Depravity 1.5:

It was them, no doubt. I recognized them even without their costumes. The four guys that were fighting looked very similar to the guys that saved me from Lung. The first man I noticed was clearly Tattletale, a short, fat man I wouldn't in a million years call attractive. He was stumpy, wearing thick prescription glasses bearing a type of haircut that only someone losing hair would have, and was wearing a red button-down shirt with jeans.

The next man I noticed was the one next to him. Definitely, The Golden God telling from his black hair and taser he was holding. He was a good-looking guy, but not in a way that would make me say he was handsome. He was pretty, with a square-shaped face, light blue eyes, and a charming smile. I could see where he would have girls all over him, but I couldn't say I was interested myself. The pretty boys – Leonardo DiCaprio, Marcus Firth, Justin Bieber, Johnny Depp – had never done it for me. He was wearing a black and blue-checked buttoned-down shirt, with black jeans and sneakers.

The man to his right would most likely be Dogman judging from the dog mask at his hip. A young-looking guy with a goatee and average build. He had a baby face and stained teeth that suggest this was a guy that didn't brush, most likely in poverty, considering his general disgruntled look. He was wearing a green army jacket with jeans.

The last member was definitely The Dark Brute through the process of elimination. He was another good-looking guy. A little less so than The Golden God. he also had a goatee and hazel eyes. He wore jeans, boots and a plain brown t-shirt, or what looked like a regular shirt with the sleeves cut off which struck me as a bit cold for the spring. I noticed he had a little more muscle definition than the other members of The Gang, so I guess he was the only one that worked out.

"Oh," The Golden God said, "you arrived."

"Um...yeah," I said, not sure how to respond.

"You can just ignore that silly argument we were having. We do stuff like that all the time. no-not that we fight all the time. Just that...so I see you showed up in costume. What's up with that?"

"Just a precaution until I decide this isn't some elaborate trick."

"See, man? She doesn't even trust us!" Dogman said.

"We'll get there," Tattletale told him. He then put out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Frank, by the way."

"You can call me Bug, I guess. At least, until I come up with something better."

"Wait, we're telling her our real names!?" Dogman barked.

"What did you think would happen, Charlie? We're inviting her into The Gang, no costumes on! Did you think you were going to go by Dogman the entire time you spend hanging around her!? Of course, we were going to tell her our real names!"

Wait, what did he just say?

"Oh, now she knows my real name too, Frank, thanks a lot!"

"She was always going to learn our real name, eventually. Might as well reveal them now."

"Alright." The Dark Brute stated. "I guess we're doing this. I'm Mac."

"And I'm Dennis." The Golden God told me.

"Ok," I said awkwardly. I shifted my body weight slightly. "So, what was that about me joining your gang?"

"Oh yeah," Frank said, "we'll get into that. But first…"

He bent down and picked up a plastic lunchbox, and gave it to me.

"This is yours," Frank told me

I looked at him.

"I said we owed you."

Without taking the box, I tilted my head to get a better look at the front, "Alexandria. She was my favorite member of the Protectorate when I was a kid. Is the lunchbox collectible?"

"Open it," Frank prompted me, with a roll of his eyes.

I took it. From the weight and the motion of the contents inside it, I immediately had a pretty good idea of what it was. I undid the clasps and opened the box.

"Money," I breathed, caught off guard by suddenly having so much in my hands. Eight stacks of bills, tied with paper bands. Each of the paper bands had a number written on it in permanent marker. Two fifty each…

Frank answered before I had the number totaled up in my head, "Two grand."

I closed the box and did the clasps. With no idea what to say, I stayed silent.

"You have two choices," Frank explained, "You can take that as a gift. A thank you for, whether intentional or not, saving us from Lung last night. And maybe a bit of incentive to count us among your friends when you're out in costume and doing dastardly deeds." He wiggled his fingers as he said the last line.

"Who the hell says dastardly deeds anymore?" Mac asked.

"Shut up." Frank told him. He then continued talking to me. "Between territory disputes, differences in ideology, general power struggles and egos, there's a rare few people in the local villain community who won't attack us on sight."

"I thought that was because we screwed, like, every person over in the super community. OW! WHAT THE HELL MAN!?" Charlie shouted.

Dennis tased him. "It's-zay on the crewing over-say. Umbass-day."

"Huh?"

"Just-"

"Will you just-" Mac piped in.

"Shut up!"

