and dined first.” She finished, wearing the most self satisfied smirk.
Henry stopped in his tracks, shutting his eyes briefly, feeling incredibly stupid. As if he had just fallen into the dumbest trap, playing himself in the most obvious way. Really, after knowing her for this long, he really should have known better than to use any type of implicatory language around her.
The blond could feel his cheeks starting to heat up and before he could let it fully consume his features (and have to deal with the implications of his reaction) he quickly shook it off.
“Cuff you. Bend you over and cuff you,” it was a wonder how he managed to communicate clearly with how hard he was gritting his teeth “ Take you to Rottenskeller Maximum Security Asylum Prison, and lock you in there whilst throwing away the key. That way you can get off my hair and out of my life for at least a week and have some type of consequences for your actions!” He was now mere feet away from her, not quite screaming but the irritation was evident in his voice’s volume. And the worst part of all was that, even with all this, she did not look intimidated or even slightly alarmed, at all.
That was always bad news.
“Hmm…” Charlotte took a small pause as she looked at Henry. A small, insincere, smile slowly creeping over her face Henry felt his unease start to rise. She spoke softly. “I don’t appreciate you trying to ruin my plans, Hart.” The hero stilled at the use of his real name.
Not so much because she knew it but, (besides the fact that her lackeys were nearby and at the risk of hearing her say it) because of the fact that she only ever referred to him via his real name when she herself wasn’t playing around and wanted to let him know that he should be taking her very, very, seriously.
“But,” she continued, “if you must know. I might or might not have placed multiple bombs in a few, several , certain places that start with an h and ends with an ospital that I will set off if you still refuse. Oh and if you try to attack me again, one of my boys here will just blow them up for me while the rest gang up on you and I get out of here” Her voice became more and more ominous as she spoke. A dark, sinister glare to match when she ended her statement.
There was a pause after as they stared at each other, daring one another to make some sort of move. Moments passed however, and at the sight that the taller man was not going to make any type of aggressive move towards her, the villainous woman seemingly relaxed and went back to giving him her most charming smile.
That was when Henry knew he was fucked.
(Because of the bomb threats obviously, not because of anything else. No. Of course not.)
The silence hung in the air for a while and after what was probably only a minute or so (even if for the blond felt like hours), Henry walked over to the clothed table with the embellished display, pulled out a chair and with a very hard expression gritted out “Care to join me?”
Charlotte, immediately, beamed and all but skipped over to the table, taking the offered seat.
“Thank you.” She smiled, gesturing to the seat in front of her with her hand so her counterpart could mimic her actions.
Henry did so, although begrudgingly.
When Henry finally sat down with her, Charlotte immediately piped up and poured them both some wine before starting to ramble to him about her day. At first, the conversation was pretty one sided, with Charlotte doing most of the talking and Henry limiting his replies to incredibly curt ‘ yes’s’ ‘no’s’ and ‘i guess’ but as time began to pass, she was eventually able to coax him out of his icy demeanor.
After a while, without even noticing, words between them seemed to flow easily and he even found himself laughing at one of her jokes, having a surprisingly nice time.
Despite knowing of all the atrocities that this woman had committed, bearing witness to more than half of them, Asilo’s superpowered hero couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty about it because… Well, because he liked it. He enjoyed whenever he got to talk to Charlotte like this, when the crazy died down and the calmer, more rational side of Asilo’s main mayhem provider came out.
And it was always there, he knew that much. After all, in order to come up with all the crazy schemes she managed to whip out of nowhere, he knew there had to be a more cool-headed, down to earth, rooted-in-reality side to her.
It was at times like these, when she carried on a peaceful dialogue without making some type of morbid joke that ended with something being destroyed or someone being maimed, that certain thoughts began to plague Henry much more frequently than at any other time in his day to day. Thoughts that he would never admit to anyone. Thoughts like how, if he had met her just like this, in a normal setting, as a normal girl, with this being her personality 24/7, he would have married her immediately. Or at least done everything in his power to do so.
