Chapter Two

After dinner, The Monarch and his wife headed upstairs. The Councilwoman had poured herself a glass of wine with dinner and was becoming increasingly more affectionate with The Monarch throughout the meal. I was under the impression that they're hasty escape to the bedroom was probably not for a good night's sleep.

I offered to help Gary with the dishes and the clean up of the kitchen, but he seemed rather intent about doing them himself. And again, I was feeling less like a prisoner and more like a guest. It was odd. Not that I minded, it was better than my first few weeks in The Guild's care. To say the least.

When The Guild had first found me, hours after killing Dr. Modesa, I was at my mothers. I was panicked and scared and fighting myself on whether or not to call 911. The Guild burst in through the front door with no warning, weapons at the ready. They wrangled me to the ground, handcuffed me, put a sack over my head and packed me into a car. They took me to what looked like an old underground bunker and they'd held my hearing on the spot. A small room full of old super villains I'd never even heard of, along side Watch and Ward, were put in charge of decided my fate.

Dr. Z wanted me executed. "This is an act of treason!" He had shouted to the rest of the group. "According to Guild Law she should be beheaded!"

The Councilwoman was more reasonable. "She didn't even know she was under Guild Law, Dr. Modesa tricked her into signing that contract!" Her deep voice echoed in the chamber.

At the Councilwoman's suggestion, The Guild decided to keep me as a henchman, as property , and assigned me to a villain on the council named Phantom Limb.

He was crass and rude, but not in the way you'd expect a villain to be toward a henchman. No, he was worse, he was, in the most polite way of saying it, sexist . Instead of reconnaissance, or body guarding, or even regular arching, he had me do much more demeaning jobs. I was woken at five every morning to cook him breakfast, after that I did the dishes, made his bed, did his laundry, and cleaned the rest of the house. I was made to wear a uniform, somehow he had taken the regular "sexy french maid costume", but taken part of the dress that was usually black, and made it into a heavy see-through plastic. He said it was part of the whole "Ghostly, see-through, phantom limb thing" but to me I just felt like it was a way to see me almost naked while I scrubbed his kitchen floors.

A few weeks in and I'd cooked him a meal he wasn't found of.

"You call this fried chicken? Do you have no taste buds, Woman?" He asked before his invisible hand threw his plate against the wall.

"I can make you something else." I argued. "You said you didn't have any dietary restrictions. I didn't think this would be a problem."

"No dietary restrictions imply that you would still cook edible food. Not a rag soaked in lard!" His hands and arms had started to spark and glow in his rage.

"I'm sorry!" I folded into myself "I'll make you something else!" But before I knew what was happening Phantom Limb had grabbed my hand and the world around me had gone black.

When I came to I was back in the bunker, I stayed there for a few days under the care of Watch and Ward. I tried to escape twice while I was there, but each time I ended up just injuring myself and making things worse.

The first time, I dislocated my shoulder by throwing myself against a locked metal door. I crumpled to the ground and cried until Watch found me half an hour later. After popping it back into place, he gave me his juice box. Ward later informed me that kind of a gesture from him was not something to be taken lightly. It was like being bestowed an honor.

The second time I got caught trying to unlock said metal door, with the plastic straw from the juice box I'd been given. Once caught I tried running away from them, I rounded a corner and: slam ! Right into the wall.

After a week in their custody, The Councilwoman came to my aid, she came to the bunker and explained that Phantom Limb thought I wasn't up to his standards and that and handed me back to the Guild for reassignment. She explained that she wasn't surprised, and from her prior experiences with him she knew what an impossible ass he could be. She told me it wasn't my fault and that she was moving me to work with another villain, her husband, and she promised me I'd be in good hands.

As I curled up into a ball on the couch I hoped that her promise was true.

I heard the sound of the running water from the kitchen stop and watched as one of the pipes I could see from the opening in the ceiling bounced slightly. Gary's footsteps traveled down the hall and soon he was in the door frame of the living area. I looked up to him from my spot on the couch, he was wiping his hands on a towel.

"I'm gonna head to bed, do you need anything?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No." I said softly.

The henchman nodded. "G'night." He said as he turned off the remaining lights and climbed the stairs. When I heard the sound of his door upstairs close and let out a sigh and flipped over onto my back, trying to get comfortable.