"Shut up! Jesus Christ! What's his problem?"

"Clearly intelligence is not a skill he's proficient in."

"I'm intelligent!"

"You can't even read!"

"You can't even write, You don't even shower," Mac was listing his traits with his hand. "I've never seen you brush your teeth!"

"That's-hygiene has nothing to do with-"

"IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT! IT HAS-"

"IT HAS SO MUCH TO DO WITH IT-"

"EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT!"

"CHARLIE!"

"I can make a really good-"

"Guys?" I said.

"Piano song! So-"

"Oh really?" Mac leaned forward with both hands on his lap. "Oh really?"

"Yes-"

"Guys."

"Really, I'm-

"Could you even spell your name?" Mac asked

"That good! Don't go there man don't-"

"Charlie!" Dennis shouted. "The only thing your good for is cleaning the shit out of the urinals!"

"HEY! DON'T-

"GUYS!"

Everyone turned towards me.

"Is this what you guys do? Just argue over one another until the other one submits? Ignoring everyone else?"

They all looked at each other. Then Dennis said. "Will that make you reconsider our offer?"

"About that." I began, "You said the first offer is I take this payment as a gift and consider you a friend."

"Yeah," Frank confirmed.

"And the second option, I assume, is to join you?"

Frank smirked. "Take it as your first installment in the monthly allowance you're entitled to as a member of The Gang, As one of us."

I shifted my gaze between the four of them, looking for the joke. Frank still had a bit of a smile, but I was getting the impression that was his default expression. Charlie looked at me, but not in a way that suggested he was paying attention. Dennis and Mac looked dead serious. Damn.

"Two thousand a month," I said.

"Actually, that's just what Frank pays us to stay together," Dennis told me. "We make considerably more than that."

Frank smirked, Mac smiled, and Charlie still looked dazed as if a boxer punched him in the face as hard as possible repeatedly.

"Yeah, you should see the money Dennis gets from these chicks after he bangs them. I have no idea why they give him so much money it's like he-"

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! It's-zay on the oman-way!"

Mac looked confused but nodded. "Right."

"You know I can understand you when you do that right?"

Dennis had shifty eyes. "Uhhhhh...no you can't?"

Not wanting to get sidetracked, I thought back to when I looked them up.

"So," I began, "you guys have a different member."

The members of the gang looked confused, except for Frank, who just smirked.

"Yes," Franks said, "we do have another member, Deandra. Supervillain name: The Bird."

"I mean she says her Supervillain name is Forget-Me-Not, but the bird fits better, right?" Dennis laughed.

I didn't know what my facial expression was, but I knew it wasn't pleasant. Were they bullying this girl?

Frank scratched the back of his head. "Ummm…she's ok with it. It's just friendly teasing."

That eased me a little, but it was confusing that Frank seemed to know that something was bugging me at the moment. I'll have to make a note to ask him what his power was.

"Riiiiiiight." Dennis cut in. "Anyway, Long and short of it is, with Lung taken out of action and the ABB diminished by his being gone, there's going to be some pushing and shoving over territory and status among the various thugs and assholes. Us, Faultline's Crew, the remaining ABB, Empire Eighty-Eight, the solo villains, and not to mention, any out-of-town teams or gangs that figure that they can worm in and grab a piece of the Bay. So we need firepower. We've been doing better with Frank, but the way us five figure it, it's only a matter of time before we end up stuck in a fight we can't win."

Dennis titled his head and looked up. " Well...end up in a fight in a fight where we get caught."

Dennis did the same thing. "Again…"

"I just don't get why you want me," I said, "I control bugs. That's not going to stop Alexandria, Glory Girl or Aegis."

"You fucked up Lung," Frank said, "That's good enough for me."

"Um, not really," I replied, "In case you missed it, you're the ones who stopped him from executing me last night. That just goes to prove the point I was making."

"Listen," Frank said, "Entire teams of capes have gone up against Lung and got their asses handed to them. That you managed as well as you did is great. The fact that the jap is lying in a hospital bed because of you is the icing on the cake."

My reply stopped before it even left my mouth. I only managed a dumb, "Hunh?"

"Yeah," Frank raised an eyebrow, "You do know which bugs you had biting him, right? Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Browntail Moth, Mildei, Fire Ants-"

"Yeah," I cut him off, "I don't know the official names, but I know exactly what bit him, what stung him, and the venoms do."

