The Vespidian

Arc 12 Villainy 101

Chapter 7 Interlude: Nitro

Ruins of Los Angeles, California.

The skies swirled with smoke, the sun perpetually blackened out. Despite it being the middle of the day, it was dark, only the red and orange glow of the fires that raged uncontrolled illuminated the burned cityscape. Lightning flickered from the thick clouds overhead as toxic rain drizzled down. The sizzle of moisture evaporating before it could even hit the ground created a deathly mist of sorts.

Basking in the ambiance of this hellscape sat a blackened figure. The tubed helmet led to the back, along with many other hoses connected to various other parts of the body. A wheeze escaped from the grilled mouth plate as the steady thumping of some sort of mechanical heart filled the air. Pumps and hoses hissed spurting a yellow liquid from the damaged equipment. The constant thumping of the machines radiated a sickly yellow mist. A large cylinder on the back filled. Glowing lenses gazed over the burning world, reveling at the twisted landscape below.

Gazing down at the street below, it watched like a gargoyle as several people struggled desperately. They clashed back and forth, fighting one another with improvised weapons. The bodies of others who had failed, who were weak lay strewn about the ruins. The cold, pitiless gaze watched with little interest. These were… weak. To think all the strongest would flee rather than try to fight, how… unprofessional. The Hero League, rank amateurs.

Ice lances shot out, and lightning crackled as fireballs went between the three prominent figures. The others were lost in the haze of mist between the rapidly melting ice quenched flames. The icy hero and the electricity clad one fought the blaze covered hero in a brutal three-way. Mystral, Volt Tackle, and Mr. Fahrenheit. Ice walls formed slamming shut like jagged jaws on the flaming man. Burning brightly, he melted the ice and sent several explosive balls at the ice-bound woman.

Lightning crackled bounding between the yellow man and the other two. They erected walls of fire and ice, respectively, before sending retaliatory attacks at the man who flicked out of existence and appeared opposite where he was at the other side of the arena.

They were at an impasse, evenly matched. They had been at it for hours now and were tired, hungry, thirsty. Mystral, though she was stronger than Mr. Fahrenheit, was at a disadvantage due to the surroundings. The heat was getting to her. It took more power than usual to take the heat from the air and form ice. As for Volt Tackle, he was running out of energy due to having to discharge so frequently without time to recuperate.

It flicked the black metal of the clawed fingers watching as droplets of blood fell below into the makeshift arena. Explosions reverberated, sending shrapnel and dust gusting up. Another of the lesser heroes in the melee fell. The rest renewed their vigor, throwing themselves at one another like crazed animals. Fear, what a good motivator. It was kill, or be killed.

Several blackened soldiers approached the rather bored figure who leaned back. The hoses hissed. “Report?”

“We have scoured the city, combed every corner, and searched throughout. There are no more Heroes here.” Replied the trio of Kraken mercenaries, the image of a black snake outlined in yellow adorned their shoulders.

“And the Diablos?” asked the wheezing voice

“They are ready to depart at once.”

“Well, then I suppose Molotov will be waiting. It wouldn’t be punctual to be late now, would it?”

“What of them?”

“I will deal with them, get the troops ready, we will be joining the fight in Bronson shortly. I hear the Sanguine Puppeteer has returned… it would be a poor showing to be absent for such a momentous occasion. It is best not to disappoint that one.”

“As you order, Captain Nitro.”

“Yes, yes. Now then… I suppose they might be useful. It would certainly get under Armadillo’s skin. Oh… I can hardly wait to see his face when he sees what I have done to his precious subordinates.”

Nitro took a step and then plunged off of the ledge. She slammed into the ground with a sickening crack on the concrete below. The three heroes instantly retreated, joining forces against her. The yellow flowed out as she stood, the machine on her back pumping louder than before. Nitro stood, shakily gasping, choking on her volatile blood as it foamed out of the grilled mouthpiece.

“Release us!” Demanded Mr. Fahrenheit.