“Well,” Charlotte stood up from the table at one point in the night, detonation remote in her hand. Henry stood up after her, feeling not unlike as if he had just woken up from a trance. “I am a woman of my word.” She crushed the remote under her heel and at the sight, Henry felt as if he could sigh in relief.
Then, she spoke again.
“Can I have a kiss?” She looked at him through her lashes, with those big, brown eyes.
He, of course, refused.
And did not regret it.
Nor did he think about what could have happened, had he complied, for many nights to come.
Nope.
Not one bit.
Can't wait to hear what they call me
Call me names and make up all these stories
I would kill for a life that ain't boring
I'm lots of things but not sorry
It wasn’t common knowledge, but Charlotte adored the stories and rumors she often heard and read about herself in the local news, internet blogs and university thesis papers. She would stay up at night, munching on a midnight snack while surfing the internet and the TV channels. The crazy origins people came up with for her personality and behavior ranged from reasonably believable, all the way to borderline urban legend-esque.
God , she wished she had been born to runaway crack house parents who abandoned her in the back of a traveling-circus freak show’s caravan and for her formative years, have her main form of human interaction be defunct, repetitive circus shows and overhearing extremely morbid true crime cases from different cities.
But alas, life didn’t always imitate art.
In actuality she had had a pretty normal upbringing. She had been brought up by normal, although somewhat absent, parents, in a quiet enough neighborhood, and throughout her academic and social life she had been a pretty average, by-the-book person. Things in her life had invariably been pretty mundane. That is, until she took an internship in college at a somewhat-sketchy research institute that had more than a few questionable health and safety standards and some less than idyllic security procedures.
Those had been aspects that when mixed together with her desperate need to do well in both a very difficult course and be able to graduate on time, resulted in her getting locked inside an unsupervised room after hours with some experimental, highly toxic gasses and-
…
Well, she doesn't exactly recall what happened, but she does know that after that particular incident, another freer, wilder, more fearless side of her was unlocked. A side of her that wasn’t afraid of speaking out, that wasn’t intimidated by judgmental looks and that wasn’t concerned with others opinions. A side of her that wanted to explore and push limits, that wanted to see how much the world could take until it fell apart.
And she couldn’t help but indulge in it.
After that, she wreaked havoc in many cities, never quite staying in one place, simply because she had no real reason to. Something that changed once she arrived in Asilo, and she met her match in Malachite Haze.
He captivated her. At first she wasn’t quite sure why. She had encountered other heroes in the vast majority of other cities that she had terrorized but nobody had ever seemed as fascinating as the blond, forcefield bearing hero. All the other heroes had been obnoxious and repetitive. All just stupid blind followers of justice that were just boring . But not this one.
Now technically, one could have described Malachite Haze with many of those traits (and many of his critics did) but she saw something in him. Something that signified to her that although he was a law abiding, heroic, do-gooder, there was something else brewing underneath. A darkness, a mischief, a fire , just waiting to be drawn out. She knew because she saw slivers of it the very first few times she encountered him. Things that peaked her interest.
He had potential .
And so she stayed. She kept herself around for him, the gears on her head constantly turning in an effort to figure out a way to bring out this darker, stronger, better, superior version of the city’s defender.
Not to mention with all those other loser criminals in Asilo, it seemed like he could use a little challenge himself. Someone to push him to do better, to keep him on his toes.
At this point, it didn’t matter that she was no longer on the run, having made Asilo her new home. Nobody could ever hold her captive. The people dubbed her Ember and she found that it suited her, for she was just like her name. Fiery Embers that, even if tiny at first, were uncontrollable, quick to spread her influence and power. Something that exasperated not only city officials, but its local defender as well.
And she loved it. She loved how easily she got under his skin, it was fun. Never minding any of the perceived negative reactions that it got out of him.
Despite being twice her size and fifteen times her strength, she knew that she was never in any true danger. Not just because of his ‘moral code’ but because she knew .
She knew that he liked it . And not only did he like it, he liked her , whether he would admit it or not.
She had been at this for years, slowly chipping away at his heroic shell, and for all the disruption she had caused in Asilo, her biggest trick yet was still up her sleeve. The day where it would all unfold was still to come. The biggest ruse that she would pull on Asilo and all its citizens, would be the day she stole their precious little hero away from them and brought him to her side.
