A/N: Don't die of shock now, here's the next chapter.

Thanks as always to my beta: Estel Baggins.

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Serpent Under 't

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(Virgil's POV)

Daylight still lit the sky as I rode on my way to commit murder. It was fading into dusk, losing the fight against the dark. Damn appropriate in my eyes. No matter what we do, what we stop from happening, it isn't enough. I always knew that, but I figured I'd make my little piece of the world better. You can't save them all, but I was going to save some of them. Maybe that's why this hurt so much. It felt almost like all those good deeds, all those lives saved, should have incurred in some kind of metaphysical savings bank to prevent harm coming to those I loved. Silly of me to think somehow I'd save those who meant the most to me.

Silly. Well, one good plasma blast should do it. Hard to ID anything when all that's left is a pile of ashes. Deep in my heart I couldn't bring myself to torture the she-bitch. Oh, she deserved it a thousand times over, probably more than that, but putting a rabid dog down should be quick. She wouldn't know what hit her. My plasma blast would incinerate her before her nerves had time to relay anything. It wasn't really satisfying.

For the first time I truly wished that Time Zone hadn't used her time travel powers to ensure that she had no time travel powers. Every other obstacle I found a way around, a way to cope and in the end I couldn't justify screwing up her life just to have a reset button, but this one… it should never have happened and I couldn't- Fuck. Quickly I reached up and tried to catch the tears before they fell into my mask.

Get a grip, Virgil, you're slipping all over the place. I shoved all the pain and torment I felt back and concentrated on the Dakota skyline. I had to do this, then I had to get back to Richie. There was no way I was leaving him alone to deal with this- and I was getting close. One thing about patrolling the city every night is: after a while you're never going to get lost again. I was swiftly approaching my destination.

Suddenly a scream reverberated up the building walls into the air. High-pitched and full of fear I judged it as female, desperate, and alone. Instinct had me dropping into the alleyway before thought caught up with me. The typical sight of three muggers ganging up on a rather mousy woman in a cheap business suit was appropriate for this neighborhood. It wasn't one of the lowest ranking salary areas but it was close enough for some of the bad elements to bleed over. Obviously the lady was someone's secretary. It would have amazed me if she had ten bucks on her.

There was a second where I hesitated; this wasn't what I was out for. Surely one person in this city could take care of herself without me coming to their rescue. Ashamed of myself, I shook that thought off. Being a hero means you help the helpless, it doesn't matter if it conflicts with your schedule.

Annoyed and impatient, the paling faces of the street thugs were gratifying as I dropped in on their nightly work. "Boys, this just ain't been your night." The lady took that as her cue to beat feet. She was no fool and I had to smile a little as I saw her kick off her heels and make a skid around a corner barefoot.

My smile faded fast as I turned my attention back to the three stooges. A hasty and dirty burst of static electricity had everything they owned made of metal sticking to the bricks, including one bozo's studded jacket. Now they took that as their cue to exit stage right. About to send another burst of my "static cling" with the attention of having them join their weapons so the police could pick them up I was interrupted by, "My, my, I saw the fireworks and thought I'd check it out. Who would of thought I'd run into Dakota's number one superhero out here on his lonesome?"

Slowly I turned around to see the bitch I'd come looking for poised in the alley opening. Electricity still in hand I fed it more power, transforming it. Then, quicker than I would have given her credit for, she was in my face grabbing my arm. Lips next to my ear, her hot breath tracing the tip, she whispered, "Never done a superhero before."

The jolt of physical desire hit me like a kick from Kangor. Abruptly it was like thinking through molasses. It was really, really hard- in more ways than one. My focus was shot to shit. Unable to hold it together, my plasma bomb dissipated from my trembling fingers. With a sinking feeling, I realized that with my body betraying me I couldn't kill her. I was barely managing to keep myself from jumping her right here and now. That ounce of control though was my only shot. If Richie'd had had it there was no way she would have got him. No, she thought I was already caught. That was my leverage. What to do with it?

And I can't just run for the hills; she'll use all her whammy on me next time. A flash of anger shot through me. Time for a Plan B. The skill I put into planning my attacks on meta-humans raced through what facts I had. They were skimpy and I didn't have the option of retreating and reassessing. That flash of insight that had aided me so many times struck as the seconds ticked away. One really disgusting plan was all I had left, because there was no turning back. Plan B sucks.

