A/N) I set this around a year after Nero and Raven first met, since I never really see a lot of stories about this time. This is written from a short, fairly amusing idea I came up with while doing my homework. As I finished writing the general story and started adding embellishments to it it started getting less light-hearted and more serious, and it's ended up an odd mixture of the two, but hey ho. I hope you enjoy!
Nero entered the darkened alleyway at a stride. He had no need to check his silver studded watch for the time, he knew he was exactly on time. That was the type of villain he was. The person he was here to meet preferred the fashionably late touch. But that was just the type of villain Darkdoom was.
It would only be a brief encounter, Nero knew that. He and Darkdoom hadn't seen each other for a few weeks, but now was not the place to talk, even in an abandoned alleyway where no one would hear them. Talking would come later, when they hadn't met by chance, realising they were somehow in the same city at the same time. It happened a lot, but he was fairly sure Darkdoom was stalking him anyway.
At his shoulder, as constant and silent as a shadow, was the eighteen year old girl who had, over the last year, become his protector and his friend. Her hair had grown a few inches since they had met; thin dark locks framed her guarded, expressionless features. A light scar traced the outline of her pale cheek. She looked wary, but that was the type of villain she was. The best.
Nero smiled reassuringly at Raven. She was young, but she was loyal. She had been subjected to the most brutal childhood anyone could imagine, but he had helped her. She was free now. "We're here," he said.
"He's not," the Russian teenager answered simply. Nero had to smile. He knew Natalya didn't like Darkdoom that much, but she would guard him anywhere.
It wasn't long before the familiar silhouette arrived at the end of the narrow street, and a wide smile greeted Nero as Darkdoom walked towards them. "Doctor Nero!"
"Full titles now, are we? We must be getting distant," commented Nero, shaking his friend's hand. They had known each other for many years, and he missed the times when they weren't always continents away from each other.
"I'm sorry we have to be so distant even now," Darkdoom said apologetically. "I would stay, but there seems to be a banking corporation across town just begging to be taken down a notch or two."
"Sounds like an interesting afternoon," Nero agreed.
Darkdoom turned his attention to smile politely at Raven, his smile slightly guarded. "Are you well, Natalya?"
"Raven," she corrected almost immediately. Raven wasn't sure why, but she wasn't comfortable with anyone but Nero calling her by her name. Maybe it was because so many people had called her that over the years, so casually tossing it out there felt wrong.
"Yes. Raven. Of course," Darkdoom amended apologetically. He didn't understand. Of course he didn't. But at least he didn't push the subject.
"And yes. I am well," replied the girl, her voice stilted and polite, resuming her stare at the floor. She fingered the hilt of one of her katanas without even thinking about it.
The older man flashed her a kind smile. "That's good."
Raven didn't say anything, nodding in acknowledgment and staring at a point on the floor as Darkdoom and Nero returned to cheery conversing beside her. She didn't quite know what to think of Darkdoom yet, even though she had technically 'known' him for around a year. Granted, the first time they had met, he had shot her in the back with an assault rifle. But she had been trying to kill Nero, so she guessed he had had justification.
After a few minutes, Darkdoom checked his watch, and at the same time a cackle came from what Nero could only assume was his phone. "Sorry," apologised the villain sheepishly, raising his eyebrows at the message that came though. "My ringtone. Need to change that."
"You have an evil cackle as your phone ringtone?" inquired Raven in surprise, forgetting that she wasn't talking to him.
"You English. You're all the same. No imagination," grunted the bald man, his eyes meeting Raven's briefly.
Did he just wink at her?
"I'm sorry, you two, I must go. The banker's on the move. I'll see you at the conference next week, Max. Goodbye." And with that he was gone, striding off down the alleyway. Nero almost laughed at his rather abrupt cutting off of the conversation, but they were both busy villains. Often there was no such thing as a simple social call any more.
Raven turned on her heel, flashing an odd expression at Darkdoom's back. "Did you just call me English?" she asked, not entirely sure she had heard him right.
If the retreating Darkdoom had heard, he gave no apparent sign of it, turning the corner and vanishing out of sight.
Raven turned to Nero almost disbelievingly. "Did he just call me -?"
"Yes."
"He just called me -."
"Yes."
"Did he actually just call me English?"
"Fraid so."
"He just called me English," repeated Raven as if she was trying to convince herself, raising her eyebrows. "I have had many people say, cry and scream things at me over the years, but never something so completely stupid. Even that blind man last year could tell from the accent."
"You killed a blind man?" wondered Nero aloud.
Raven smiled slightly scarily. "He wasn't blind when I went in there."
Nero swallowed. "Right. Anyway, I'm fairly sure the English comment was directed at me."
"But I said it. And he looked at me when he said it. Do I sound even remotely English?" wondered Raven, annoyance clear in her tone.
"Well, apart from the Russian accent, the fact that you were born and grew up in Moscow and you don't look even slightly English -" Nero mused for a moment. "Yeah, you sound completely English. No doubt about it."
"Can I go and murder him now?" wondered Raven almost dreamily. "He can't be far away yet."
"I'm sure it was just a general statement directed at our group in general."
"There's only two of us."
"Two can be a group too, you know," corrected Nero.
"He still called me English. He looked at me, and still thought that English was the right answer," complained Raven.
"Maybe it was a slip of the tongue."
"I don't like some of your associates," commented Raven, unusually vocal for her. "Especially the council. And him."
Nero laughed. "Oh, I share your feelings for the council. But Darkdoom does grow on you over time. And he's as loyal as you could ever wish for."
"Even if he did just call me English."
"Even if he did just call you English," agreed Nero. "Come on, I believe we have a school to get back to. I'm sure you'll recover from the blow to your identity."
Raven began to follow her employer, but turned back to the alleyway for a moment. "English...?" she murmured under her breath affrontedly.
"Natalya."
"Coming."
From behind the corner which he had been hiding behind for the last minute or so, Diabolus Darkdoom had to stop himself from laughing. The girl would have probably come and murdered him anyway. They may not know each other that well yet, but he was sure that one day they would get along well, if they both survived that long.
And sure enough, fifteen years later, once Darkdoom had recovered from being dead for a few years, they would be as good of friends as a super villain and an assassin could wish to be.
Even if he did just call her English.
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