"Bingo." Autumn grinned, perched on the edge of the building. If you want a guaranteed baddie or need one in Autumn's case, prostitutes were always the easiest score. Prostitutes make money and they always have to take that money to their pimp. Easy peasy.

Lucas crouched down beside her. While Autumn's costume was fun and practical, Lucas's was purely practical and nothing more. No bells, no whistles. He wore an armored, full-head mask and a solid black tactical gear with a variety of guns on his back and a set of knives in the holsters on his legs. That was it. No insignia. No cape. No theme. He was nobody. And as such, Nobody was the name he took. It suited him.

Autumn's on the other hand had a very clear theme. It was mostly black like Lucas's, but there were bits of red to give it some definition. Her mask left her mouth visible, accented with a hood attached to a long cape which she could cover herself in if she wished. But the hooded, shrouded figure wasn't complete without her trusty hand scythes. She had guns as well but the hand scythes were her babies.

The two heroes watched closely as the women exchanged the money to the much larger man, who seemed more than pleased with his haul. Autumn and Lucas traded a glance as they heard the pimp's name.

"This might be the first time someone would actually fare better against you than if our mother found them." Lucas commented, pulling a rifle from his back and attaching a silencer, as he did with all of his guns.

Autumn chuckled, licking her lips as she eyed her prey. "I don't think 'Big Daddy' down there should get a choice."

"Reaper." Lucas evenly stated. "Prey always gets a choice. You know the rules."

Autumn rolled her eyes, which stood out under her hood, the red contacts doing their job well. She hated giving prey a choice. They almost always chose 'wrong'. But Lucas insisted that if they were going to go hunting, not to protect people but to sate Autumn's compulsions then there needed to be rules that put the evil act in the realm of heroic again. "Fine…"

"You're good to go." Lucas surveyed the area and then took aim on the pimp with the rifle.

"Come on option 2." Autumn muttered to herself, her voice now altered so that it was lower and had a slight echo to it. Once Big Daddy had gotten his 'transactions', he took one of the girls with him and headed further into the alley. "Heh, I thought you weren't supposed to sample your own supply."

"That's drug dealers, not pimps." Lucas stated.

Autumn sighed, forgetting for a moment who'd she'd been talking to. "I know, Nobody. That was the joke." With that, she launched herself off the rooftop, expertly moving silently down until she was right in front of Big Daddy and his 'companion'. He was so distracted by his lady friend, that it took him way longer than it should have to notice that they weren't alone.

"Oh shit!" Big Daddy swore, which drew the attention of the prostitute, who's eyes went wide with recognition and ran for it. Big Daddy tried to do the same but a curved blade around his neck stopped his progress.

"I love pimps." Autumn said with a wide grin. "Do you know why I love pimps?"

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuckpleasedon'tkillme." Big Daddy visibly gulped.

"I also love it when my reputation precedes me." Autumn slowly licked her lips, eyeing the pimp up and down but keeping the blade pressed against his neck to keep him nice and paralyzed. "But you didn't answer my question. I guess that's okay, all things considered. The reason I love pimps is because you're all so damn easy. You treat women…human fucking beings…like they're your property. Not only that. It's like they owe you for letting you take advantage of them. You're all fucking scum. So I have a question for you, Scum. You better answer me this time. What's my name?"

Big Daddy gulped again, the blade forcing him against the wall and giving him no room to run. "R-r-r-r-reaper…"

Autumn's eyes widened almost a little too widely. "That's very good. And what's yours?"

"S-scum?"

Autumn threw back her head into a laugh before she regained herself. "Now now, that's not what those girls were calling you. What's your name?"

There was a pause as Big Daddy was clearly considering not answering that question. Autumn loosened his lips by putting the point of her other hand scythe against his crotch. "Big Daddy!" He blurted out.

"No! That is not your name! Big Daddy was a true hero and you're a scum pimp piece of shit!" Autumn removed the scythe from his groin and placed it on her belt once again. And in a swift movement, also removed the blade from his neck and sank the point hard in-between his shoulder and his arm. With her other hand, she muffled his screams. Even the muffled screaming was enough for her, Autumn's eyes widening and her teeth flashing from her wide smile.

"What is your name?" Autumn purred almost lustfully into his ear as the pimp squirmed and whimpered, looking between Autumn's gleeful expression and then to the blade embedded in his shoulder. Autumn almost moaned as she slowly forced the scythe deeper. "You see all those jagged bits on the other side of the blade?" She drew his attention to the top part of the blade. "It's designed to do soooo much more damage when I pull it out than when I…push it in. So the more you make me repeat myself, the more it's going to hurt and the less likely you'll ever be able to use that arm again."

"Charles!" He finally shrieked when Autumn released his mouth. "Charles Bernard! Please, for the love of God, stop!"

