INFAMOUS: Chapter 1

Dawn

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the ideas taken from the Infamous video game series, those are owned by Sucker Punch Productions.

Vex

I tore open the vault door and walked inside.

"So much cash," I muttered as I stuffed the money in my bag. "Hundreds and hundreds of these babies… just for me!"

As I continued stuffing my bag, I heard someone walking toward me from behind. I continued shoveling money until the footsteps stopped.

"You know, you're one selfish conduit, aren't you," a slightly disapproving voice said.

I paused in my money stuffing and sighed. "I thought I subdued all you cops. Guess I missed one." I resumed grabbing handfuls of the money.

"I am offended, Vlink," the voice laughed. "If you would stop stuffing your bag for a second, you would know that I'm no cop."

At that, I stopped stuffing the money in the bag and turned around. In front of me there was a tall girl with slightly tan skin dressed in a denim jacket and ripped jeans. I grinned as I had a really clever idea. "Is your name Jean?" I asked, gesturing towards all her denim.

She looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "No." There was a beat. "And that was a terrible pun."

(She might have been right about that.)

"The name's Juneah. Put the money back and I won't have to hurt you."

I dropped the money and put my hand on my sword. "Yeah I've heard of you. You're the conduit that put my best friend in jail."

Juneah sighed. "Once again, I must ask you—" But she got no further, because I had drawn my sword, my prized possession.

"It's beautiful, don't you think?" I said, staring at my sword. "It's a zweihander, but a bit different. The blade is broader, giving it more power but less balance." I brandished it, hoping to spook her. Unfortunately, Juneah's gaze gave nothing away. I continued. "It's made from a steel alloy, making it lighter, stronger, and faster than other swords of a…lower caliber."

Suddenly, I swung my sword at her head. Unfazed, she lifted her hand and a blast of dark orange blasted my sword away, not moving one inch. I stared at her. She must have seen that coming. I'll have to try something else.

I tried a few more things, but Juneah just kept blasting my sword away, no matter how fast or deceptive my swings were, she just repelled them. And she hadn't even broken a sweat.

"What the hell?" I growled. Dropping my sword (even if my mind protested against it), I tackled her and slammed her into an ATM, jumping back quickly as the ATM cratered with the impact.

That's got to do it, I thought. I smirked. Really, the fight wasn't that hard. I just had to drop my sword and opt for hand-to-hand combat.

I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard a noise from the ATM. I look over to see Juneah tear apart the rest of the ATM and stand up, looking none the worse for wear. What the hell? How is that even possible? "Holy shit. You're a tank. How'd you even take that?"

She rushed forward and grabbed my throat. Her nails dug into my skin. She showed no sign of hearing what I said.

Her indifference made me angry. I mean, my whole life I'd never really been ignored. Hated, yes. Loved, maybe. Irritated by, for sure. Ignored? I had always been someone special. No one ignored me.

I balefully looked into Juneah's eyes, but then recoiled as I saw that her irises had turned orange. As I stared, Juneah pulled her arm back and slammed me to the ground, my face connecting with the hard ground.

Owww, I thought. My face stung and I had blurry vision. I hated blurry vision; it was annoying. I pushed myself up onto my forearms and made to roll over, when I froze.

Juneah, who I had lost track of when I was slammed into the ground, was about to kick in the face with one of her very, very intimidating boots. That would be a definite knockout. And…that meant no money for me! Damn!

I couldn't let that happen.

I rolled to the side and grabbed her leg, pulling her down to the floor. I quickly rolled to my feet and started to rapidly punch her face. I let my powers radiate from my hands to make the punches stronger, a trick I had perfected after many years of trying it out.

But I guess this victory wasn't meant to last long.

After a round of punches she grabbed my hand and poked a spot on my wrist, with, what it felt like, a lot of force.

It hurt. "That didn't even do anything!" I snarled. She just looked at me with a little smile on her face that disappeared in less than a second.

I prepared to counterattack, but I never got the chance. I ran to get my sword, but when I got there, my hand wouldn't respond. I stopped and tried to flex my fingers, but they wouldn't move. I gritted my teeth. So that's why she poked my wrist. It must be related to her power or something.

