Chibiyu: College is making me swear more than normal.

Nick: Oh whatever. Everyone does it.

Chibiyu: You heard it from the mouth of Nick: everyone swears.

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Nick, in the midst of his laughter, pointed to himself. "Villain, remember?"

"Oh, fuck you."

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They stared at the screen, disbelief written on their faces. The images had long since faded, but the shock was not as quick to leave.

"Nick," Sandy Lucas breathed as she felt the waves of anger that rolled from the boy's thoughts. "We will save them."

Nick shook his head once before he stood, face void but eyes enraged. "No, you won't." He turned to the stairs, shoulders tense as his fist clenched too tightly. "You'll need more than one family of Heroes of save them."

"What?"

Nick sighed once, mind still on the horrible bloodshed of his fellow Normals that they had just witnessed. "It will not stop unless everyone is there to stop it. The Heroes. The Normals. And the Villains." He paused for a moment before he let out a dark chuckle. "But then again," he continued slowly, his voice strained from the rage which bubbled beneath. "It won't make a difference if the Normals are with Necrophere or back home."

"Yes, it will," Kevin tried to reason, for he sensed something in his brother that he only sensed when Nick had the Four; pure hatred.

"Will it, Kevin?" the younger fought back without even turning to face him. "There will still be blood and tears; always blood and tears." Nick headed up the stairs and left his stunned family in the lair, but he continued to speak to himself; the anger in his voice faded to a sadistic grumble. "Blood and tears; two things that will be shed in the near future, but not by the Normals. No, that time is over. The time for supernatural abilities is over. Heroes and Villains," he paused as the secret door slid shut behind him. "Are over."

"Feeling evil today, Nicholas?"

Nick glanced over and rolled his eyes before he leaned against the counter, and faced copper colored cat that sat on the windowsill. "Whatever gave you that idea, Para?"

It was the cat's turn to roll her eyes. "Oh I don't know; just a feeling."

Nick smirked. "Everything going alright on your end?" he asked, effectively changing the subject.

Paragon snorted. "Hardly. No one is willing to accept your idea of everyone working together."

Nick nodded once. "That was expected. But it's not about them executing it."

"But about the seed being planted," Paragon finished in a bored voice. "God, Villains are so predictable."

Nick laughed at this. "They have to be, Paragon. How else will the Heroes hope to beat them?"

"True," the girl conceded with a laugh of her own. She jumped into the kitchen and stood up as a girl. "So what's the next step?

"You know I can't answer that."

"Right," Paragon exasperated. "Because the next move is something that even you can't see."

"Exactly," Nick nodded. "Not having a memory is an Achilles heel."

Paragon smiled to herself. "Yes, but the Four must have had a reason for taking it. Perhaps it thought that would stop you from stopping it?"

"Ha," both turned to see Joe leaning against the wall. "The Four must be desperate if it thought that would stop my brother." Joe smiled to them and walked over. "So what's the plan, Nick?"

"What are you talking about?"

Joe rolled his eyes and knocked his fist into Nick's shoulder. "Come on, bro. Every time you storm out of a room after saying something like that, you always have a plan in mind." When Nick continued to stare at him, Joe continued. "The Four just made its move, Nick. Now it is your turn."

Nick pursed his lips. "Perhaps Necrophere sent out that video to the Heroes because he wanted to start a revolution against him, Joe. He wants to draw out everyone who is against him; get them into one place and stop them once and for all."

"So you're suggesting we just sit and passively let this happen?"

Nick shook his head. "No. I'm merely stating a fact." Nick scowled at the counter for moment. "Until I get my memory back I will be useless, Joe. It's time you Heroes got together and made the plan. Just be careful – thinking like a Hero won't get you far in this situation."

"You're not going to help?" Joe asked, downhearted.

Nick could only shake his head. "I don't see how I can. Or," he added as if an afterthought. "How I could be trusted."

Paragon nodded once as she adopted a sad expression. "Nick's right, Joe. The Four is still out there and it can still control Nick again. It's better that he doesn't know what the Heroes intend to do."

"So we won't have the smartest Lucas on our side?"

Nick smiled at him, but his eyes only held sorrow. "I'm still on your side, Joe, I just can't help you. Besides," he peeled himself from the counter with a sigh. "You're smart enough to do this without me."

"I don't believe that," Joe snorted, but there was truth to his joke.

"You're going to have to."

"What do you mean by that?"

Nick sighed once and looked to Paragon for help.