I roughly grabbed the whore and crushed her lips into mine. There was nothing sweet in our kiss. Savagely, I dominated her mouth, bruising her lips and clashing teeth. It was hot and fierce and I hated every minute of it even if my body shook with arousal.

The dazed expression on her face when I pulled back for air was almost worth it.

"Well," she said breathily, "I can see the advantages." I seethed, baring my teeth at her. Mistaking the intent of my actions she laughed with gusto, "Good to see you know what you're doing. Virgins are fun but trainin's a bitch."

I almost snorted. At least thought reading wasn't included in her powers- the furthest I'd ever gotten was third base at summer camp. Rumors had been floating around about mutants for years but they were all my sister's friend's boyfriend's cousin kind of thing and I didn't know much of anything about them. In a way the Bang Babies were lucky that they could point to some sort of outside force for their creation. I'd heard more than a little bigoted talk against mutants and how at least the Bang Babies weren't "genetically tainted". Although if this crazy bitch was a representative of the mutant race I could kinda understand the stigma against them.

Still, I wasn't going to enlighten her to my sexual status and I was going to use what I knew along with something a little extra that was hopefully going to end her dominatrix routine. Smirking, I pulled her close again. "What's say we take this somewhere with a bed, eh?" With all the adrenaline and god knows what she was pumping into my body, it wasn't hard to turn my anger into a husky bedroom whisper.

Her eyes sparkled evilly. "You read my mind." As she pulled away and headed out the alley, I sneered inside. Nah-ha.

I followed her swaying hips my hand grasped firmly in hers. Probably a precaution on her part; I noticed that her powers hadn't had an effect until she'd grabbed me. Letting go before she had me in her lair might allow her victim to escape. Her back received another snarl even as I followed meekly along.

"I usually don't play with two people at once. Maybe I should, hmm? Could be more challenging. Not that you're going to be too difficult. I didn't even have to amp it up for you. I tell you, if you weren't a superhero I wouldn't have bothered, but I think I'm going to enjoy this; you're pretty kinky." As we passed through her doorway I couldn't help thinking, Boy, Richie was right. She is a talker.

"You've probably got a lot of reserves? I can't see a super-hero," The sarcasm dripping off the word could have burned a hole in her carpeting, "having a weak will. A boy scout like you… I know I'll make you kill someone for me. Some kid maybe? A sacrifice for love, that'll be grand. I can watch your mind rip itself apart with guilt before you finally give in and do it." My stomach heaved at the calm way she talked about destroying people's lives. "Bet it'll take a while for it to happen. That's alright, I can't imagine the kid I picked up yesterday lasting much longer. I'll be able to focus on breaking you. It'll be delicious."

Gritting my teeth, I promised, Creepy, revolting girl you aren't going to have the chance to get at him ever again.

Despite my resolve, the scariest part came when we crossed the threshold of her bedroom. Lost in my own thoughts, I tuned her out. Was I really going to do this? I'd never used my body as a weapon before. I was bargaining away a part of myself. My innocence maybe? It made me wonder if I was any better than the monster I was planning on destroying, any less of a whore.

In the end guilt didn't stand a chance against the knowledge of what would happen if I backed out.

Gripping her shoulder, I swung her around to face me. Her lips were still moving. I paused, She really is beautiful... Shakespeare was right. Foul is Fair and Fair is Foul. This time her lipstick had worn off and I tasted the dried blood and peaches of her mouth. I almost gagged as I bit her lip violently, then was compelled to lick it soothingly. Her groan reverberated through her chest into mine. The heat that pulsed through my body was as false as a white dude's gangster rap but it was so enticing. I felt myself falling into the sensation…

With a gasp I threw her away, disgusted with myself. Only by luck did she land on her bed. She bounced on the mattress, a look of surprise on her face that quickly turned into passion.

"I always enjoyed a striptease," she drawled as she reached up to the first button on her cotton blouse. I stood panting, trying to regain some semblance of control, while she slowly revealed her perfectly rounded breasts barely contained in a lacy white bra. I closed my eyes. I heard myself groan distantly still too much in her trap to not be effected. Keep it together. You can do this.