When I turned, Juneah was right behind me. She looked at me like I don't really want to do this, but you've forced my hand. I knew that look. I've used it more than once and I knew what came after. I gritted my teeth, frustrated, but defeated. Juneah's eyes flashed

What happened next, I'd rather not remember. Everything was a blur of agony. I think Juneah only struck me once, and that's all it took. I slid into unconsciousness.

I woke up with a swirl of orange piercing me down to the ground..the police station? I looked around and saw Juneah talking to a cop. Juneah? A cop? Wait, why was I captured? Then, it all rushed back to me.

I was here because of the almost-bank robbery, and the thorough defeat(courtesy of Juneah) that followed. I winced at that thought, then experimentally moved to test the extent of the damage. Surprisingly, none of my bones were broken anymore! I felt my face. Nothing. Not even a scratch. Did Juneah heal me? After all, she can heal herself well enough. At least now that I'd been healed I could escape easier, even if my money wasn't here.

Well, I didn't actually know for sure if my money wasn't there. Though I didn't expect much, I cast my vision around the room to look for my sacks of money.

I spotted a flash of tan out of the corner of my eye and turned my head to the right.

I guessed I had gotten lucky that day. Just out of reach, my sword and money sat on the ground to my right.

I stared at the money.

This is going to be a piece of cake.

I slowly summoned my sword towards me, trying to keep it quietly sliding towards my now fully-useful hand. In spite of my caution, the cop saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned towards me.

"Oh, fuck this!" I shouted, and quick as lightning, my trusty blade flew towards my hand. I raised my arms and slashed the orange (whatever it was) around me. I dashed towards my bag of cash, grabbed it, and ran forward, to the exit. Then, I stopped.

Juneah blocked me from getting to the white exit doors that were to be my escape. She had her arms crossed. Her eyes held no malice as she glanced to her left, and back at me.

Damn it. I had to find another escape. Subconsciously, I glanced to my left, just as Juneah had done. The wall was painted a faded shade of yellow. It seemed old, and there were a few cracks running across it.

Juneah looked at me, her face a mask. I bit back a smirk as I realized how I could escape.

I summoned my cobalt power, and blasted a hole in the wall to my left. I jumped out quickly and began sprinting down the sidewalk. When I quickly looked back I saw the cop hotly pursuing me (or attempting to), and Juneah lazily summoning her mystery orange substance and forming it into a set of ethereal wings. That's new.

The cop couldn't keep up, and I think Juneah just let me go after the first block.

I slowed to a stop some time later. I readjusted my sword in its sheath, panting slightly.

The escape was too easy. Almost like everything has been set in place beforehand for me to escape when I woke up. Perhaps it was just coincidence, but that was a bit too lucky for anybody, especially someone like me. I hefted my bags and continued walking.

Maybe Juneah had let me escape, was the conclusion I finally arrived to.

But however hard I thought, I just couldn't figure out why.

I came through a window into my house to be greeted by Edgar M. Thompson, my best friend. "'Sup Vex," he said.

"How the hell did you get in my house?"

"House... This is a fucking mansion. And calm down Vex, it's just me! You don't need to take your name literally," he smirked as I cringed at his joke. (I must have gotten my humor from him.) Edgar was a guy with shiny, shaggy black hair. His skin was pale, but not too pale. His shoulders were constantly in a half-slouching position. He wore black-rimmed glasses that he adjusted when he was nervous.

I frowned and sat down on my leather couch, ignoring my ebony-haired best friend.

I called into the next room, "Hey Zelda, since you have the remote in there, can you turn on the White Sox game, please?"

Zelda was an android. She was like a sister to me. I had bought her at an auction three years prior, and I had no idea how quickly we would bond. After just two months we had already created our own little inside jokes and habits. Zelda was pretty amazing.

She had brown hair that went down to her back, pale skin, and blue eyes. We couldn't have looked more different if we tried. Yet, we couldn't be closer.