As Charles begged, Autumn slowly licked her lips, savoring the pain she was inflicting, drinking it all in. "Charles. Charles, Charles, Charles. I like it. It suits you. Now…because I like you…I'm going to give you a choice. I like to call it the pussy choice and the man choice." Autumn stopped moving the scythe and even let go of it, causing gravity to prove her earlier point that it hurts more coming out than going in. Her red eyes gleamed at his agony as she continued,

"Now your first choice is that you choose another career. As a thank you to me for not just straight up murdering your ass, you become a stand-up human being. Big Daddy dies and Charles Bernard is reborn as not a shit stain. And to make this clear, I don't just mean you getting a legit job. All those girls you take advantage of? You help them.

"Rehab, therapy, I don't give a shit if they just need a hug or for someone to shoe shop with them, you do that shit. They're your responsibility. They're relapses and fuck-ups are yours. You want to be their daddy? Fine. It's on you to get them to support themselves until they don't need you anymore." Autumn scowled as she gave this option before her grin reemerged.

"But that would be really hard, right? And so embarrassing. I know. Change is difficult. There's a reason I call that the pussy option. But you look like a man to me. A big, strong man who doesn't want to help those whores. So the man option, which is my personal favorite if you can't tell, is that I put you through an inhuman amount of pain. I'm very good at what I do and I take a lot of pride in it. No questions. No reprieves. Just hours and hours of me just fucking your shit all up.

"And then…assuming you're still sane, I'll drop you off at the hospital. I'll let you heal up for a bit. And then I make you the same offer. But…if I'm being honest…I get a little…overexcited the second time around. A guy wanting me to spend that much time with them. It makes me happy. Happy between my legs, you know what I mean? I tend to break my toys if I play with them too much."

Autumn smiled lazily as she regained her grip on the scythe, making Charles wince in pain. "So Charlie…what are you? A pussy or a man?"

"….a pussy…totally a pussy…" Charles coughed out, the expression on his face showing that he clearly got what kind of psycho bitch he was dealing with.

Autumn, on the other hand, visibly pouted. "Oh, come on. Charlie, I thought we were making a connection here. I like manly men. They scream the loudest when I hammer a nail into their balls. The look of fear and horror is just…orgasmic… Don't you want to make me happy?"

Charles frantically shook his head. "No…no… I'm…I'm a pussy…."

Autumn sighed. "Fine. If that's what you want. In that case I should probably tell you that you won't see me…but I will be watching. A big bad dog fighter tried to cheat my system once. He had his brother run the fights instead." She smiled widely as the story continued. "I made him watch as his brother was eaten alive by rats. It takes for-fucking-ever but I'll be damned if it doesn't get results! I like getting inventive. I have to make it worse than the man option, you know? You sure you're a pussy? Why don't you try being a man? See how you like it?"

Charles just slowly shook his head with a large gulp and a tired wince from the pain in his shoulder.

Autumn sighed once more. "If you insist." She then suddenly covered his mouth again, making the former pimp start to panic. "Shhhhh. I still have to take out my scythe and then you're free to go, little pussy. If I were you, I'd keep pressure on your wound, rush immediately to the hospital and pray I didn't fuck up any nerves or arteries." Autumn wasn't able to suppress her giggle while Charles's panic only rose as he looked in sheer horror at the blade. "Take deep breaths okay? It's like a band-aid. One swift motion. I'm going to pull out on three, okay? One….two….two and a half…two and three quarters…" And with a sadistic grin, Autumn reclaimed her weapon.


"Was all of that really necessary?" Lucas asked when Autumn returned to the rooftop.

"It made me feel better." Autumn replied, with a shrug. She blinked at Lucas's expression. It was in his body language more than his face, which you couldn't even make out from his mask. It reminded her that she needed to give him more than that. "He'll remember the fear of me, sure. But that'll fade. Even if he gets to the hospital in time, he will remember the pain. Every time he moves that arm or uses that shoulder, he'll remember our deal. And if that doesn't work…I pay him another visit. Yeah, I was a little…overzealous…but it works. Win/win."

Lucas put the rifle on his back again, clearly satisfied with that answer. "We should get home. You're covered in blood and you need time to clean it off before our parents get home."

Autumn frowned slightly. She wasn't that bloody. So she had some blood splatter on her face and some on her costume and a few chunks of flesh on one of her scythes. So what? The night was still young. Almost as if the night heard her mental complaint, gunshots echoed, drawing both vigilantes' attention. Autumn knew what her brother would say and she readied a counter. "There could be innocents. Innocents we could have saved if we hadn't gone home."

"You just want an excuse to kill without needing to give them a choice." Lucas replied evenly. He was still tensed, looking in the direction the shots came from and gauging how much of a threat they were.

"Well…yeah." Autumn admitted. "Doesn't make me wrong."

Lucas paused, glancing between Autumn and where new shots were now coming from. "We do a quick pass. Quick."

Autumn's smile stretched from ear to ear. "Sir, yes sir." And with that she leapt into action, her brother trailing close behind.