She dreamed about it, fantasized about it.
She couldn’t wait for the day it happened, for the day where the air was filled with sorrow and dread, at what was to come.
She would be delighted.
She would be ecstatic.
And most importantly of all, she wouldn’t be sorry .
Running home, I laugh alone
At least I stole the show
“Yeah, Ember’s a fucking psychopath, but all she really does is prove the crazy-hot theory.”
“The what now?”
Henry paused in the middle of adjusting his wrist gauntlet at the conversation that echoed through the prison’s hallway. It seemed to be coming from two of the mental institution’s security guards that were walking down the corridor, and while he didn’t have them in his direct line of sight, he could hear them loud and clear.
“The crazy-hot theory. You know, the crazier a girl is, the hotter she should be. At least to get away with stuff.”
Henry raised a brow at guard number one’s statement.
Now, he had heard of a similar sentiment before, he was a man in his mid 20’s, of course he had heard something akin to the lines of ‘if she’s crazy, she better be hot!’. A phrase that as time went on, began to be promptly followed by his younger sister complaining about how much of a misogynistic stereotype it was, that demeaned any instance of a woman having negative feelings as ‘crazy’ before proceeding to objectify her.
(A complaint that although probably valid, did not in any way apply to the woman being currently discussed)
He heard the second guard give a short, skeptic ‘hmm’ before replying.
“We just threw her in a maximum security cell that has at least ten different security cameras running 24/7, and where the toilet is six foot steps away from her bed. All this, mind you, while she’s wearing a shock collar, and you wanna tell me that that’s what they’re doing? Letting her get away with it?”
Henry nodded in agreement. Charlotte got as much punishment as it was possible in the system. Their footsteps stopped and there was a small pause as guard number one pondered on his coworker’s statement. Soon enough however, he had a retaliation.
“I mean yeah, obviously she’s being treated as a criminal, but if you consider the hell and a half that she has put the city through you gotta admit that she most definitely gets special treatment.”
Henry frowned. ‘How so?’
“How so?” The second guard questioned, as if reading his mind. The blond hero then stopped any movements he had been previously making, straining his ears, actually curious on the first guard’s justifications for his statements.
“Well, she hasn’t gotten executed, that's for one.”
“Malachite doesn’t kill anyone, you know that.” An exasperated sigh left the second guard’s lips. “And our state, and therefore by default Asilo, doesn’t have the death penalty. For some god forsaken reason.”
“Yeah, but whenever he captures her he doesn’t let anyone but him take her to Rottenskeller.” There was a hint of humor in the first guard’s voice “It’s not like other villains or bad guys that he will simply cuff up to any nearby building or knock out and leave for the police to arrive and arrest. He won’t even let us collect her. He’s like her own personal chauffeur.” He snorted at his own joke.
“Again, the most dangerous criminal in Asilo city,” Henry nodded at the second guard's defense ‘Precisely’ he thought. “Of course he doesn’t trust her to not blow up any of the police cars or escort vans.”
“Even our own?” Disbelief coated guard number one’s voice “Even our highly secured , specifically-designed-for-supervillains-with-powers-and-enhanced-abilities escort vans? It’s not even like she shoots rivers of fire out of her hands, the most she can do is conjure up a small flame in one of her fingers, similar to a small lighter.”
“Well…”
‘Well…’ Henry found himself echoing.
“And what about the fact that he always sticks around whenever she’s being locked up. He's meticulous about the circumstances that she’s kept under.” Their footsteps shifted. “What she wears, what she eats, how high her dosages are. Yeah her cell's small but he's constantly running around inside it before they stick her in there, making sure it's clean and all of the furniture within is in good condition. All this, despite the fact that she only sticks around for like a week, tops . He doesn’t do that for anyone else. And some of these motherfuckers have been here for years .”