Nitro tilted her head back, laughing, “Mhhahaaha… ugh.” She gagged, spitting out the glowing liquid before looking upon them, “Let you go? I told you to kill each other, and I would release the winner. But you can’t even do that. Pathetic. Let’s get this over with. I have played with you long enough. Come at me with all you have; if you survive, well, I won’t kill you.”

They hesitated. Nitro mocked them, “Aww, what is wrong? Come on, hit me, you cowards. Do it, pussies I am giving you a free hit.”

Their continued retreat made her mechanical heartbeat louder, “Alright fine. Don’t get the only hit I will give you. I was nice. You know, a good sport about it. It is no fun if I beat you into a paste without being able to fight back.”

“Just let us go!” cried Mystral with her back against the wall.

Nitro crossed her arms, “Alright, I tried to be nice, professional, you know. 3 on 1 and you still can’t even grow a pair, no wonder this city fell so easily. You are a bunch of cowards. You deserved what happened here. But if you are not gonna hit me, well… I am going to fucking obliterate you. Last chance, HIT ME!”

“So be it!” Volt Tackle glowed lunging forward like lightning.

“Don’t it is a trap!” Yelled Mystral, but it was far too late.

His fist slammed into her gangly frame sending out a shock wave of electricity. Splinters of crackling power discharging out of the blackened woman’s armor. Despite the impact that could topple a building, the black-bound woman didn’t even budge. A torrent of yellow flowed from her mouth as the hoses screamed and sprayed the yellow liquid everywhere. The machine on her back filled to the brink vented and coated the entire area with the glowing blood.

“Got you, bitch.” Said Volt Tackle, looking up at the woman who smoked and crackled.

“Did you now? Heheh HAHAHA MuHEhahaha! Amateur.” Nitro cackled hysterically as she stamped her foot. All at once, the world lit up as the explosion tore that section of the city apart.

Smoke billowed, chunks and pieces of concrete scattered about as Nitro arced through the air flailing away from the explosion. She rag-dolled bouncing several times before coming to a complete stop having smashed through several buildings. Nitro was still for a moment before rising back up her feet, smoking, but unfazed by the mushroom cloud in the distance. The mechanical heart thumping away as the canister on her back refilled.

“Scrubs,” she shook her head. “Ah… they don’t make heroes like they used to. I miss the golden age already.”

Squinting, she saw that they had survived… hmm better than most. At least two of them had. She stamped, and a small explosion launched her forward springing her through the air, hurtling back at the recoiling Heroes. Ice spears jaggedly collided with her shattering against her body, but they knocked her trajectory off. Nitro kicked down, another explosion sending her rocketing at them.

An ice wall formed as Mystral retreated, dragging away her wounded companion. The ice-slicked street let them slide along it, quickly fleeing from the relentless pursuer. The wall lasted all of a second as Nitro broke through it with her head, like a human missile she honed in on the fleeing heroes hunting them down. Every step she took sent her surging forward on the energy of yet another mini blast.

With how carefree the pursuer was, it almost looked like she was skipping. Mystral running out of options put everything she had into her last attack. She directed a blast of subzero air backward into the spindly black villain. Ice formed over her, and she froze solid colliding with the ground and skidding along the slickened street. Everything became still as the huffing woman of ice collapsed.

“Damn it. Don’t you ever die?”

Cracks formed on the ice that encased Nitro. Steam billowed out as she boiled, and the molten blood spilled out oozing between the tortured ice until it shattered. She rose, cracking her neck as she stood over the incapacitate pair.

“No, haven’t been able to die yet. Good try, though.”

Nitro fumbled about the singed metal belt on her hip, pulling out a cylinder with the glowing yellow inside of it. She lifted Mystral’s head prying open her mouth and forced the tube into her mouth. She struggled and wriggled, screaming and crying as it choked her. After a long moment of airless eye-rolling suffering, it slid and forced down her throat. The black hand abandoned her and lifted Mr. Fahrenheit doing the same, shoving another glowing canister down his throat.

“What was that?” coughed Mystral.

