“Hahahahahah!”
The cruel mocking echo of his laugh rings out through the deck, through the empty lake.
With nowhere left to go, I am subject to his changing whims. And oh do they change.
The reason T.V is so feared within the ranks is not simply because he’s right-hand man to Steve, it’s because of his powers. Even with his shades on you can never tell whether he’s poisoning you to your death with small doses of radiation. For this reason alone, even Steve fears him somewhat.
With the effortless way, he inspires fear and his powers, I often wondered why he wasn’t the one at the head of the gang, why he didn’t do away with Steve who often treated him as nothing less than a lackey. At the moment I don’t much care for any of that though.
Hearing the usually stoic man bellow out without reserve sends chills down my back, my hairs stand on end in his presence until he stops making the odd sound and looks at me.
“The same goes to you, Vern, I can’t say I’m very pleased to see you, to see you alive that is.” He gasps, a thought striking him, “How did you survive the drug? You should have burst a vein or something from that much juice. How exactly are you still alive and well, heh, very well from the sounds of it.”
I stare at him blankly for a moment until he snaps his fingers aggressively, “That wasn’t rhetorical, answer me.”
Just then the guard chooses to butt in, “I believe we’ve had enough of your theatrics sir, you’ll need to get off of the vessel, with or without the boy.”
Once more the security pull their weapons on T.V, I wish they’d shoot at him already.
I wish even more than that, I wish my powers would work already.
What I thought was excess adrenaline stifling my powers turns out to be something else, something unknown. My heart has long ceased its trumpeting in my chest, I’ve come to terms that I’m alone on this, I’ve got to face these bastards again. But why-
“Oh, would you shut up already?” T.V snarls, his lips curl in a familiar sneer, one I long learned is soon followed by-
With a single turn of his head a scalding heat beams across the space between him and me. I am quick to launch myself to the floor but I do not escape unscathed, my hair is singed.
Patting out the fire before it takes up all my hair, I rise once again to find that the men behind me, the guards, were not so lucky.
It smells of beef, there’s a pang of iron that somehow finds its way onto my tastes buds. Sickening.
I pinch my nose but my ears remain uncovered and harmed by the screeching sounds of horrified screams of the patrons still on the floor of the deck. Their saviours have been turned to bacon, I can’t say I blame them.
Bang! Bang!
“Shut the fuck UP!” There Neil goes again, hunched over drooling saliva, yelling at the defenceless and frightened.
Silence is quick to fall save for a few sniffles, I wait a moment, take a look back at the seared open men behind me and try my best not to gag. I’m glad Paige isn’t awake to see or smell any of this.
“Now then-”
“Let them go.”
T.V pauses, reeling even in surprise at my cutting him off, “Excuse me?”
I say it again, but this time I take my hand off my nose and let it fall beside me, balled up, “I said, let them go.”
T.V’s hands twitch and Neil makes his way to his side, reloading his weapon as he does, his intentions given away by his glare.
“Can I off h-'' He doesn’t get to utter another syllable as T.V raises a hand to silence him, the man’s attention solely on me.
Whereas my knees tremble and I can only hope that my display isn’t as transparent as it feels, I need to get Paige out of here, out of his line of sight somehow. I need to keep her safe even if I’m to share the same fate as those men.
T.V’s X-ray vision doesn’t only allow him to see through solid surfaces. As far as my education goes, I know enough to recognize X-ray as a sort of light, and light is a source of heat.
Heat he beams out of his eyes and at his enemies. Particularly, me.
But I don’t need Paige getting in the line of fire.
Strangely, he snickers, “The news said you are a danger to all that come across you, a vile character with an unflinching will to kill and maim people." He laughs cruelly, "Possessing a taste for shooting peoples knees and elbows out to oblivion...not some hero wannabe.”
His shoulders tremble and his hand slaps over his mouth, stifling another laugh, “Even Vertigo took some sense of pride in you. In hearing of your exploits. Drugs? Smuggling? Migrants? Incapacitating a great many of the Xoxia Police force, you did well for about a minute, that is, until he realized you were selling to the enemy. That you were helping our competitors with that terrifying mind bending power of yours.”
“Then he gave the order to kill you.” Neil says, joining in the conversation. The shorter man quickly receives a smack across the back of his head for this.
“Do I look like I need you speaking for me, Neil?” His lips begin to curl again.
“N-no, sir.” He can hardly look up at T.V, his head shrinking back like a turtle receding into its shell. Oh, how I wish I could shoot him dead.
But no matter what I do, even holding my breath, biting my lip or even praying to my one star above the sky. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to pause time, I’m defenseless.
For a moment I begin to wonder if T.V and Steve have some power dampener on me, one that restricts my powers specifically. But that’s absurd, what use would that serve to have me and my time pausing powers under their control and not exploit it to the fullest?
“Your arm in that sling tells me the encounter with the Police was not exaggerated, so does your presence here on this ship.” T.V says, temporarily deciding against cooking Neil, “I have a lot of questions for you, Vern.” He says with a sigh, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“As do I.” I challenge, puffing my chest out as best as I can, after all, for all they know I’m still the powerful meta-human with mind bending abilities the news makes me out to be, I could just as well give an inspiring demonstration of my abilities if I so choose.
“Oh? And what are those?”
“For starters...how did you know where and when I’d get on this ship?”
A knowing smile graces his thin lips, he nods, “You want to know if you got sold.”
“Well, was I?”