As Zelda turned on the TV, Edgar sat down next to me, holding a bag of popcorn. I looked at it longingly, but knew better than to steal from him. He was very possessive of his food, and would not let you off easy if you took some.

"Hey, V, you don't look hurt at all. I take it the bank run went as planned?"

I half-smiled. "Hell no, this stupid hero conduit fucking kicked my ass. The same one who sent you to the slammer."

Edgar stopped eating for a second. "Dude, that's a chick!"

I put my head in my hands and sighed. "No shit, Sherlock, she's a fucking tank! I threw her into an ATM and she didn't even get scratched. Besides, she's a girl. D' you expect me to sucker punch her?"

By the skeptical look, Edgar seemed not to buy the girl excuse.

He thought for a moment. "Zelda I need you to look up Juneah in the database. We need to see how long has she been working for the cops."

Zelda had walked into the room at some point during our conversation. "She doesn't work for the cops." Zelda was smiling strangely. "She is her own hero."

I was thrown off by Zelda's smile, but at least the hero part explained the emblem on her jacket.

"Do you like my emblem?" said a voice. "I made it myself."

Whose emblem?

Edgar yelped as I turned around to see a familiar face. Juneah. Immediately I grabbed my sword.

"How the hell did you get in here?" I yelled.

"Don't worry, I know what you're thinking. I'm just a holograph. I put a tracker on your jacket collar when you were unconscious." Just to make sure, I felt my leather collar and felt a small half-circle inserted there. This is probably why she let me go so willingly. Was she going to track me?

Hologram Juneah's face suddenly broke out into a smirk. "Don't worry you coward, I won't report you to the cops. I only wanted you to consider your thoughts on us heroes. I know you're not a villain—you save people all the time."Hologram-Juneah looked at me. "Make the right choice," it said as it disintegrated into orange dust.

I sighed. I needed to go to sleep.

I looked at Edgar. "Man, I got to think about some stuff. Can you go now?"

Edgar looked at me. "See ya tomorrow?"

I nodded. "See you tomorrow."

Edgar smiled at me and teleported away, leaving a red aura behind.

"Zelda can you make us some dinner? Then shut down for the night."

"Okay, do you want something in particular?"

"Anything you cook up, sis," I said. "Thanks. I'll make dinner next time."

Zelda smiled. "Sure. You really should think about Juneah's offer, though."

I hmphed and sat down on the couch again.

"Maybe."

I woke up in the morning under a layer of blankets in my room. I threw them off and walked out of my room to see Zelda reading the newspaper.

"Hey Zelda!" I said to get her attention.

"Yeah?" Zelda kept her eyes glued to the newspaper.

"I'm going to the training room now. If Edgar comes, can you tell him I'm down there?"

"Okay, try not to wreck anything!"

"Will do." I ran out of my living room.

I went to the trapdoor in my kitchen that was hidden under a flip panel of my floor and opened it.

The training room was under my house, and I had to climb down a metal ladder to reach it. The floor was packed dirt—wood was damaged too easily, and stone or cement would be painful to land on.

The training room was dimly lit (It was thanks to Edgar that I had any light, and after training in the dark for a while, I would take whatever quality of light I could get) and the walls and ceiling were drywall, painted white.

I walked over to my weapons rack and picked up a wooden sword. I looked at the roughly made training weapon in my hand.

Well, since Juneah whipped my ass in hand-to-hand combat yesterday, I shouldn't practice so much with my sword. I should focus more on mastering my elemental cobalt power. Juneah's obviously mastered that power she has…it seems to be a metallic power of some sort. That would explain the high defense. Her offensive strength could be explained by the metal being an alkali or alkaline earth metal. The speed...probably came from lots of training.

I blinked once, mustering the power resting in all the remote corners of my anatomy to the forefront of my mind, focusing it into one glob of energy. I inwardly sighed. There was still too little!

Oh well, I'm training for a reason. I slowly transitioned into the next step, which was transferring my energy and focus to my hands. I let the energy gather within my palms and fingers until the amount became satisfactory.