The moon light from the window streamed across the room, casting ominous shadows across the floor. The house was completely still, the only noise came from the creeks the couch made every time I exhaled.

The longer I lay there the stiffer my back felt, I turned on to my side again and my shoulder landed on something sharp. I pushed myself up to see a rusty spring sticking out of the fabric.

"Lovely." I grumbled and tried to push the metal back beneath the fabric.

A burst of wind traveled through the cracks in the wood boarding up the windows and I shivered. The Monarch's hadn't set out a blanket on the couch and I was starting to regret not asking Gary for one before he left. I crossed my arms and tucked my head to my chest as another burst of wind washed over me.

I tossed and turned for several hours. Trying desperately to get warm, or at the very least a little more comfortable. Looking to the clock in the entryway it was about one in the morning when I finally sighed and sat up. There had to be a spare blanket somewhere. I got up and slowly, not wanting to make a lot of noise and began searching the room. Against the wall there was an old canvas covering old paint cans. Maybe I could wrap myself in- oh god it was literally covered in dead spiders and dust bunnies. Never mind.

I sighed, maybe there was something in the kitchen.

I tip-toed down the hall and into the kitchen, the door creaked open and I looked around the room. On the table was a towel that looked like the one Gary had used to dry his hands. Maybe I could use that to at least cover my shoulders or so- oh wow, it smelled like rotting tuna and fried eggs. Not that.

Didn't Gary mention there was a bathroom upstairs at dinner? Maybe there were some clean towels I could use as a makeshift blanket.

Not bothering to turn on the lights, I crept up the stairs slowly, my hand grasping the banister so that I didn't trip and fall in the darkness.

At the top of the stairs was an elegant double door, the doors were shut and the sound of the monarch's snores echoed from within. On the left there was another closed door, but next to that the door stood open, revealing the bathroom.

I crept across the creaky wooden floor, the last thing I wanted to do was wake anyone up. In the glow of the moonlight from the window I could make out the faint outlines of the sink, tub and toilet. Above the toilet I could see a wire shelf, and on said shelf was a pile of nicely folded, fluffy towels. I smiled and grabbed one from the top. But as I turned around to exit I came face first with something, very, very hard.

"AH! FUCK !" I cursed loudly as I fell to my knees in pain. I could feel the blood rushing to my nostrils already.

The light of the bathroom switched on and I looked up to see Gary towering over me. His fist clenched, my blood painted across his knuckles, and his eyes were wide in surprise.

"Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry! I didn't know it was you, I just heard someone sneaking around. I thought you were an intruder or, I don't know, an assassin or something!" He quickly bent down to where I was sitting on the floor, my hands covering my face in pain.

"Oh my god that fucking hurts!" I felt tears starting to pool in my eyes and the blood dripped down my hands and into my mouth.

Gary grabbed a wad of toilet paper quickly and wiped my chin. "Here," His voice broke, "tilt your head back and take your hands away." He instructed.

Hesitantly, I obeyed. He wiped my face gently with the toilet paper before pressing down on the bridge of my nose lightly. I winced and pulled away.

"Well, It doesn't feel broken." He sighed looking a little more than relieved. "It's just kinda swollen." He sighed "Here…" I stifled a sob as he grabbed more toilet paper. He broke it into two pieces and twirled the ends into points before grabbing my by the jaw and shoving them into my nostrils. "I am soooo sorry" His whole body moved as he exaggerated the 'so'. "Try to keep your head elevated" he suggested.

I nodded and looked down to the towel I'd originally come up here for. I let out a small frustrated huff, "Crap, dere's blood all ober da towel." I groaned, the toilet paper in my nose now affecting my speech.

Gary looked down and gingerly took it from me before he stood back up and turned to the sink. He turned it on and ran the towel under the hot water and rubbing the blood spots with his thumb. "Why'd you need a towel?" He asked. "Did something downstairs spill?"

"It's freebing downstairs." I faked a shiver and pulled my knees in close to me as I sat on the floor. "I was trying to bind a blanket or somefing."

I heard a muffled snort and could tell Gary had to stop himself from laughing at the way I was talking. "I'm pretty sure there's an extra one in my room." He said.