***
T.V says nothing for a while, an uncomfortable while. The gap between my question and his probable answer is too large to let me willfully trust whatever comes out of his smirking lips.
He takes a deep breath and lets it out, an audible sigh, “You’re so anxious, Vern. Don’t you realize by now that it doesn’t matter if someone betrayed you over there or not, you’re coming back with me.”
I raise a brow at this, Coming back with him?
Rather than answer that I keep on track, “Answer the question, T.V, it’s the least you can do, give me some peace of mind at least.”
He falls silent again then shrugs, “No one. No one gave you up.”
“Then how-?”
“You’re on the news, your face plastered in every district, flyers, and even on a float at some point. This Captain you pissed off has a real hard on for you.”
Yeah, seems like it.
“All Vertigo had to do was give the order, we were on the other side of the city then dealing with some ambitious enemies. He ordered us back and this cruise service just happens to be one of the best ways for people like us to move across undetected.”
Slowly, he takes off his shades but keeps his eyes closed. With a grin marring his face he stretches, cracks his neck and fingers, “We were going to discuss what to do about you once I got back, once I met with Steve. After all, that little noggin of yours has sensitive information on how we run our business. But when I saw this ship in the distance, innocently chugging away on it’s own business. I remembered, this service is for people seeking to escape.”
I find myself scoffing, “You’re saying you found me entirely by chance? You’re saying that-”
“Yes, I’m saying that if you’d done a better job hiding like the fugitive you are, I would’ve been forced to get back on that ship and sail home, embarrassed by my lack of findings.”
This fucking…
“Now then, enough talk, you said to let the people go and I don’t intend on keeping them hostage a second longer on their beautiful cruise.”
“A cruise you’ve ruined with murder.” I sneer, the stench of burnt flesh still ever apparent.
He shrugs, “Required casualties, I’m sure you understand...Kneecapper.” He sets his hand out, beckoning for me to come.
More than ever I beg and plead whatever within me controls my powers to let me stop time once more. But each time I try to stifle the flow of time around me, I’m met with nothing. Nil results.
But my attempts are not all in vain. I’ve managed to narrow down the cause for the cease in my powers. Each time I attempt to pause time, a sting of pain travels from my center and all through my arm, specifically the arm in a sling.
Am I not allowed to be fucking injured?
No, can’t be. Several times over my body has borne some sort of wound and yet I’ve managed to pull time to a standstill. Even on the eve of my powers' sudden growth, I was in unthinkable pain. I was as injured and crippled as I’ve ever been and yet, that was the moment my powers were best put to use.
Thinking more on it, it makes even less sense that I cannot command the flow of time with adrenaline pacing through me as on that night I was as nervous and scared as ever, vulnerable and closest to my death.
But noticing these contradictions with my powers doesn’t help me an inch, time still refuses to halt. I have to improvise something.
What that something is, I’ve yet to figure out.
“Vern.” T.V calls in a cold whisper, “Come here.”
I look up to the man, his smile and grin wiped away like they’d never been there in the first place. My ears pick up something beside me, a noise, whimpering. Taking my attention to it I find the patrons, all looking up at me, desperation in their eyes.
I realize that all this time, they have not had their ears closed, they have heard it all and they want out. They want this experience to be over as much as I do. Except none of them have a choice or say in the matter, so they look to me.
“I won’t ask again, Vern.”
These words set me off. Won’t ask?
T.V doesn’t ask, he never asks, not to people lower than him at least. He demands.
My mouth falls open as another chain of thought occurs in me. All this time, killing the security, shutting Neil up, talking with me and even answering my questions...he’s being cautious.
Distracted by other things, by the thought of a traitor, of Paige’s safety, the security and even the hostages, I never realized...T.V is wary of me.
The news has spoken all of the clout meta-villains could ever need to get a footing in the underworld, my face, my criminal name, everything speaks to an identity of danger. Until I do something, everyone will treat me as T.V does now, perhaps even more cautiously.
Because they haven’t the slightest clue what powers I can unleash. I'm thankful Neil never paid much attention to me back when I worked for Steve. Had he looked my way, he would have clued in what my powers were, it's not like I never tried to use them.
There was even that demonstration for Steve, years ago when he first picked me up. It failed woefully, I could only halt time for a few seconds then and when I did I grew fatigued.
Because of that, Steve threw me aside, never mentioning my powers until...until that night with the Van and whatever that drug was.
Amusing, my powers growing is an unexpected result of it all, and now I'm a powerful meta, well, as powerful as the news makes out. Steve must want me back.
“This isn't about information, that's silly, especially since I was only a drifter. You want me to work for Steve again, don’t you?”
It’s the only reason left why T.V would keep Neil at bay. If he were here to eliminate a possible threat to business, he would have let the foolish man come at me guns blazing. He would have sent Neil in as fodder to gauge my abilities, to see how well one would fare against the Kneecapper.
“How astute of you. Yes, come with us and Steve will give you a place at his left hand side.”
“And if I say no?”
He frowns, but not at my challenge, “What...what is that sound?”
I have no idea what he’s talking about for a moment, but then I hear it, an engine humming and groaning in the distance. The sound gets louder and clearer each second.
“Come with me now, Vern. This is your last chance.” The urgency in T.V’s voice is quickly punctuated by the pull of Neil’s gun and worse, his eyes peering open.
Whatever that engine is, I have to stall for it. This is the something I'm looking for, I can feel it.
“No.” Not leaving a second to think about it, I rip a rifle from the cooling hands of a seared officer and begin to fire.