Okay, that's long enough. Last step now. I projected the power from inside my body to the outside world, forming a ball of a pulsating, blue substance between my two hands. I then turned my hands out and towards the target I aimed at.

The moment of truth...

Aaaaaaand….!

Nope.

The large mass of energy I had drawn into the world split into seven little globs of power and disintegrated against the target I had initially aimed for. I sighed in disappointment.

I'd been getting this same result for a while. I couldn't master my seeking power missiles as other conduits could. I just had too little to begin with and not as much control over the release as I needed to.

I had heard that practice, practice, and practice increases your amount of power and the control you had over it, so the only answer, like to all hard things in life, was to practice the technique over and over again. And again. And again.

Just over a week after I resigned myself to a month of practice, I succeeded.

I stood in the wreckage of my poor, poor targets, which I had used countless times for shooting and knife throwing, dumbfounded.

Now the targets I had painstakingly handmade from the wood planks that were originally the floor of the training room…

…were utterly smashed into little pieces, smoldering with my blue energy.

I stood there until a triumphant and radiant grin split across my face, the sun after a turbulent, abusive storm. (Very abusive it was, I would go to sleep at 8 PM and sleep for 14 hours after each session. I usually never slept for longer than 8 hours.)

"Yeah! Hell yeah!" I pumped my fist in the air. I actually did it. In just a week, too! I hesitated for a second, then ran upstairs to tell Zelda.

To my surprise, I ran into her right about to enter the trapdoor, her brow creased with worry.

"Zelda! What's wrong?" I asked, still excited about my success.

Zelda looked at me seriously and I began to notice something was wrong.

She got straight to the point.

"The Lexicon are gathering at their tower to discuss attacking Chicago."

No.

Not my hometown, you assholes.

I nodded quickly, a roiling mass of emotions beginning to brew inside of me. "Thanks," I said shortly. Zelda nodded back grimly. I grabbed my coat off the coat rack and dashed outside, barely remembering to slam the door shut behind me.

There were two, inattentive guards near the window I was outside of. Inside there was an elevator.

Easy. But I need to hurry.

I jumped up onto the window ledge and smashed the window with my foot, which in the process of smashing the window connected with one guard's head. The guard slumped to the ground and I jumped into the other guard, subduing the guard with a swift strike to the guard's head. The remaining guard crumpled.

"Alright," I said out loud, pushing the "up" button of the elevator the two now-unconscious guards.

I turned on the microphone of the earpiece I constantly wore. "Zelda, what floor is the conference on?" This was a routine we've had since I started my career in crime. I go out to do the runs, and Zelda feeds me the info.

"98th floor," she replied back through the earpiece.

"Thanks." I kept the microphone on, in case I might've needed to ask for quick backup. The failed bank robbery had made me more cautious.

The elevator arrived at the aforementioned floor. Inside were guards holding guns that protectively encircled their boss.

Alexander Lexicon, a tall man around the age of 30, a head taller than me, and much stronger.

I hated this guy.

Thirteen years ago, the Lexicon had come into my city and wrecked my whole life.

I can't remember it well, but here are the blurry details.

*Flashback*

One day we got a visit. My mother opened our door and at the threshold was Alexander Lexicon. My brother and I hid behind our mother as he explained he was in need of an army. An army of conduits. My mom hid us behind her legs. When she didn't respond, he began to threaten us.

"Delson!" Mom had yelled.

"Fetch, what's wrong?" he called back in a panicked reply.

My father used his smoke powers to come out of an air vent next to my mother's side.

Alexander lifted his hand and a blast of concrete blasted into my mother's head.

My brother and I ran out from under her legs as she fell to the ground, not really knowing what was going on, with bewildered expressions on our faces.

My dad stood there for a moment, a tortured expression upon his face. He then grabbed my brother and me and pushed us roughly towards a hole in the wall, yelling "Go! Vex, take your brother and run!"

We ran, and when we looked back our house had caved in upon itself.

Our parents never came out.

