He took another sip of the vodka and took in the tavern. Now that he was looking for them, Victor noticed that there were some changes to the old watering hole. The lighting was a little better; the floor was cleaner; and whoever owned Two Drinks Tavern now has a thing for soft rock music. It used to be heavy metal. As another slow rock song begun, Victor drunk the rest of the glass. He was ordering another glass when a familiar face sat down beside him.

“Aren’t grandpas supposed to be in bed at this time of the day?”

Victor saw Bar’s smug face and had to resist the urge to punch him.

“Ha-ha. You sound as if you are some spring chicken.” Victor waited as the bartender poured his former teammate a glass of whiskey before asking. “So, you have grandchildren of your own?”

“Nope, none my kids are married yet. Not that it stopped you. You should have listened to Cake.”

“Cake Shop?” Memories came on as Victor remembered the matronly member of the Candy Crew. Over a decade older than Victor, she was always on his case about sleeping around with women. In his youth, Victor thought of her as a nag. Now, he realized she was a wise nag.

“What happened to her?”

“She was killed twelve years ago. You were lucky you were still inside back then.”

“What do you mean?”

“One of the kids who was put in a coma by Mage got a power and got in his head that he wanted revenge. All of us were either dead or retired but that didn’t matter to him. He began hunting us. Cake Shop and Pastry Man were killed before the kid made the mistake of going after Taste.”

“She killed him?”

“Nope. Knocked him out with her Sleeping Kiss, and then waited for the heroes to pick him up.”

“That doesn’t sound like her.”

“The Candy Crisis changed all of us.”

Victor couldn’t argue with that. “What happened to the kid?”

“He did a few years in juvenile detention as he was still a minor back. Then, he signed on to a hero academy.”

“He killed two people, and they let him be a hero?”

“He killed two former villains, and he was a victim of an epic villainous event. The press couldn’t get enough of the whole avenger-turned-hero story. He is currently working as a hero in the towns south of Lantern City.”

“You are keeping an eye on him?”

“Of course. I was part of the crew, not that the man had showed any indication of going back to his murderous ways.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. He is now an upstanding member of the community. Bad teenager turned responsible adult and all that other nonsense.” Bar waited for a moment before asking. “You are thinking of going down there to take him out?”

Victor flirted with the thought for a second before shaking his head. “No.”

Bar nodded his approval. “Nice to know our local mystical villain is not going around killing people.”

“So, you heard?”

“How could I not? You are all over the local news. The headlines for tomorrow papers will be ‘Mystic Martial Artist in Velocity’! You are big news, my friend.”

“Big enough that I should worry about Thundersky?”

“The champion? Most probably not unless you intend to destroy the city, but who knows? You should try asking The Finder.”

“I am talking to The Finder.”

Jolly Bar was startled and for a moment Victor thought he would deny it. He didn’t.

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t. You just told me.”

“Fair enough, so when did you suspect me?”

“The day you came up to me. It was just my third day in the city and very few people knew I was in town. Even if they knew, who would care that I beat up two chuckleheads? It wasn’t news, but a ‘retired’ teammate of mine somehow heard about it and managed to find me? Wasn’t difficult to put two and two together.”

The answer brought a chuckle from Bar. “I don’t remember you being much of a thinker, Fist. You grow smarter in your old age, or is this part of your ‘mystical’ powers?”

“It’s just what twenty years in the University of Crime can give you.”

The two old villains shared a laugh at that. As the saying goes; prison is where you go to get a degree in crime.

“Who is the kid inside? Pretending to be an information broker is a dangerous gig. Hope you are paying him well.”

“Don’t have to. He is one of my kids. Stupid boy wanted to be in The Game even though he has no powers and no talent. So, I thought up this role for him. Now, he gets to be in The Game without actually being a criminal.”

“Maybe the kid just hasn’t found his thing yet. Everyone is good at something.”

“Please, that’s what old geezers like us tell little kids. Hard work and courage don’t always pay off. Though, that might be a silly thing to say to you.”

Victor glanced at Bar as he pretended to take a sip of his vodka. He wanted his mind to be clear for what’s coming. Bar didn’t disappoint.

“So, how did you do it? How did you managed to become a mystic while rotting in prison?”

Victor had long prepared his answer, but he needed Bar to think that he was musing about it. Bar won’t believe him if he was too eager. So, he waited for a few seconds before answering.

“I never gave up. You know what’s it was like in a villain prison. They put guys in prisons that counter their powers. For me, that means twenty-three hours a day in my cell. For the one hour, it was a cage in the yard, or the library. The prison gym was unavailable, but they can’t stop me from exercising in my cell. I did a lot of push-ups and sit-ups in twenty years.”

“Bullshit.”