“I mean yeah, but-”
“Also, also-” ‘Dear lord just shut up’ Henry thought in growing exasperation. “The fact that he does not let anyone and I mean anyone else question her for information. It’s always gotta be him or he has to be in the room, maybe outside watching through a one-way glass and that would be pushing it . I mean, do you remember that one time where that one hero questioned her and she came out with some pretty nasty bruises and like, a broken nose? Malachite went apeshit !” The first guard’s voice then lowered in volume, as if recalling the disturbing events of that particular incident. “That other dude, Spark something, got fucking banned from ever stepping foot on Asilo ever again. For real, he can’t show up here anymore, unless he wants to get a beat down by Haze. His words, not mine.”
Henry froze at that statement. The events of that day rushing back to him, clear as day.
___
“Did she get into a fight?” He questioned the doctor beside him, minor confusion lacing his voice. He was doing his weekly check ups on Rottenskeller and had come around to the west wing to make sure that Ember was still in her cell and had not yet escaped.
“Huh?” The psychiatrist beside him looked up briefly from her clipboard, looking at Malachite Haze for a quick moment, before following his line of vision and finding what he was referring to. She took a short glance at the (still) imprisoned pyromaniac that was currently visible from their one way mirror into her cell. She then returned to filling out her clipboard, continuing her previous activities before giving a half-hearted explanation to the masked man.
“Oh, no. That one hero that’s visiting here from SolaceVille? Spark- spark… Spark Strike? Yeah Spark Strike, apparently she helped out one of the super villains in his city with some type of machinery, mass theft, high-end weapon sale or something and when he found out she was here he requested to question her for information.” She pointed towards the visibly mangled inmate without looking up from her work. “That’s just the result of the ‘interrogation’.” The doctor raised her fingers, putting the word ‘interrogation’ in quotation marks.
The superhero’s head snapped towards her. “And you let him? Without contacting me first?!” His voice may have come out louder than he originally intended, but he didn’t feel bad about it, if anything he considered actually yelling at the medical professional.
The doctor seemed taken aback at his sudden outburst. Her green eyes widening in sudden fear, a far cry from her previous tone of indifference. “I-I mean yeah, like you, he’s part of the United Heroes Union, and it was a matter that concerned his city so we just thought-” She found herself cut off as a very enraged superhero took her ID card pass and snatched it from her neck before stalking off towards the door cell and using it to enter the reinforced titanium doors.
‘W-Wait! Mr. Haze! You can’t just!-”
Henry ignored the distressed calls from the psychiatrist and made a beeline towards where Ember (who had up to this point been staring blankly ahead at seemingly nothing) sat on her bed, craning her head to look up at him as he stood in front of her.
“Hi.” She gave him a, although strained, genuine smile. Ever happy to see her favorite superhero.
He took her by her upper arms and made her stand up. From there, he began examining her face, head, neck, wrists and any other currently visible part on her upper body.
“Charlotte.” He spoke in what was barely a whisper. A very stern, very angry whisper “Did Spark Strike do this to you?” Just from what he could see, he counted several lesions around her arms and wrists, a black eye, a busted lip, strangulation marks around her neck, a broken nose, and (-what better fucking be-) bruises on her collarbones.
“Every single one.” The girl replied in a quiet yet somehow sing-song-y tone. “Except for the scratch on my cheek, I got that from fighting you last week” She gave a short giggle that was cut off by a sudden pained expression on her face as one of her hands flew towards one of her ribs. Henry shook his head, an equally distressed look on his own features.
“They shouldn’t have let him touch you. They should have called me before letting you alone with him” The hero murmured, more in what seemed a statement for himself than an attempt to make conversation.
“Don’t worry Henry” She drawled out his real name, a feat that usually got his full attention. And indeed it did. “You still punch harder than that loser. With him I could barely feel it, he didn’t even last that long. Finished too quickly.” She snorted at her double entendre joke. Always trying to lighten up the mood.
Not as much as it usually did apparently. The masked hero didn’t even glare at her or even roll his eyes, instead his frown deepened, his eyebrows turning upwards in what most people would describe as concern. An emotion not often afforded to her.
"Did he- did he do anything else? Did he-"
"I'm fine." she replied, still smiling while patting him on the shoulder, much like how a friend would do when trying to be reassuring.
