Chapter 1
He stealthily opened the window to his lair and jumped in frowning slightly at the noise his shoes made as they hit the concrete floor.
Releasing a sigh he licked his dry lips and made for the large monitor in the corner of his lair sided by two smaller ones. Just below the large monitor is a wide table with a variety buttons and touch pads that varied in size and colour.
Getting there he pressed a random yellow button and the monitor flashed to life displaying a list of names with small ID images next to each name.
"VaL, scan for any latest updates on Villain Database" he ordered staring at the monitor intently.
"Good Evening Sir" the monitor replied obediently to which he smirked smugly at subconsciously praising himself at his latest invention reminding himself how an A.I [Artificial Intelligence] is the most basic necessity one needs to have in his line of work.
"Likewise VaL" he returned knowing the A.I was already doing his bidding.
"DataBase Scanning Completed Sir"
"Thanks Val" he replied crossing his arms and focused.
"Its A Privilege Sir" the now named Val replied monotonously although one could distinguish the strong English accent.
Ignoring the A.I for a moment he gazed intently at the screen.
"VaL, conjure up any files on this Hemphis Duran and copy anything you find useful to my smartphone, I'm going upstairs for a shower" he concluded turning and discarding his black suit, utility belt and mask.
"On It Sir" VaL replied.
He strolled towards the other side of the lair stealing a glance at a cage perched atop one his smaller work benches. He knew he made a wise choice expanding his lair.
He flicked his feet as his shoes flew off and made for the stairs his body aching from all the extra training that morning before going on patrol.
He pulled a white vest over his head and threw on the closest shorts he could find including his sandals which he rarely wore thrown carelessly near his stairs.
"I really need an in-built shower" he muttered scornfully his hand turning the knob.
Closing the door behind him, his body twitched instincts kicking in slightly due to how the small hallway seemed to swallow his figure which couldn't be helped due to his extensive training which made him extra attentive to his surroundings considering Villains had the habit of ambushing him in the street alleyways of HiddenVille during midnight where one can only depend on light illuminated by the Moon or sharp eye perception.
Shrugging absentmindedly he made for the lounge and stopped momentarily composing himself before falling into character noticing the light in the lounge which meant his eccentric family hadn't gone to sleep yet which meant he needed to keep up his facade and not arouse any suspicions which he didn't doubt for a second everyone had considering him always arriving home late at night or how calm the atmosphere in the house became as him and Phoebe's fights were ranging from rare to none which made it painfully obvious that his presence at home was non-existent, all in all this started occurring within a month.
Phoebe looked up noticing Max emerging from the hallway and fought the the urge not to stare at his developing biceps that glistened in the light probably due to being coated in sweat or his rippling abdominal muscles that were noticeable through his vest, she loved the way it clung to his body show-
She stopped mid thought and realised this was Max-her annoying twin brother she was oogling which made her face contort into a somewhat disgusted frown which Max immediately took notice of considering she was staring at him.
"Ugh, Phoebe you playing expressions again?" he quipped with a playful smirk.
"Yes actually, you see, when your face is in range, my facial expressions tend to go haywire from a range of comical to disgusted" she retorted sending him a smug smile daring him to top her insult.
"Yeah yeah, you know you love this face" he said to which she rolled her eyes at, she averted her attention back to TV monitor, although she didn't deny his claim.
She saw Max from the corner of her eye rummage through the fridge for a few seconds before slamming the handle hard shaking the refrigerator a bit.
"Phoebe?" she turned to him with the most innocent look she could master.
"What's it Max?"
"Have you by any chance seen my Soda Expresso?" he asked with a piercing glare studying her face intently.
"Whatever do you mean Max?" she asked innocently inwardly pleased to have his attention focused on her.
He sighed tiredly skillfully dodging her charade which always ended up in a pointless argument between them routinely.
He scratched his itching scalp which reminded him of a much needed shower.
Phoebe frowned, she knew Max was literally obsessed with his Expresso, she once saw him smuggle a full cartilage filled with Soda cans into his lair a week before. He would at least store two or three in the fridge every morning before readying for School knowing he needed to store them somewhere to keep cool.
In her opinion the refrigerator was the worst option he considered.
"Why do you always get so uptight about some stupid drink anyway?" she asked expectantly awaiting his response.
He instantly took offence to that
"Hey it isn't 'some stupid drink' ya' know" he said readjusting his towel hanging off his shoulder. "This drink rejuvenates my voluptuous body after long hours of pranking and inventing my genius creations" he lied. "..and it keeps my lips soft and firm" he concluded smugly tracing his lower lip to get the message across.
She rolled her eyes but didn't avert her gaze from his lips for a good 5 seconds before raising her eyes to meet his.
"..and what do you mean I get all uptight about it?"
"You froze Dad when he accidentally drank it mistaking it for canned mineral water...you suspended Billy in the air with your telekenisis and kept sending small heat waves to his face using your heat breath telling him to sweat it out after he washed his hands with it claiming it always made his hands feel a thousand times smoother..should I go on?" she asked with deadpanned expression.
"Hmm, if I weren't mistaken I'd say you keep tabs of everything I do Phoebe..." he stopped noticing her fluster if just for seconds.
"As if" but she couldn't help it as her cheeks heatened up.
"Anyway, I'll be occupying the bathroom for the next 30 minutes or so, because this bad boy needs to-" he was interrupted.
"Oh God Max, TMI for goodness sakes" Phoebe pointed out.
Max rolled his eyes but suddenly smirked. "Unless you want to join me of course-" he was cut off again.
"No, gross Max, keep your perverted ideas to yourself, that would be wrong and...and well, disgusting..." she chastised but couldn't help it as images flashed in her mind picturing him in the bathroom without his pants on and the vest acting as a hindrance restricting her access to run fingers along his toned stomach-
"Phoebe?!"
Her subconscious slapped her back to reality.
"Uh, y-you were saying?" she literally wanted to slap herself but negated the urge not wanting to make a fool of herself in front of her brother.
"I asked what you meant about 'my perverted ideas'" he quoted eyeing her strangely. "..what's perverted about you washing my hair?"
So that's what he meant.
"N-nothing...forget I said anything" she asked not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her all stuttering and flustered so she turned to the monitor. "..didn't you have a bath to get to or something? Why are you still here anyway?" hoping to change the course of their conversation.
"You sure you're aren't going through a phase yourself? Maybe some Weirdo phase considering you're a nerd, geek and dweeb at the same time?"
"Max!!!" she bellowed.
"Okay geez, I'm going" he remarked marching towards the bathroom.
- 32 minutes later -
One Max Thunderman was strutting carelessly through the hallway connected to the lounge until a thought struck his mind.
'Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something...?" he then paused. "..Oh yeah, VaL is probably done copying Villain data from the Hero League mainframe to my..." that's when he realised he completely forgot his smartphone on the kitchen counter while looking for his Soda Expresso.
His fast legs quickly carried him into the lounge, a sharp U-turn only to be presented with a sight nearly sent him into cardiac arrest.
There was Phoebe-his twin sister.
His phone clutched inches from face.
Her mouth hanging open.
Her eyes wide as she stared intently on the contents displayed on his phone.
Which was no doubt the data VaL must have sent him including all his vigilante mission data saved and encrypted into his phone database.
He chose that moment to bite the innards of his lower lip anticipating the worst since he never bothered to encrypt his phone with passwords to restrict anyone access other than him to operate it.
Phoebe chose that moment to avert her shocked gaze towards him.
"Max, what's this?" she asked in an ominous low voice holding up his phone towards his direction although not far out of reach.
"Phoebe, I can explain"
CHAPTER END.