A/N Seriously, nobody wanted this story. So why did I make it? Why did I sink hours of my life into writing Total Drama fanfiction? Because I'm the worst. Here's the gist of the story: Duncan realizes who Mal is during All-Stars and decides to help Mike keep him under control. As Duncan realizes that Mike and Mal are both better allies than he originally thought, he fights against his own urge to be a hero. The first two chapters are fairly short so I'm posting the next one on Sunday, but after that I'll be updating every Friday. Enjoy!

Chapter One

The moment we flew over Camp Wawanakwa and Chris announced we had to jump out of the helicopter and into the water, I knew I had made a huge mistake returning to this godforsaken show.

I looked around at my fellow passengers, but I didn't recognize half of them. Like a dumbass, I didn't watch whatever season had those new contestants, so I had no idea what I was up against. I tried to grin at Courtney before I jumped into the water, trying to act like I wasn't scared shitless, but she just rolled her eyes.

Once I made it to the shore, Chris stood next to his robot assistant and started to drone on about the upcoming season. I tuned him out pretty quick to try and gauge the competition. Most of them were paying attention to Chris. I tried to catch Courtney's eye, but she glared at me. Then, I tried to look at Gwen to see if she saw what just happened, but she glared at me too, which was weird. There was Heather, who narrowed her eyes the moment I looked at her, and Lindsay, who I don't think recognized me. The last one I knew was Sierra, who honestly creeped me out a little bit. Apart from that, everyone else was new. That small nerd, Cameron, wouldn't have lasted a day in juvie, while Lightning kept whispering to that jock girl, Jo, who looked annoyed. Sam stood there looking awkward. The redheads, Scott and Zoey, appeared normal enough, although Scott looked kind of dirty. That left…Mike. I couldn't get a good read on him, but something about him bothered me. It wasn't like he did anything, but it felt like I was missing something important. I didn't want to make it too obvious that I was staring, but I risked turning my head ever so slightly to get a better look. The moment I had him in my view, I realized that he was staring directly at me too. When I noticed, his eyes slightly widened, but before I could think about it further, Chris clapped his hands and began to list off names.

"Alright, this season our theme is Heroes vs. Villains! Isn't that great?"

This was no contest. Obviously, I would be on the villians team, while Gwen would probably be a hero, which sucked.

"For the Heroic Hamsters-"

Some of the meaner cast members snickered at that, because that's a pretty dumb name.

"-we have Cameron, Courtney, Lindsay, Mike, Sam, Sierra and Zoey!"

Wait. No Gwen? Would we be on the same team? Awesome.

The assembled heroes shuffled over to one side.

"And on the Villainous Vultures, we have Duncan, Heather, Jo, Lightning, Scott, and… Gwen!"

Score. I smiled at Gwen, but she looked pissed.

"What? Why am I a villain?" She asked in disbelief.

"Um, do I have to remind you? Boyfriend kisser!" Courtney seethed at her. Great, so she still wasn't over that. Gwen shuffled over to our side.

"Hey, we're on the same team!" I cheered. She gave me a weak smile.

"Why do the Heroes get an extra member?" Jo complained.

"Fine," Chris groaned. "Take the robot." The machine rolled over to us.

All in all, it was a team of people who hated each other. I wasn't looking to get involved in any drama this season, but with this group of idiots, it was probably going to be impossible.

"Alright, everyone!" Gwen announced. "I know that there's a lot riding on this competition, but let's all try to get along! This could be a great opportunity to make some new friends," she smiled.

"Oh, sure, babe," I smiled back at her. No fucking chance. I came here for two reasons, to hang out with Gwen, and to win a million dollars. If I was stuck on a team of people who hated me, then goddamnit, I was playing to win.

The other villains mumbled similar sentiments about how we would all be friends, and Gwen seemed to be appeased, but she had a big storm coming if she thought we would all cooperate.

As we walked to the first challenge, Heather and Jo started fighting, while I was focused on Courtney.

"She's glaring at me," Gwen whispered.

"Don't worry, I'll glare back for you." I gave Courtney my best death stare, but she just shrugged and looked away. Wait, what? She wasn't supposed to do that!

"Courtney," I whispered.

"Not now, Duncan," she walked faster and caught up with Lindsay.

"Why didn't she glare back?" I wondered aloud.

"Why do you care?" Gwen questioned.

"I don't. Obviously. Duh. Why would I care?" I did care. A lot. Why was Courtney ignoring me?

When we finally got to the cliff, Chris said we had to pick a driver, immediately causing a fight over who would get to do it. Jo announced she was a champion cart driver, whatever that meant, but she won out. Meanwhile, the other team was fighting because they all "believed in each other" and wanted a "friendship finale," which made me want to throw up, but they picked Lindsay, a questionable choice. But hey, if they lose, that's better for me.

The challenge was going fine until Sierra had to shove her nose where it didn't belong. I was trying to talk to Gwen, who seemed to be distracted about something, when Sierra wrapped her arms around both of us and yelled,

"Oh, I love to see that Gwuncan is still going strong! The fans all hate your relationship, but I love it!"

Gwen folded her arms and looked down at the ground. Sensing she was uncomfortable, I added,

"Sierra, don't you have a challenge to work on?"