The hero had no idea what ‘being fine’ meant in her books (while Charlotte was known for her theatrics, she was also known for highly downplaying what could often be considered colossal situations), but he decided he wasn't gonna take any chances.
“Don’t worry, I’m gonna fix this.” He told her in a matter-of-fact tone, hesitating for a moment, as if he wanted to say or do something else, before giving her a curt nod and promptly leaving her behind in her cell. The doors closing behind him.
Charlotte huffed as she sat down on her bed once more.
He could at least have offered to kiss it better.
___
The sound of bone crunching under a set of fists was the last audible thing Spark might have heard before Henry was up and screeching at him.
“And if you ever so much as touch a single fucking hair on her head again, I will pummel you to the ground! Do you hear me?! I will fucking kill you! That is a promise! You don’t get to come to my city and try to do my job for me! Don’t you ever touch my villains again and you don’t ever even think about stepping foot in Asilo in the future! Do you understand?!”
Spark Strike was left on the edge of the city, beaten, broken and bloody.
When Henry got a letter from the U.H.U later that week asking him to report to their headquarters in order to review a violent incident report from a fellow hero, he didn’t bother showing up.
When his letter of expulsion came in 6 weeks later, he just threw it in the trash.
Time of my life
We're all just skeletons
Just joining the fight for the adrenaline
The time of my life
We're all just skeletons
Just joining the fight
The mid October air was cool, and the chilled breeze blew far and wide between every crook and cranny of Asilo City. The night was bright with the city’s sparkling neon lights of its bustling nightlife. You could hear the music from different nightclubs, all having just gotten into the full swing of things while outside various bars and house parties buzzed with energy.
Despite the dark and often grim state of being that living in Asilo brought, its citizens often found multiple ways of escapism to temporarily forget about their morbid reality. After all, if there was one thing that Asilo residents were a testament to, was humanity's ability to adapt and find the best in every situation. So yes, even though they lived in a filthy, crowded, chaotic city, where everything was too loud and there was a new pseudo-apocalyptic event occurring more often than not, one could still find or even create beauty and awe out of the most dire circumstances.
It was with this in mind that a certain pyromaniacal super villain stood from afar, watching the downtown area. The urban sounds were barely audible from where she stood. Situated atop one of the roofs of the old, abandoned buildings at the edge of the city, silently observing, contemplating.
The faint smell of rubble and smoke filled the air, and she smiled because it smelled like home.
”I’m not doing anything bad right now.” She heard her own voice speak into the night, her head never turning to look in the direction of the person she was addressing.
From the shadows, an emerald green and black suited hero emerged from the shadows. His blond hair flowed in the wind lightly while his mask stayed firmly in place.
“I can see that.” He responded. “But you can’t really blame me for being too careful.”
At this, Charlotte let out a small laugh, this time actually turning slightly to look at her companion. She smiled at him. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Her gaze turned downwards before making brief eye contact with him again and turning once more towards the far off metropolis.
Henry slowly approached her, walking slowly until he was finally standing beside the dark skinned woman. They both stayed silent for some time, simply viewing the artificially lit, urban landscape as the wind blew through their hair.
At some point during this, the male turned his sights to regard the woman beside him. A part of him -a more sophisticated part that had been raised around strict social rules and proper etiquette- reminded him that it was rude to stare, but he couldn’t help it. It was just so… rare to see this. To watch how she silently peered into the city with no ill intent.
There was no malice behind her eyes, no seemingly hidden agenda or scheme. She wasn’t looking at Asilo in order to plan out a future escape route after one of her plans took to fruition, she wasn’t daydreaming about what she would do with the place when she took over the country and made this her chaos-capital, and she wasn’t fantasizing about what the metropolitan area would look like up in flames. At least, that’s not what it seemed like to him (and after all these years, he likes to think that he knew her well enough to recognize when she was planning something).
“The night is beautiful isn’t it?” He heard his shorter counterpart speak in an almost inaudible whisper.
No, Instead she looked upon the bright lights coming from the buildings with wonder, admiration, with appreciation. Just like how most people that had been greeted with this type of view would have done.