"Awah, you're not watching." My eyes snapped open. It was then that I saw the first sign that I wasn't debasing myself for nothing. Under the shifting of her muscles, directly below the edges of her collarbones I saw two quarter sized swellings. She noticed my stare, "Oh those, they're such a pain, can't wear anything sleeveless but it lets me do this." Suddenly, I felt another surge of pleasure race along my bones, not as strong as before, but it didn't have to be. I ached.

Gulping in air, I acknowledged, Okay, she doesn't have to be in physical contact. It just helps. Another fact filed away, I moved forward as she went to pull off her panties. I didn't think I could keep it together if I saw her in all her glory. She was disturbingly beautiful and her powers made it even worse. I grabbed her wrists and pulled them up over her head, not holding back an ounce of strength. I was bruising her wrists and I knew it. As I leaned in pressing into her body for another kiss she murmured, "You really do like it rough don't you?"

Shut up, I growled.

No gentler than any of our other kisses, my tongue snaked into her mouth in a kiss that forced her into submission. My hands however were gathering a charge. I'd never tried this on another human being but I figured nerve endings work the same on us all; I'd just use a lower charge. The electricity lapped at my already excited fingers. Maintaining my concentration was even worse now with how worked up my body was but this activity was parallel to what my body thought it wanted so it at least made no protest.

Softly, tracing down her pale arm with my left hand, I let my power flow into her skin, finding all her pleasure receptors and rippling over them. Her mouth broke away from mine with a whimper as she writhed under me. When she opened her eyes again her kiss-bruised mouth parted in a moan, "Hell, there certainly are advantages."

Deliberately, I began moving my right hand and she started panting in anticipation. Releasing the energy, I found it easier this time, since all her focus was definitely not on me anymore. After she stilled again, I reclaimed her mouth. I was still hard and aroused but not so much anymore. It was time for the final act.

Brushing over the top of her breasts I causally placed my fingers over what had to be the enlarged glands that granted her powers. With more precision than I would have been capable of a moment ago, I flowed energy into her in simultaneous differing degrees. While the skin around the target got the same burst of pleasure as before the glands got a highly concentrated cauterizing dose. I was careful but not that careful. She probably lost some muscle, but I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad about it. I kept kissing her as her hands moved down my back and under my coat. Even through my shirt her hands still felt great. Please let it have worked. Doubt poked me in the eye. If it hadn't worked…

Nibbling down her jaw with hard bites, wanting to hurt her if I couldn't stop wanting her, I stopped at her chin. The desire to drill her into the mattress was lessening.

Things are looking up. Relieved, I pushed away from her and began climbing off the bed. Standing above her, looking down at her sprawled debauched form, all I felt was satisfaction. I'd taken from her the one thing she valued. My smile was not nice.

Confused, she propped herself up on her elbows. "What are you doing?"

"Stopping you."

My simple statement brought a wash of rage to her face and it was totally petty of me but I enjoyed it, just not as much as the confusion that followed. Guess she tried her mind trick.

She lunged at me, hands clawed. "What did you do?"

I caught her wrists again. Pulling her face close to mine I said, "You're fixed, lady; find a dildo."

She wrenched herself free, picked up her lamp, and threw it at me. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I sidestepped the lamp, which shattered on the wall.

It occurred to me that I could kill her now, but the feral look on her face told me that leaving her neutered would be a worse punishment for all the lives she ruined. When I set out to kill her it was because I knew she'd never see the inside of a prison cell. Not with her powers and her beautiful face. Even with all the meta-humans in Dakota, no jury would convict her. Rape is hard enough to prove under most circumstances. How would Richie ever be able to prove that he didn't want it?

My gut clenched at the very thought of anyone seeing the devastation the bitch had put him through and not seeing it as the truth.

She'd had to die to protect Richie, to pay for all her crimes.

A large part of me still wanted to kill her. Even now when she was no longer a threat.

And yet part of me couldn't do it. I already felt filthy. Let her live with herself, I hoped she enjoyed being powerless, maybe she'd reform, though taking the light of madness shining in her eyes into account I doubted it. Ducking a wicker dresser this time, I flipped out my disc and charged it. Something hit it and shattered, dropping the disc to the floor I stepped on to it while the half naked crazy girl was scrambling for ammunition. Zapping her window open I flew out.

Halfway down the block I could still hear crashing, then it stopped. I knew it was stupid even as I did it, but something made me look back. Flames were licking out of the window I had exited, lighting the night air.