*End Flashback*

My hand tightly gripped the hilt of my sword. Then, I thought better of it, and sent multiple spheres of energy crashing into all the guards surrounding Lexicon on his pedestal. The spheres didn't have too much power yet, but the whole score of guards were knocked stone cold.

The conduits that had gathered to hear his bullshit fled the building. Most of them probably remember me from the last time I fought them all off

"Vex, my boy," said Alexander, walking down from his pedestal. "It's been a long, long time."

"Who the hell is Vex?" I jumped and looked to my right.

Juneah walked out into view and stopped, looking at me, surprised.

"Vlink, what are you doing here?" She only knew my criminal name.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I was going to take on Lexicon," she said coolly. "What about you, Vex?"

"I'm here to kill him," I said harshly as I drew my sword.

She paused for a moment, her jade green eyes glinting as they raked over me. Then she smiled. "Glad to know we're on the same page."

I frowned, not sure how to respond. Fortunately, I spotted Lexicon sneaking behind Juneah. A much more important matter to deal with. I summoned a cobalt bomb.

"Juneah, are you going to help me or not?" I asked roughly, blasting the cobalt bomb at Lexicon. Juneah turned around and rushed him, attempting to punch him.

Lexicon sidestepped and she drew back. Looking over to the window Juneah shouted, "Hey, a little help right about now would be really helpful!"

"Right," a voice said. A girl in all blue clothing jumped through the window and immediately started to blast Lexicon with water. Based off of Lexicon's gritted teeth and red skin, it must have hurt. I turned to the newcomer.

"Hey Ina," said Juneah with a grin. Ina just nodded and smiled thinly in response, focused on the task at hand.

Ina was a girl with brown skin and dark brown hair. She had cerulean blue eyes.

I had seen Ina before. She and Edgar were dating, but since Edgar knew I didn't like Heroes, he and Ina always tried to meet up when I was gone. He couldn't resist telling me about her, though. She mostly spent her time taking out simple thieves, and apparently she had a fierce and domineering personality, and yet liked to stay in the background, controlling things from there.

I started to slash at Lexicon's head, but he dodged each time. He took me by the throat and threw my zweihander to the ground. He then slammed my head on the pedestal he previously stood on.

I grabbed my throwing knife and stabbed him in the arm. Lexicon grunted, the blood beginning to leak out of the wound, but threw himself at me and pinned me against the pedestal, throttling me. His face was utterly calm, and he hadn't even broken a sweat yet. "Is that all you have, Vex?" he said mockingly.

My blood ran cold, and I knew then that I couldn't beat him.

"Zelda, get Edgar's ass over here," I choked out. I was glad I left my ear piece on.

"I'm already on it, but his communications seem to be down." I cursed inwardly. There wouldn't be enough time.

Suddenly, the pressure from my throat was released. I bent over and caught my breath as I watched a metallic humanoid creature with an orange aura grapple with Lexicon. The automaton tried to knock Lexicon down, but Lexicon shielded himself in a concrete suit at the last second, and simultaneously grabbed the metalloid figure by the leg and threw it into Ina and Juneah, the latter who easily reduced the figure to a fine dust.

Suddenly, as Ina and Juneah were rushing Lexicon, Edgar teleported to my side, blasting a red beam of energy at Alexander. Alexander grabbed Edgar and smashed him into me. I slid backwards due to the force of Edgar slamming into me, and I hit my head on a pillar, everything fading out of focus.

The last thing I saw was a figure in rippling silver armor coming in through the window.

I woke up next to Edgar, both of us slung across the stairs leading up to the pedestal. Three people, were talking in front of us. I sat up, trying to stabilize my spinning vision.

"Hey, Vex is awake," said a girl with dark red hair and brown eyes. I looked at the group of people in front of me. The girl who had spoken helped me up. She smiled at me. "Hi, I'm Sandra."

"Hi," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. She was pretty. Sandra had pale skin, freckles across her nose, brown eyes, dark red hair, and a thin face. Her face seemed to radiate something that I liked. Something friendly.

"Were you the one in the armor at the end?"