“This reminds me of when I was younger” She kept talking, not even turning to see if he was listening. If anything, it appeared more as if she was simply thinking out loud. “The city where I grew up in wasn’t as big as Asilo, but it was just as lively.” Charlotte held onto one of the unfinished concrete pillars and leaned her head against it. “Sometimes at night my parents would take me to the rooftop of our condominium and lay out a picnic as we watched the city lights.”
Her voice was soft, her words were spoken with nostalgia and concealed sorrow. Moments passed, and It looked as if she wanted to continue her story, judging by the amount of times her mouth opened and closed along with the way her eyebrows furrowed slightly.
But no, instead she kept silent and chose to continue looking on, peacefully.
Somberly.
It was moments like these that made Henry think. That made Henry remember .
Remember that underneath all her crazy, disordered and tumultuously impulsive behavior, Ember - Charlotte - was a person, just like him.
It was moments like these when he would recognize that beneath the unhinged persona, there was a normal human being with normal human emotions, a person who felt all of the same feelings that he and the rest of the people in the city felt. Someone who was still affected by living in a place like Asilo, and living alongside its many colorful locals (After all, even before she showed up, the city had still been classified by many as an actual dumpster fire).
She was someone who felt dread, sadness, fear, confusion. Someone who, in order to have ended up the way she was now, had had to have been dealt various shitty cards in life.
Seeing her like this now, silently staring at the artificially lit up landscape before her and talking in an almost harmonious tone he was reminded with full force that this had once been all of Charlotte. He didn’t know the full extent of her backstory but he did know that at one point, she had been a far cry from her current self. She hadn’t always been some twisted, deranged, pyromaniacal, evil genius that played mind games with every person she interacted with and inappropriately flirted with the enemy -intentionally trying to get a rise out of him- whilst threatening to blow up her own city’s infrastructure.
No, at one point she had been a normal young woman who was bright, intelligent, enthusiastic about her topics of interest and knew how to carry great, easy going conversation. The personality she showed back when they dined together at the abandoned parking lot, the attempt to comfort and reassure him at the unsupervised-hero-interrogation incident despite having brunted the worst of it, the very real sadness and longing she displayed now in her eyes.
His mind began to jumble all at once as a million questions and thoughts began to flood his head.
How many of her manic behaviors were simply her lashing out due to all of the junk constantly muddling and mixing up on her head? Broken wires clouding her mind and judgment? How truly in control was she really? How lost and confused was she most of the time? How terrified was Charlotte in reality?
How lonely did she actually feel?
In that moment, he saw her for what she was deep down, under all the crazy stunts she pulled, under all the deadly games she played, under all the raging threats she made, under all the bullshit. At that moment, Henry saw the human beneath that was crying for help.
A human that could have kept going. A human that had been the victim of a freak accident, a human that still had her whole life ahead of her, someone that had the potential to get out of whatever toxic cycle her mind kept her in. A human that could still change.
Henry wasn’t quite sure what made him do it, but he took a hold of her hand, an action that prompted the shorter super to look at him in slight surprise.
“Let me rehabilitate you.”
Those weren’t the words he had been expecting to come out of his mouth, nor was that an offer that he had been planning on making tonight, but once it was out, Henry decided that it was the right decision and thus he would stick by it.
Charlotte seemed taken aback. Genuinely taken aback.
“What?”
“Let me take you back to Rottenskeller, willingly this time, without you escaping.” Charlotte stood still, doing nothing but staring at him, a skeptical, insecure look on her face, so he kept going. “I'll get you a bigger cell, a better cell. I'll visit you every day to make sure you're being treated well. I'll get you the best doctors, doctors that will actually try and work with you instead of just pumping you full of medicine and leaving you there.”
He took a hold of her other hand, causing her to briefly look down before making eye contact once more. “I will help you in any way I can. All that I ask in return is that you don't try to break out and you stick with whatever program they put you in. If you really don’t like something or if you feel as if you’re being treated unfairly I will make sure that the necessary changes are applied, but please , please let me help.” His voice had been kept steady at a lower volume, but without realizing, more and more desperation seeped into his voice as he continued to speak.