Crouched, hovering mid air, I watched as they spread, growing. A true hero would have turned around and saved her no matter what she'd done. I'd saved Alva and he ruined who knows how many lives. How was her life different? Turning my head away from the fire, I started flying back to Richie. I couldn't kill her. In the end I couldn't bring myself to save her either.

(Richie's POV)

It was the fingers running through my hair that woke me. The tingling felt great and I relaxed into, it nuzzling against something warm and resilient. Bad dreams and haunting images hovered in the back of my mind but whatever they were they didn't have enough power to pull me under. I hadn't felt so content in ages and I just wanted to enjoy the novelty. However as time continued on it occurred to me that petting was more than a little unusual. Good, but new. Memories came trickling back and it occurred to me that considering that Vee had to be the one with his hand in my hair, the thing I was using as a pillow was in fact my best friend's thigh. I stiffened, coming fully awake. The hand on my head stilled.

"Richie?" Vee's tentative voice made me hold my breath. Resonating down with the words was a feeling of /happy/protect/worry about you/. Our link was wide open. Maybe it was wrong, but I couldn't find the strength to try and turn away from the affection I felt coming from him. He was the only thing keeping the terror from swamping me.

"Vee," I breathed out. Don't leave me. I begged. I had the scary certainty that if Vee pulled away now I'd shatter into a billion pieces. Opening my eyes, I looked up into his face. The lights were off and it had gotten darker but I could see that holding me was Static without his mask on.

For a confusing moment I couldn't recall if Vee'd been wearing his uniform before. Then the hand on my head moved down to my shoulder. Vee hauled me closer, terry cloth rubbing on my skin. Being squished into my best friend wasn't too bad; though the wordless elation and turmoil that roiled down at me wasn't the best. His words, "She's dead. She won't ever hurt you again," blew my mind, totally blank, then it jumpstarted again.

"Did you kill her?" I gripped his thigh hard, terrified for my friend. Of the consequences of his actions. I saw jail. I saw him taken away. I saw the end to the man I called my best friend.

His eyes and emotions were tinged with an odd pain filled with too many shades for me to fully grasp. "I wanted to, so badly-" Vee's grip tightened then relaxed- "I was going to… I had it all planned out." He shook his head. "I didn't kill her. She killed herself after I zapped her power source. All that matters is that she's gone."

/guilt/relief/shame/ wafted down at me and I knew I couldn't leave it at that. Knowing it might be easier to answer if he didn't have to look at me I settled my head back against his chest and asked softly, "Then why do you feel so bad?"

The feeling of Vee's muscles tensing along my back told me I'd hit him hard. For a second his emotions shuttered closed. It hurt being cut off; even though I understood the desire to back away from the pain, I felt adrift without him.

It was a risk to push. Things felt so fragile, within me and within him, but my trust in Virgil was the one absolute I had left and I hoped that the same was true for him. If there was one solid fact in our friendship it was that Vee talked to me. Something told me that he needed to talk about this. I wasn't going to play 'who's pain is bigger' with my best friend. Yes I was hurting, yes I didn't know how to fix it, but I could sit and whine about it or I could try and help him.

When he gave in it was different. His presence flooded back into my mind full of heartache but reaching out to me, using my new power to tell me more than he ever could before. It was as if he was letting me feel it all, trying to help me to understand, and as he whispered in the semi dark, emotion showed me his words true meaning. "Because she's dead and I wanted her dead. Because I feel responsible. Because it's the opposite of what I thought I was. Because she made me feel so out of control and used and because part of me liked it." There was no way to verbalize the sensation. But I knew how Vee had felt at the very moment when he had left her to die as if it'd been me who'd done it… and how he felt that very moment holding me. And that scared me more than anything because what he felt so closely resembled the wounded way I was.

Heart in my throat, still caught in our merger. I closed my eyes, "Did she rape you?" Please say no. Not you too.

"Almost." A few tears leaked out of both our eyes. I could feel mine and his rolling down our cheeks, "I had to get close to her some how."

I reached up to clutch the arm around my chest. We sat in silence our emotions mingled to the point where we couldn't tell who was feeling what. Two souls trying to heal and holding each other up.

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"Look the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't." -Lady Macbeth to Lord Macbeth on how to act around King Duncan while plotting his assassination