Getting the last of the blood stains out of the towel, he threw it over the side of the shower curtain rod to dry. He held out a hand to me and helped me up from my spot on the floor. I gingerly took it from him and lifted myself up. Gary flipped the light in the bathroom off before leading me out to the room next door, revealing what was clearly his own bedroom.

It looked a lot like the rest of the house, the wood floor was indented with deep scratches and the soft blue paint was flaking off into large crusty shapes on the walls, leaving white dust and paint chips on all corners of the room. Against the wall a full size mattress lay on the floor, no headboard or box spring, just the mattress. It was covered in magenta bed sheets and a purple blanket. A stack of comic books sat next to the bed with a glass of water on top, making the comic books look like a tiny bedside table. Against the window was an acoustic guitar and on the ledge was a sewing machine. The bobbin looked broken with dark blue threads knotted and wrapped around the machine. There were also several cook books and a tiny spiderman figurine holding them up like a bookend.

Gary made his way toward a small door on the other side of the room, he opened it to reveal a packed closet. "I've got this sleeping bag I used to use while I was camping for like a year in-" He paused. "Well, it was basically this guy's yard." He said into the closet. "And I'm pretty sure I have an extra set of sheets." He was rustling in the closet, the sound of books and plastic bags and clothes all moving about in his search. He stopped and looked over to me as I stood waiting by the open door. He squinted, "Do you have, like, something to sleep in?" He asked.

"What do you bean?" I huffed through the toilet paper.

"Like, pajamas." He answered. "Do you have any pajamas?"

"Oh." I shook my head. "No, just this." I pinched at the shirt I was wearing.

He entered the closet once again and the rustling continued. "Here." He muffled into the closet before a t-shirt came flying at me. I grabbed at it quickly before opening it up and looking at it. It was a large black shirt with the words "My leader went to the Calamity Conference and only got his best henchman this lousy t-shirt." And the Guild's logo printed on it.

Gary's rustling stopped again and he let out a frustrated huff. "I can't find it." He groaned. He looked back to me biting his lower lip pensively. Clearly thinking of other places it could be.

I shook my head "It's okay ib you can't find it." I sniffled. "I'm fine with one ob those towels."

"No, no." Gary stood up. "I think it's down stairs." He reassured me. "Here, uhh…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Why don't you just sleep up here." He motioned a thumb to his mattress against the wall. "And I'll take the couch." He smiled at me warmly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah!" He said energetically. "It's a lot warmer up here."

"No, I bean, won't you be cold?" I huffed.

Gary gave me a sad, sideways smirk. "It's the least I can do for injuring you. Plus I'm pretty sure the sleeping bag is down stairs. And that thing is like, industrial grade. I'm pretty sure I could be warm in that thing if I was climbing Mount. Everest."

I looked at him, still unconvinced. "You're sure? " I asked again.

"I'm sure ." He nodded and walked passed me toward the door. "Sleep well." He said before closing the door behind him.

I heard him shuffle down stairs slowly before the house was quiet again. I sighed and looked down at the shirt he'd given me. It was enormous, and would probably fit me like a dress. I moved over to his mattress and tossed the shirt on top of the crumpled sheets. Making sure the tissue in my nose was still secured I pulled off my black shirt and tossed it to the floor, I stepped out of the leggings as well, leaving me only in my underwear and bra. I pulled on Gary's shirt gingerly, making sure not to press the fabric against my sore nose.

My previous assumption had been correct. The shirt reached down to my upper thigh, fitting me like a small hospital gown. I plopped down onto his mattress with a sniff, the blood that had previously been pouring from my nose seemed to be slowing. Tentatively, I pulled the paper out of my nostrils. I took a deep breath in from my nose, clearing out any left over blood and placed the tissues on top of my clothing.

Gary's kindness was alien to me. In a world full of super-villains I expected everyone to be angry and vengeful. Yet The Councilwoman sought justice for me and made sure that my punishment was fair. Gary had gone to great lengths to make sure I was welcomed and comfortable, and my entrance to their team was greeted with celebration and Chinese take-out. I wasn't sure how to respond or how to feel about any of it.

I didn't get much time to contemplate these thoughts though. Before I knew it my eyes were becoming heavy, and cocooned in Henchman Twenty-one's blankets I fell fast asleep.