Instead of laughing in his face, or punching him (a.k.a the expected reactions) Charlotte only looked up at him with big, brown, doe like eyes and gently asked “Why-” She swallowed. There was something in her eyes, a look that was far fetched from the usual maniacal glee that she got from her wicked schemes. A look that reflected much more the eyes of an uncertain, scared woman than that of a mad one. “Why would you wanna do that?”
And the way she spoke... If Henry hadn’t known this woman for over 6 years along with all of the atrocities that she had committed, he would have honestly believed her to be an innocent, young, twenty-something who was just unfortunate enough to still be living in the dumps of Asilo, simply trying to get by, day by day.
“Because you can change.” The grip on her hands tightened. “I know that. You don’t have to keep doing this. This , the things that you have been doing, the way that you have been living, the people that you have surrounded yourself by… This doesn’t have to be your life Charlotte. You don’t have to keep going down this path.”
He saw hesitation flash through her eyes, before rapidly looking down, breaking contact.
Henry stared and hesitated and before he knew it, he had let go of her hands and had instead wrapped his arms around her. He felt he go stiff in his arms, her breath hitched and her back went rigid, yet as moments passed, and he continued to hold her she slowly began to relax and before he knew it, a set of smaller, shorter arms came around his midsection, embracing him back.
“I just… Sometimes, I just wish I was normal.”
And in that moment, hearing her say that broke something inside him.
“You don’t have to be normal. Hell, I’m not normal,” he chuckled “but you can get better. I promise.”
Seconds, minutes, or maybe hours passed, but they stayed together in the same position, huddled together without saying a word. He rubbed soothing circles in her back as she would occasionally let her eyes flutter shut before pressing her head tighter against his chest and taking a deep breath.
It wasn’t clear how much time went by before Henry felt Charlotte loosen her grip and lean her head back. He mimicked her actions and found himself making direct eye contact with her once again. This time however, Charlotte offered a small, genuine smile. This feasibly being her own indirect way of thanking him.
Henry smiled back, the pair never fully letting go of either their focus or hold on each other. A plane passed by, a theater turned on its sky searchlights and before he could stop himself, Henry took Charlotte by the chin and leaned in to kiss her.
Charlotte covered his hands with her own, returning the kiss. It was long, slow, and yearning. A kiss that had inbuilt years and years of frustration, resentment, need, ardor and hope. An act that many would have condemned as something that was never meant to actually happen, but now that it was, neither party wanted to stop.
And stop they didn’t, at least for a while, but even when they did, neither spoke and stood still, eyes still closed, in the comforting silence that overtook them.
Until.
“Fireworks…” Charlotte broke the silence.
Henry slowly opened his eyes, only to be greeted with the sight of Charlotte grinning at him. He was about to once again return her smile, but he wasn’t able to. Not when he saw that glint in her eye. The glint that she got every time she was about to tear his world apart.
Looking back, he severely regretted asking, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.
“What?”
“That kiss…. It was just like- ” She raised her hand, revealing a small, gray box that had a big, obnoxious, red button on it that he hadn’t even seen before. His eyes widened.
Joining the fight
“Fireworks!” She pressed the controller and immediately several buildings in the distance exploded simultaneously. At the same time, multiple fireworks emerged from the various spots and exploded into the sky, leaving in their wake various colorful flashes of lights.
Henry stood in shock, locked in place, staring at the newly unfolded disarray before him until the sound of a few short giggles finally snapped his attention away.
“You little-” He made a move to grab her but Charlotte had already moved too far from him, now standing at the edge of the building.
“See you around buttercup!” Was the last thing she said before letting herself fall over the ledge.
“Ember!” Henry ran to the edge, grabbing into a nearby pillar in order to keep himself from falling over. There he was met with his villainess, already on top of a cushioned truck driving away, waving at him goodbye. Laughing giddily as she made her get away, but not before blowing him a kiss.
“Au revoir, Haze! Thank you for the kiss!”
Henry simply stared out after her, not really moving and barely even breathing. He tried to process everything that just had happened but it just… wouldn’t. After a while however, his shoulder slumped, his head dropped and he let out a big, long sigh.
He shouldn’t have expected anything less from her.
I'm a psycho, loving it