"T-This is only... a setback..." Korthax states as his body is being enveloped by harmonious energy. "Mark my w-words... I will return and chaos will reign."
Shay wakes up in his bed with Melissa sleeping to the right of him, small beads of sweat drip down from his forehead. He moves silently so as to not awaken Melissa as Shay makes his way to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, Shay splashes his face with some cold water, taking a minute to calm down. Looking into the mirror Shay sees that his eyes are black and red without him using any of his powers.
"What am I?" Shay asks as he gently touches the cheek right under his eye.
"We… are a god." A low, distorted voice in his mind answers back.
"A god?" While still looking into the mirror, the reflection of Shay depicts that of a mass of flowing shadows with glowing red eyes in the shape of a human. Shay moves his head as the shadow reflection mimics every move. "More like a demon to me."
"Hmph, you really don't understand just what you are yet. I can show you everything." Just then Korthax reaches into the mirror from the reflection of Shay's mental scape. The glass seemingly ripples like water as the pitch black hand grows closer to his face.
A knock at the bathroom door takes the attention away from the reflection. "Shay are you in there?" Melissa ask as her voice sounds muffled through the door. "Is everything ok?"
Shay looks back to his reflection to find everything is normal like before. "Yeah, everything is fine."
A few minutes pass before Shay leaves the bathroom. On his way back to bed he met by Retrospect in the hallway.
"It's early. This better be important." Shay says to him with an annoyed tone in his voice.
"Well it depends. Would you want that wolf girl on a leash or still running around unsupervised?" This catches Shays attention quickly, making the tired villain turn his gaze upon him. "Thought it would."
...
Back at the Lumer City Hero department, Daniel and Ben are waiting in a room with James whose left arm is covered in bandages from his fight with Transmuter. Franny is still in the ICU from taking a powerful blast head on and nearly dying.
Mr. Hall enters the room along with Kenyon. James looks shocked as to why Kenyon, head of the Vigilantes, would be with Mr. Hall.
"Before you start assuming things let me first explain what's going on." Mr. Hall says, closing the door behind him. He walks over to the table. "I've been working with the Vigilante Association for quite some time now." The news shocks Daniel, Ben and even James. "As much as I trust the way the Organization handles situations it's a proven fact Vigilantes have a wider range of mobility as they aren't restricted by the laws in place for heroes. Like killing the really horrible villains that pop up now and then."
"You have got to be kidding, right? Bad did you know about this when you were a vigilante?" Daniel asks his partner.
"Hell no, I only did the missions I was given by Kenyon and the other higher ups in the association."
"He didn't know because I didn't want anyone finding out. But things are changing and not for the better. It's not a lie when I say the ratio of villains to heroes greatly favors the villains and now that we know someone like Transmuter is leading them only makes things even more drastic for us. So I proposed the board of directives to strike a deal with the Vigilante Association."
"What kind of deal are we talking about here?" Asked James.
"A deal to combine forces with the vigilantes into one unit, a deal they took to better than I had first thought." Mr. Hall cracks a smile. "They're already in the works of getting things finalized."
Ben begins laughing uncontrollably to himself prompting Daniel to look at him worried. "I just can't believe this is happening."
Mr. Hall gets up from the table. "Well believe it. Transmuter has an army now so we need an army too. If this man is gearing up for a war then we'll give him one. Go home and get some rest for now. Starting tomorrow vigilantes and heroes are working together."
…
In the industrial district of Lumer city, Shay, now in his villainous attire, walks around the back alleys in some of the worst spots that most delinquents don't go. Going off the tip he got from Retrospect about some people seeing a werewolf-like monster in these parts, it doesn't take long to track down the lone wolf. He comes across She-wolf at the end of a back alley sitting in the corner, covered with torn up rags, gnawing at the leftover chicken bones of a meal she most likely stole from someone. Her claws leave marks in the ground as she scratches them repeatedly against the ground.
"She-wolf I presume?" Shay states walking up to her slowly.
She-wolf gives a quick glance at him then brings her head back down. "My name isn't She-wolf, it's Laura… I heard you coming a mile away. Normally I'd kill someone outright if they tried to find me."
"Oh really? Well why haven't you tried to kill me?"
"Don't take me for a fool. Even I can tell you're not like everyone else." Laura glances back at Shay with a slight sense of fear in her eyes as she can sense the overwhelming dread coming from him. "Are you even human?"
"Been asking myself that more often lately." Shay stops once he's just out of reach from Laura. "My subordinates told me you tried to kill the hero Cerberus during the breakout a while back. Why is that?"
"It's what I was made to do. Doing so will make the voices in my head stop." She places a hand on her face from the stress of it.
"Well what if I told you I could help Make that possible." Laura's eyes widened when hearing the proposal. "All you need to do is swear your loyalty to me. Do so and I'll give you a place to stay, food to eat, clothes to wear and Cerberus on a silver platter."
"That's impossible even for you. Cerberus has the entire Hero Organization backing him up. Not even you can handle all of them."
"Oh…" Shays eyes gloss over with pure darkness as his red pupils pierce through. "Even the God's would find me hard to handle. And besides I wouldn't need to go through them." Shay says in a distorted voice, taking out a phone from his pocket and scrolling down in the contacts. "All I need to do is make one call." He stops scrolling as B.A.Ds contact is selected. "So what do you say?"
"What do I say? Where do I sign up?" Laura smiles brightly with her teeth slowly turning into fangs.
(sorry that this one is short. I had to plan some stuff for my birthday. Next weeks chapter will be longer I promise.)