“Insurance. Welcome to Kraken, by the way. I do hope you will enjoy being my minions.”

“Who would work for you?”

Nitro beamed, “I will have you know, minions have outstanding insurance policies, and you get free dental, not to mention snazzy new armor. Ah, also, well, I don’t kill you. And isn’t life the biggest gift of all?”

“You are crazy.”

“Morality is subjective, dear. Oh, it is going to be fun watching you kill your best friends~ or you could recruit them too. It is up to you.”

“I won’t do as you want.”

“Aww, don’t be that way. That is not fun. I mean let’s be honest, you don’t wanna die. You know it, I know it. We both know you will do anything to live. After all, you would already be dead if you were a real hero. Then again, what could you do? You were abandoned.”

“I, you won’t get away with this.”

“They could have stopped me. But they didn’t. They abandoned you. They left you all to die at my hands. They ran. The cowards fled. And why do you ask? Because to them, you were disposable. Expendable. An acceptable lose. Hehehe Heroes, huh. We both wear masks; I just don’t hide what I am. Unlike you people, you can’t even be honest with yourselves. You don’t care about the normies, though your side loves to pander to those powerless masses. They are lying to them. Making them feel safe at night while you sit on your little thrones thinking yourselves so much better than those… normies. So much better than us Villains. But you will find your castle is made of sand. When the strings are pulled… we will all dance like the puppets we are.”

“I refuse to be your-” Mystral started before Nitro pressed a button on the remote in her hand.

Distantly an explosion reverberated, and Nitro looked at it, confused, “Hmmm guess that was the wrong one. That was, eh… who was that again? Flamingo? No, no we cooked the Flamingo. Kiwi! That was the one… or wait, was it Emu? Birds of a feather die together? Oh that was a little unprofessional. I should put labels on these things. Eh, who cares, it was just a two-bit hero anyway they dead now.”

“You monster.”

“Thanks, that is quite the compliment.”

“You are sick.”

Nitro nodded, “When you work for the evil of all evils, the puller of strings, the master of all minds, well let’s say I have seen things that would drive anybody crazy. I mean this,” she said, motioning to the hellscape around them, “this is child’s play compared to the shit I have seen first hand. The horrors that I have lived through. Makes you… dead inside. It makes your humor dark, real fucking dark as a coping mechanism to try and not think of what terrible things you have committed. Let’s just say my 10th birthday party was a blast. But hey, enough about little old me and my childhood traumas.”

“I don’t wanna know.”

“You say that, but it is quite a tale I tell you. I will tell you later.”

The heroes pacified she dragged them by their capes as she walked through the ruins of a once-bustling city. What walls remained were stained by the burned shadows of vaporized people. Cars and twisted wrecks had been cleared onto the sidewalks as tanks drove along the streets patrolling.

“Captain!” one of the mercenaries hurried around a corner after Nitro. “All preparations are ready for our departure.”

“Excellent as always, my Black Mamba battalion. The Diablos?”

“We are ready too,” said a man wearing a black and white bone print tuxedo suit. His face painted as a fancy skull.

“Fernando, me amigo. Shall we?” Nitro sounded like she was in a good mood.

“It is Muerto, how many times must I tell you?”

“Yes, yes.” She said dismissively as ring tone sounded she answered it, “Molotov, it has been a while.”

“You are coming, correct?”

“So impatient.”

“Are you ready or not? The Hero League as already launched several attacks.”

“We are coming, princess… I had to finish up my recruitment program.”

Molotov glared through the little hologram, “It is waiting. Now get your sandbag of an ass over here so that I can beat you for being late.”

“Oh Sanguine is? That is surprising… Very well, we will depart immediately. Best not to keep it waiting.”

Molotov seemed worried, “Yes you better hurry. It is in a bad mood, or it might be a good mood. It is hard to tell when it cackles for hours at a time.”

“It must have thought up something delightfully deranged. I will be there in about an hour.”

“Good.”

Nitro hung up. “Well you heard the princess, Sanguine is in the mood. I wonder how deep the rivers of red will run this time?”