"It's not armor," Sandra said, smiling. "It's just a coat of mercury. Since I can conduct mercury's power, she can render it safe to humans and animals. I'm wearing it as armor because its almost rubbery exterior cushions impacts and protects me very well. I call it Hg-armor." Sandra's Hg-armor melted away, and she smiled at Ina. "It's thanks to Ina that I learned this special trick. She really is smart."

"Exactly why we work so well together," said Ina smiling back at Sandra. "We're both smart."

"Our whole team," Sandra said, grinning at Juneah, who nodded back, a small smile dancing around the edges of her mouth.

Zelda flew into the room.

"Vex, you're okay! I was worried when I heard you were knocked out."

"I'm fine, Zelda," I said as she hugged me.

"Is that an android?" Juneah asked, peering at Zelda.

"Yeah, what about it?" I replied.

Juneah looked away, at Ina. "Oh, nothing."

That's a little suspicious.

Ina cleared her throat. "We should leave. We've been out here for too long. Lexicon vanished once he knocked you out, but by now he might've sent some goons after us." The rest of us nodded, and I was for once grateful for someone else being a leader.

I stretched my arms over my head and let out a breath. "Well, I'd best get going." I walked to the window ledge. "Zelda, let's go."

Zelda looked at me from where she was standing. Juneah came up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. I narrowed my eyes at her.

She glanced back at the others, who all stared back, and looked at me again. "Vex, have you thought about joining the Heroes?" she asked solemnly.

"What?" I said. I had forgotten about that. "Oh, yeah, I have. And-"

She cut me off loudly. "Vex, I'm very glad you reconsidered about joining the heroes," she said with a suspiciously straight face. "I knew that you would come around eventually."

"Wait what the hell?" I said, confused. "I never agreed to this!"

There were a few laughs from the others.

"Well, in all seriousness, we all have a common goal," said Sandra. "We should all at least exchange information so we can all meet up again." I looked back at them. The group in the 98th floor of the Lexicon Tower were all Heroes, except for Edgar and Zelda. And me, of course. My shoulders sagged.

I knew this was coming.

"Zelda, exchange my contact information set up a meet up point, please," I said. I turned to the others. "Just give her your phones and she'll plug it in to her database. That will enter my number in your phone," I said, and on that note, I created wings (a trick inspired by Juneah) and swiftly jumped out the window, trying not to feel too good about the way everyone's faces lit up when I let them have my contact information.

(Unfortunately, I hadn't been working on the wings, so they only took me to the ground. I had to walk from there.)

I got a knock at the door of my room.

Zelda's voice floated through the door. "Hey Vex, the Heroes are here. So is Edgar."

"Did you invite them?" I asked, jumping out of bed and slipping my jeans back on.

"No, but I told them to come here as a meet-up point."

"It's five in the morning!"

"I felt like it was a good idea, since you usually sleep until 11 o'clock and almost miss your training time. Face it Vex, you're a sloth." I groaned. I only slept so late because I stayed up so late; going to bed around 3 AM was normal for me.

I grumbled some more as I got dressed. When I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth I gazed at the person reflected in the mirror.

I had black hair, cut in a military haircut. Reflection me had brown skin. I had black eyes and a skinny face. No facial hair. I stood at 6 feet tall almost exactly.

I sighed. There was no time to brush my teeth.

I ran to the door and opened it. "Hi," I said shortly. "Come in."

After they came in, the Heroes (plus Edgar) immediately started explaining why they arranged to meet me so early.

"Our apartment was destroyed…"

"…We can't stay at a hotel…"

"…The Lexicon took all the money from our bank accounts and our emergency fund…"

"…They almost killed us, too!"

(Wait, why was Edgar at Ina's apartment? I decided not to think too hard about that and get distracted.)

I looked at them and shook my head.

"That's what you get for being damn Heroes," I said, glaring at Juneah, still upset about having my sleep disturbed.

"Hey!" said Edgar. "I'm not a Hero," he muttered. Ina patted his back.

Juneah turned away. "I'd rather be a Hero than an Antihero like you," she muttered.

Ina's face was a mask, but Sandra looked at Juneah and me with wide eyes. She tentatively asked "So…may we please stay here for a while, Vex?"

