"This is, without a doubt, the stupidest costume I could have thought of." Ryan said, looking at a mannequin wearing a custom-made costume by his sister Sarah.
"Stupid!? you take that back! it's genius! with this villain design, everyone will be in fear of you!" Sarah said, gesturing wildly to the mannequin.
"Half of my face is visible, and it's the part that people would remember if they saw my normal face. Also, the colors clash. Actually, you sure this is even a villain costume? looks like a pretty decent hero costume if you ask me." Ryan said, pointing to the costume.
The costume in question was designed to look like a long coat, but also seemed to incorporate a jacket and a bunch of belts in all the wrong places. it was silver with blue shades incorporated into the design. the sleeves for instance, were in a checkered pattern with silver, black, and blue. an overly large collar went up the mannequin's neck, as well as what looked to be a black cotton doctor's mask on the mannequin's mouth.
"You do remember my power is portals, right? this looks like I have some kind of cyber or tech power, or something. the colors don't even fit the vibe of what my 'villain' persona is supposed to be. hell, the color I'm going to make my portals is red, after all. and again, what the hell is with that face cover? it's a nice mask, sure, but it covers literally only my mouth and that's it. I'm not Superiorman, after all, I can't just take my mask off and be totally unrecognizable, or vice-versa." Ryan groped, looking at his sister with a "are you joking?" face.
"Of course, duh. I also have something that can turn your brown hair silver and make your green eyes blue!" Sarah said happily, holding up what looked like a miniature briefcase.
Ryan looked at the briefcase for a moment before looking at Sarah and deliberately and very obviously rolling his eyes.
"oh wow. the power of hair dye and contacts. you know that contacts mess with my vision and that no hair dye will hold up to scrutiny or intense battle, right? what if one of my 'enemies' has a water superpower?" Ryan said, while grabbing the briefcase.
"I know that, idiot. I actually bought some pretty neat tech that alters your appearance without any real physical alterations. Go on, try it out. Just push the big red button." Sarah said, pointing to the briefcase.
Ryan looks at the button for a moment, before pushing it with slightly curios expression. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a small light beeped on and scanned Ryan, before a holographic version of what Sarah described superimposed over Ryan's true hair and eyes. For a second, it looked obviously fake, but then the holographicness of it flaked away (literally) and it suddenly looked like Ryan always had silver hair and blue eyes, completely natural. Ryan turned to look at a full-length mirror in his room, while testing out the new cosmetic looks. he very quickly turned left and right, then jumped a couple times. nothing about the hologram gave any hints that the tech wasn't real, if anything, it somehow looked more natural then his regular hair and eyes did, which momentarily threw Ryan for a loop. Ryan turned to look over at his sister.
"ok, what gives? this is too realistic, too perfect. how much did it take you to buy this?" Ryan asked, a bit worried.
"My regular savings..." Sarah said, looking suspiciously like there was more to be said.
"and...?" Ryan asks, motioning her to add on to her last statement.
"...and my house savings?" Sarah finished, looking very sheepish.
"WHAT?" Ryan yelled, shocked. That was over one hundred grand, and more so, as the name suggests, she was saving that amount up to afford a real house then the shitty apartment she was forced to live in.
"Ok! I get it, ok? But if this works, one hundred grand is literally nothing to the amount i could get being a hero. Not only that, if I become famous because of facing off a super villain, i could even get heavily sponsored. Besides, the hero training facilities have free housing for students." Sarah said, turning her hands up.
"But-" Ryan started, but then Sarah cut in, "Look, chances are this won't even be a problem, with you by my side. besides, the damage is done, so I don't wanna waste more time arguing about it, kay?" Sarah said, giving Ryan a look saying that the conversation was over.
Ryan looked at his sister intensely for a few more moments, then sighed and conceded to her.
"ok, well, I can admit that with the hair and eyes changer, this costume would work. still feel like it's more of a hero costume, but whatever. What did we say about my fighting style again? I may be a good fighter, but that doesn't mean I can completely change my fighting style at will." Ryan said, contemplating.
Suddenly, Sarah tossed an actual medieval sword his way, which he barely caught after a second of fumbling. Ryan looked at Sarah with a single eyebrow raised, before testing the sword and realizing that it was, in fact, a real sword.
"Excuse me what?" Ryan said, looking at Sarah confused.
"Use the sword for the villain persona. and don't even try to say you don't know how to use one, I remember your 'knight' phase." Sarah said, a sight smug.
Ryan once again looked at the sword, thinking back on his so called 'knight' phase. He had been really obsessed with swords when he was like 17, and because of that, he learned how to use a sword properly, and actually got pretty good at it. No one would ever mistake him for a master, but he at least knew which way was up. his head filled with visions of him using the sword to "cut" open portals, and he had to admit the idea wasn't terrible. Ryan didn't even question where Sarah had found a real medieval sword, but he shrugged in acceptance to her.
"Right, guess that settles it for the villain persona. Now, the last question remains..." Ryan looked Sarah in the eye, and for some reason started to unconsciously smile
"How am I going to debut?"