"Sorry! I just had to update my blog!" She squealed before running back to her team.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked Gwen.

"Yeah," she shrugged. "It's fine."

Jo ran back from her turn, meaning it was time for me to jump.

"Wish me luck," I smiled and went in for a kiss, but she turned away.

"Not now," she muttered. Seriously? Now Gwen was acting all weird? What was up with these people!

After I grabbed the key, I hopped into the carriage. Halfway through the woods, Jo began to rattle on.

"Duncan, you better not try and make yourself the leader of this team. That's my job," she announced.

"Don't worry," I scoffed. "I have no interest in running this shitshow. You can do it."

"Good. I intend to," she smiled as we reached the mansion. I tried the key, but it didn't work.

"We should just kick the door down," she suggested.

"I appreciate your thinking," I agreed, "but we'd probably lose the challenge."

"Yeah, I guess so," she sighed as she began to push the cart back through the woods. When we got back to the cliff, the Hamsters were already getting ready to jump. It was that Mike guy. Zoey kissed him on the cheek, which I took note of. I had no idea they were dating, but that's a pretty good weakness to exploit later on, if it comes to that. Mike walked over to the edge, but the moment before he jumped, he turned back to look at the rest of us. I caught his eye again, which apparently threw him off his game, as he tripped and took Gwen down with him into the water.

"Gwen!" I yelled out her name and ran over to the edge, but she appeared to be swimming fine. Not that I was nervous or anything.

The next few keys didn't work, and morale was pretty low. Soon enough, the Hamsters were ahead of us.

"Damnit!" Lightning yelled in frustration. "This is ridiculous!"

The robot, who I'd honestly forgotten about up to that point, started beeping.

"Oh, sha-shut the fuck up," Lightning muttered so the cameras wouldn't pick up on it. "If you're so capable, then why don't you go into the water?" He gave the robot a shove. It started to beep frantically, and I kind of felt bad for it's sudden demise, but I kept that to myself. Why did I feel sorry for a machine?

"Finally, that toaster is out of here," Heather voiced her approval. All of the sudden, the robot smashed open and out of nowhere Alejandro flew upwards, holding a key. I have no idea how he survived inside that robot suit for two years, but he was real competition. Great, one more person to watch out for. At least he managed to unlock the door.

"Pretty cool that Alejandro's back, right?" I asked Gwen after we had won the challenge. She was walking through the woods, gathering stray flowers.

"Sure."

"I wonder how he survived in that suit?"

"I don't know."

"What are you doing with those flowers?"

"They're for Courtney."

I almost fell over.

"Courtney? Why?"

"I don't know. I thought it would be a nice sign of friendship."

"Sure," I rolled my eyes. No way would that work. Courtney hated Gwen after the whole… incident. Which definitely wasn't my fault!

Sure enough, at the Heroes elimination, Gwen tried to give Courtney the flowers, but Courtney didn't seem to appreciate it. Something about allergies and Gwen being a "true villain?" I tried to console her when she came back, but she was having none of it.

Chris started to drone on again about the immunity statute on Boney Island, and the elimination procedures, but it was all pretty boring. I took the opportunity to try and figure out what was up with Mike. I had definitely seen him before, but where? I listened in on him speaking to Zoey, and his voice was familiar… but not completely?

Wait.

Hold up.

His face was familiar, but not completely, his voice was familiar, but not completely, everything was screaming that I met this guy before, but he was-

"Duncan?" Mike whispered to me. He probably realized that I was staring at him like a creep. "Are you alright?" He had a questioning look on his face. That face…

And then it hit me. Oh, of fucking course. How did I not see it before?

It was Mal. That guy from juvie. I don't think I ever spoke to him directly, but everyone knew who he was. I mean, he basically ran the place. He had a different hairstyle now, and his voice was slightly higher, but it was definitely him. It almost didn't make sense. Mike seemed so gentle and nice, while Mal was… Mal. Violent. Cold. Unfeeling. If I didn't recognize his face, I never would've put two and two together. But I guess he had multiple personalities, right? He could be an entirely different person. Did he recognize me? Did Mal even know who I was? How did that guy ever make it over to the Heroes team?

"Duncan?" Mike asked again.

No. He would have said something. But maybe he's biding his time?

"Sorry," I smiled. "I just stared off for a second."

He shared a look with Zoey that said "this Duncan guy is a total weirdo" before turning back to watch the elimination.

Did Zoey know about Mal? It wasn't my place to say anything. I didn't want to interfere in this guy's personal relationships. Besides, I could be wrong, and then I'd look like a total asshole.

In the end, Lindsay was voted off. She didn't seem too bothered, and I didn't pay Mike, or, Mal, any more attention.

I tried to speak to Gwen before bed in the mansion, but she kept staring off, so I figured she was tired after the first challenge of the season.

Looking back, maybe dismissing Mal this early in the game was a dumb move. After all, I had the upper hand. Nobody knew who he was, and nobody saw him coming. As I would soon learn, Mike was included in that statement, and my heroic attempts (not that I'm a hero or anything like that) to stay out of drama would fail spectacularly.

But that night, I went to bed in blissful ignorance, planning what I would say to Gwen the next morning.