She's so polite...definitely not like one Ms. Perfect Hero. I sighed.

"There are four open spare bedrooms on each floor. Take whichever you want except the ones on the top floor." I paused for a second. Sandra was still looking at me with her soft eyes, and I was becoming distracted by them.

"But… uh, other than that I don't have much food. Still, feel free to raid the fridge at any…" I got distracted again. "…time. Umm, don't go into my room or bathroom. You may use the guest bathrooms if you ever need to. Spare toiletries are in the cabinets under the sinks in the guest bathrooms." I finished abruptly and hurried off to the training room to work this goddamned blush off my face.

After my training I had gone to eat a solitary lunch, and sat in my room watching TV until I decided to make myself dinner. I went to bed at 2 AM.

"Vex!"

Ughhhh...

"It's eight thirty, wake the hell up!"

I opened my eyes Zelda standing over me wearing new clothes that I'd never seen before.

"Where'd you get those clothes?" I asked.

"The girls and I went shopping once you went to sleep," she responded.

I snapped wide awake. "With what money?"

"I gave them some of the money in the vault," she said, pointing to the open vault.

I sighed and got out of bed. I hated when anyone (except for Zelda, I just got irritated then) got their greedy paws on my money. Zelda's next words pulled me out of my sulky mood.

"Oh! Sandra got a gift for you at the Chinese market. I think you'll like it,"

"You guys went all the way over there?"

"Yeah. By the way, I made some Miso soup for breakfast," she said.

I jumped out of bed. "What floor are we eating in again?"

"Second floor."

I ran out of my room to the bathroom with Zelda laughing behind me.

I walked into the dining hall and saw Ina and Saundra sitting across from each other at the table. Juneah was sitting at the head of the table. What? This was my house!

I grumpily saids "Well, looks like you guys made yourself at home here."

Juneah opened her mouth to respond, a crease between her eyebrows, when Edgar teleported in.

"Hey guys," he said. He sat next to Ina. I could tell that they began holding hands under the table. "I'm back, just had get something that I forgot at the store."

We commenced the meal in awkward silence. It seemed like Edgar and Ina were the only people who were comfortable with both Antiheroes and Heroes. Juneah and I occasionally threw hostile glances over the table.

I broke the silence first. "So Zelda has new clothes," I said, looking at Juneah. "Anyone want to explain why?"

Sandra spoke up. "We needed clothing, so we bought some clothing from all around the city. I guess we got a little carried away… but we got you something at the market!"

I looked at her. "What'd you get?" I asked

Relieved that the silence was over, Sandra picked up a large box and gave it to Zelda to pass to me.

I opened the box to reveal two dao swords. I took them out carefully and swung them around experimentally. They were pretty well-balanced, but a little lighter than perfect. I found that I actually preferred them to my zweihander.

"I studied your fighting style. You're very unbalanced with one sword, because it restricts your movement, important due to your slender form, because you need to use both hands on one hilt."

I frowned at the slender part. I know I wasn't buff, but still...

Sandra was continuing. "But you get past that by using your powers to increase your strength."

How does she know all this detailed information?

"However, the usage of your powers as an aid to your strength saps your energy faster. Also, due to having a longer blade, it will be more useless in closer combat, as opposed to the dao which is maybe half the length of your zweihander."

I scowled as she projected a clip from the security cameras of the bank that showed me throwing away my sword. It didn't help my bad mood that Juneah was in the room, sitting smugly at the head of the table. (I'm not sure if sitting smugly is even possible, but she was doing it somehow.)

"Juneah helpfully infused the steel of these dao with manganese to form a manganese-steel alloy that is much stronger than your tungsten-steel alloy. I also had her take some blue dye and infuse that with the blade too, creating that shiny, silvery-blue color that you seem to be liking."

So I was wrong about predicting her power was an alkali or alkaline earth metal. She's just that strong.

It was nice of her to help me out, though.

I looked up from where I was admiring the blades and smiled gratefully at Sandra, then at Juneah, who raised an eyebrow at my sudden change of behavior. "Thanks. Both of you. Can I test these out?"