"So why are you surprised? A couple of those bugs would be real dangerous if they bit just once, but you had them bite several times. Bad enough, but when Lung came into custody, they had him checked over by the docs, and the jew doctor in charge said something like, 'Oh, well, these do look like bug bites and stings, but the really venomous ones don't bite multiple times. Let's arrange to check on him in a few hours."

I could tell where the story was going. I put my hands over my mouth, whispering, "Oh my god."

Frank's smile faded, "I can't believe you didn't know."

"But he regenerates!" I protested, dropping my hands, "Toxins aren't supposed to be even one percent as effective against people who heal like he does."

They're effective enough, I guess, or his healing stopped working somewhere along the line," Frank told me. "By the time they got to him, the big guy was just beginning to suffer from large-scale tissue necrosis. His heart even stopped a few times. You do remember where you had the bugs bite him?"

I closed my eyes. I could see my reputation going down the tubes. One of the spiders I had been using was the brown recluse. Arguably the most dangerous spider in the United States, more than even the black widow. A single bite from a brown recluse could make a good chunk of the flesh around the bite blacken and rot away. I'd had my bugs biting Lung in the more sensitive parts of his anatomy.

"Let me put it this way, even with the ability to heal several times faster than your average person, Lung is going to be sitting down to use the toilet."

"Okay, Frank, that's enough." Dennis stopped Frank before he could go on, "Lung is going to recover, right?"

With the look Dennis was giving Frank, I thought he might lie, regardless of the truth. He shrugged and told me, "unfortunately, yes. Slowly, but surely, and he should be in good working order in six months to a year."

"Which is all the more reason to join us!" Mac piped in. "because if you don't, Lung is going to come after you. You're going to need some protection in case you go out in costume."

Frank gestures toward Mac, and I thought about it for a second. Armmaster mentioned something about that and that was the reason why I let him take credit. Some protection would be useful, but it'd be from supervillains. The irony of supervillains protecting a superhero wasn't lost on me.

"How do you know this?" I asked, within a heartbeat of the thought crossing my mind. "Tattletale, or Frank, or whatever I'm supposed to call you. How do you know this stuff about Lung… or about the fact that I was at the Library, or that the cape was on his way, last night?"

"What?" Dennis interjected

"Library?" Mac said, giving Frank another dark look.

Frank ignored both questions and winked at me, "Sorry, gotta have my secrets."

"Uhhhhhh...if you're asking something about Frank." Charlie finally spoke after staying silent for a while. "Well he's half the reason why we've been doing so well recently, y'know, doing jobs without getting into a fight is because we have Frank on the team. He's basically our boss."

"Um, Charlie, I'm the leader," Mac said. "Ever since we quit from our last boss and Frank's friend."

I looked at Frank, he smiled. "If you want to know, the details are with team membership. What I can tell you is that we're a great group. Ever since I came on the team, our track record is top-notch, and we're in it for taking what we want, and not apologizing when we do. No grand agenda. No real responsibility."

I pursed my lips behind my mask. While I had picked up some info, I felt like I had a lot more questions. Who was this boss they mentioned? Was he or she setting up other teams of highly successful villains in Brockton Bay or elsewhere? What made these guys as effective as they were, and was it something I could steal or copy for myself?

It wasn't like I was signing the deal in blood or anything. I stood to gain so much.

"Alright then, count me in," I told them.

Author Notes: Finally, this came out! You have no idea how glad I am for finally putting this out! Thank you all so much so supporting me. I read all my reviews. I appreciate all the favorites. I'm so glad you guys decided to support me! And even more glad that I put this chapter out for you guys!

The reason this took so long is because I was still dealing with my mental health. I've been recently diagnosed as Type 2 Autistic, with unspecified ADHD and depression, and my mom says we might have to check to see if I have OCD as well. You guys have no idea how draining that is for someone. You have to experience for yourself to understand. It affects my day-to-day life. Not an excuse though, and I'm not making one. I only hope you accept my apology and understand my circumstances and still choose to read if you want. My family is helping me with my mental health. I appreciate it every bit.

Now for the main course, my site is FINALLY UP. The name is TheUltimateWriting with a . com at the end. you can find updates on my fanfiction and my original dark parody superhero screenplay. you can share it on Twitter or Tumblr if you like it. I'll be updating their regularly as well.

That's all I wanted to say. This is Super Ultimate Number One Signing out. Peace!