"He means," she clarified softly. "That the Four isn't going to want him around for much longer. That may mean kidnapping, and it may mean death; we don't know yet. But we do know that he isn't going to be allowed to walk free for much longer, memory or not."

"As soon as the Four realizes that I can still be a threat, then I'm done for," Nick added on without looking towards his brother. "And you have to be okay with that, Joe. If this family gets distracted too much by me, then the Four will have won."

Paragon nodded. "You all have to concentrate on the real issue here. As awful as it sounds, you have to let whatever is going to happen to Nick, happen."

"You can't expect us to just turn our backs on him!"

It was Nick who answered this furious cry. "Yes, I do. No matter what happens to me, I expect you all to focus on the reality of this situation. You have to stop the Four; you have to save the Normals, and as cliché as it sounds, you have to save the world. And in order to do that, you have to keep hope alive. Keep the anger alive. Keep fighting. After all, no one else knows that the Bane is gone, do they? With hope and anger, you can stop him. You don't need me."

Joe couldn't even offer an argument to that.

"What will we do without you?" came a small voice. All turned to see Frankie peering out of the holes in ceiling.

Nick smiled over to him. "What you always do; trust your instincts and be the best Heroes you can be."

"But..."

"No, Frankie," Nick whispered, eyes pleading.

The youngest Lucas backed off with a nod as he wiped his eyes.

"I hate this too," Nick spoke again when he saw the look on his brother's face. "But there isn't anything other option."

"You always say that, but in the end you normally have your own plan anyway."

Nick said nothing to this, for he knew it to be true.

"He doesn't this time, Joe. It's all just guessing right now."

"And what happens when you get your memory back?"

Nick looked over to him, catching on quickly. "Then I will probably pursue the plan that comes back with it."

Joe slowly looked over to his younger brother. "What if that plan," he spoke quietly, "Leads you down the wrong path?"

Nick held his gaze evenly. "Even with the Four, I would never take that path. I would never let myself become a name in a jail cell."

Joe looked at him long and hard. "Are you sure you don't remember anything?"

"No. Why?"

Joe shook his head before he turned to walk away. "That's something the Villain in you would say."

Nick blanched at these words, but the effect of this statement was unknown to the speaker, who was already out of the room.

"What did he say?" Nick whispered weakly.

Paragon laughed lightly. "The Four told everyone about your secret." She moved to stand in front of the teen and showed him her best mocking grin. "What? You thought it would keep your secrets?"

Nick looked away from her, a scowl now the feature presentation. "I had my hopes."

"Ha," Paragon muttered as she pushed herself away from the Normal. "Hopes? Since when have you even banked on hope or faith? Anger," she continued as she stared at the open window. "That was what used to drive you. What still drives you. Why else would you seek out to finish your past folly?"

Nick watched her settle on the window sill, just as a normal bird. "For the hope that it will finish what anger has started."

The bird stared at him for a second longer before she took off. "If the Four accomplishes that," she whispered as the wind buffeted her. "It will be a miracle."

Nick smiled to himself, "A miracle?" he laughed lightly, knowing Paragon's doubts. "Isn't that what the Four was created to make?" The Normal shook his head and made his way to the front door before he changed his mind, hand resting on the knob. "But a miracle for the wrong reasons was it's true purpose."

He turned away from the door, scowling again. "The Four wants to further the Villains power. That was what it was created to do. But," he trailed off as he paced towards the door once more.

"The Four has an influence over its holder, and vice versa. What if the holder influenced it to desire another goal?"

He turned back towards the kitchen. "No, that's ridiculous. I know the Four's power; it is impossible to not get drawn in.

Back towards the door. "Unless it didn't want to control me because I wouldn't have wanted to control it."

Kitchen. "But how could I have resisted the impulse? The power to do as I wished, to fulfill my own desires...it's too much to believe."

Door. "Maybe not, though. Maybe," the teen lifted his head as he opened the door, determination on his face. "Maybe the Bane was right; I was never controlled. Maybe it was all me."

He closed the door behind him, a sinister smirk now on his face. "Maybe that is why I want it back. Because it is mine to control. Mine to do whatever I please. Mine to complete the ultimate plan."

His gaze turned to Neuropath, who had yet to notice the Normal's winning glare. "Mine," Nick continued. "To change the world."

Confidence entered Nick's step as soon as the Villain glanced his way. Neuropath shivered from the purpose in the Normal's slow swagger, but the smile stayed on his face.

"So it begins?" he called out to the Normal.

The young man nodded once. "It begins."

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Chibiyu: :P Until Next Update!