Juneah nodded. "They're all sharpened and ready to go."

I eagerly performed a basic double sword slash on the chair in front of me. It stood there, whole, for a second, then fell apart thanks to the 'X' shaped cut I made.

Whoops.

"Holy shit," I said, smiling. "I need to try these things out on some of Lexicon's grunts," I said.

"Zelda, I want you order me 8 computer monitors and pick up some stuff for outlets," explained Edgar, taking the money out of his back pocket.

"Edgar you realize this isn't permanent," I said.

"They have no intention of leaving," Edgar said. "Sandra even bought a bunch of stuff to decorate her room with. And Ina...well, Ina beat me in CoD," he whispered. "There is no way I'm letting her leave without redeeming myself."

I sighed. "Ed, ya might as well move here too if you're always going to be around," I said.

"That's a good idea," he said puting on some goggles. "I might take you up on that.

I stared at the sledgehammer next to Edgar. "What are you doing?"

Edgar took the sledgehammer and slammed it into the wall. "Oh just redoing the house. You know, all the geek stuff you refused to learn!"

If only he knew…

"Okay. Since you're going to be so noisy, how long will you be I want to go to the peri?"

"Maybe five to ten hours," he said, pulling a bunch of wires out the wall. I nodded and swung my jacket over my shoulders, then jumped out a window.

I seemed to have a deep-rooted door phobia.

Damn!

I had forgotten to bring money.

I looked around and spotted a guy at an outside bar holding a large amount of cash. He slipped it into his jacket pocket. I went next to the man to talk to the bartender as he slurped down a can of beer.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bartender?"

"Yes?"

"Well I have come to your bar to ask a question," I said, slipping my hand into my target's jacket pocket. I felt around and found a phone, breath mints, some car keys, and the wad of cash. I took the cash and the breath mints. (Just in case)

This guy probably scammed the money off of someone else, anyway.

"And what would that question be?" he asked as I pocketed the money.

"My best friend is turning 21 tomorrow night. What would be the most fitting beverage for her party?"

"Well, it really depends on what the person…"

The man next to me started to feel around his pockets for his money. Alarm bells went off in my head.

I cut the bartender off mid-sentence. "Oh! Sorry, she's right here, uh, gotta keep this a secret," I said quickly, and prayed to the elements that someone would be there.

Praise the elements!

Behind me was Sandra. She eyed me suspiciously. "Vex, put the thing you stole back in the man's pocket," she demanded in a whisper.

I took the breath mints out my pocket and slipped them back into the man's pocket.

Sandra pulled me over to the edge of the lake, away from the bar. She angrily folded her arms. "Vex! What the hell was that?"

"I didn't have any cash and I needed something to eat..."

"Cash?!"

I took the money out of my pocket and showed it to her.

"Vex," she exclaimed, pushing me. "Go give him the money back!"

"He didn't need it anyway! He was hammered anyway; and he probably stole it from some poor person! I was just returning the favor," I explained.

Sandra withdrew her hand then looked me in the eye.

"You're probably right." She uncrossed her arms and rested them on the guard rail.

We sat there in silence for a while, just looking at the lake.

Sandra turned her head to look at me. "You know, I might be starting to like you."

"In what way?" I asked, leaning over the guardrails.

"As a friend...so far. I like you, but people only see you as an Antihero. You're just a criminal."

I sighed. "I know."

She looked out to the lake. I noticed her sniffing the air and realized that the scent of fresh bread was on the wind.

"You hungry?"

She nodded. "Yep. That's why I was here in the first place."

"I can call Zelda and tell her to make some food. Maybe a roast chicken?"

Sandra grinned. "That would be fine but..."

She suddenly made an acrobatic leap up onto a roof top. "You have to buy me a smoothie!"and she started running away from me. I stood there, disbelief written across my face.

Sandra's head popped back into sight, maybe slightly confused.

"You coming?"

A/N: Co-author/Editor: TheVictoriousMC

Please review. Feedback and support are always welcome.