Oddly enough, the thing that made school difficult was that Autumn was borderline giddy. Everything was going according to plan. She even got to torture and kill some assholes last night. It was all perfect. But her social camouflage was supposed to be beyond distraught and even more withdrawn than usual.

"Autumn!" Matt called out as soon as he saw her.

Autumn had gotten extremely good at blushing on cue, and this was no exception. Her face immediately went beet red and she let Matt see a flash of longing, but that was quickly replaced with frustration and anger, leading Autumn to turn her back on him and storm away dramatically.

"Autumn please! I didn't know she was going to do that! Please, let me explain!" Matt pleaded, chasing after her.

Autumn timed it perfectly. She let him follow her and forced him to chase faster and faster, letting him get just close enough that when she suddenly stopped and whipped around to face him, he damn near plowed into her. Glancing over his shoulder, she also saw Ashleigh's hair for a fraction of a second behind one of the lockers. Autumn had led Matt here so that they'd have some privacy and Lucas couldn't fault her for making an "unnecessary spectacle", but a little audience wouldn't hurt. "Matt...what?! I do like you and you seem like a nice guy and everything but…please just leave me alone… Yesterday was just-... I've never been so humiliated before! I don't need this in my life!"

Matt awkwardly tried to regain his balance, which he was impressively able to do pretty quickly. He had nice coordination. "I know! I know, Autumn. You didn't deserve that. That was all on me and I swear I'll never be able to apologize enough to you. Please let me try."

"Matt…the more you stay close to me, the more I'll have to deal with Ashleigh. And don't tell me you can keep her in check because you clearly can't! If you want to stay with her, that's fine. I want you to be happy and feel special, but not at my expense!" Despite her words, Autumn made sure that her body language didn't completely fit it. Her hands were fidgeting awkwardly behind her back, slightly pushing out her chest and she was barely making eye contact, playing coy somewhat.

"Yeah…Me and Ashleigh…We…I broke up with her…yesterday." Matt mumbled under his breath.

Jackpot! Once again, Autumn had to remember not to let her genuine emotions show, instead she looked up at him skeptically. "Oh… Does she know that?" Once again her body language was hopeful.

"Yes." Matt quickly agreed, tentatively getting closer. "I made it…very clear. It's like you said…I shouldn't be embarrassed by my girlfriend."

Autumn didn't move away. Closeness was what she wanted. She was only driven more as she could see Ashleigh in the distance in her peripheral vision and the bitch was totally freaking out. "Well…even so….I'm…I'm sorry you had to do that. I know how much you liked her."

"Well…truth is, it wasn't that hard because… I like someone more…" Matt seemingly tried to beat Autumn out with his ability to blush. Without any warning, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

While Autumn was trained to expect the unexpected, having her first kiss at that moment was a genuine surprise. She almost killed him. Literally, her gut feeling was to actually gut him for his presumption, but then she remembered that this was what she wanted. Who knew boys were so easy? It was like, Holy Rebound, Batman! He literally just broke up with his girlfriend and he was already kissing her? She didn't know if she was supposed to be insulted or flattered.

When the kiss ended, Autumn refrained from making eye contact and visibly failed at not smiling. She did everything she could do to visibly show that she was both surprised and happy at the same time. "I've…never done that before…"

"Er…should I…apologize?" Matt asked awkwardly.

Autumn wanted to roll her eyes. She was into it. She made a point of letting him know she was into it. He took the gamble and kissed her. Own that shit. Instead she just continued to fight back a smirk. "No…it was…nice… But only if you're really broken up with Ashleigh. I'm not that kind of girl."

"I know. That's why I like you…" Matt smiled warmly, gently caressing her cheek.

It hit her like a lighting bolt. She could practically feel the imaginary lightbulb above her head turning on. The idea was just so…delicious. But it was also stupid because it would probably piss off Lucas and pissing off Lucas was always a bad thing. Maybe it was just because everything was so perfect. The excitement was making her reckless. Autumn just shrugged it off and acted on her impulses, smiling widely, squealing and then literally hopping into Matt's surprised arms in excitement.

Autumn pulled Matt against her in a tight embrace. She couldn't help but notice that his hands kept her up by gripping her ass. That was fine. She only wished her ass-challenged audience of one could see it. But that was also fine. Because Ashleigh could see Matt's back and Autumn's legs wrapped around his waist. It was the perfect view for what she wanted to do. "You really like me, Matt? Like like me?"

"This answer your question?"Matt smiled and gave Autumn another quick kiss. Autumn squeezed the embrace even tighter, resting her head on his shoulder and looked Ashleigh right in the eyes. And then she did the one thing that her parents and Lucas for that matter had drilled into her over and over never to do. She broke character. She flashed Ashleigh her most genuine sadistic smile and pretended to tauntingly lick Matt's neck without actually touching him. Ashleigh's face was priceless.