Green Eagle landed on the roof he turned into his look-out post. It had been a long day, and he could use a few hours alone before going out again. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, sitting in the corner of the rooftop and leaning against the outer wall. The creak of the rooftop door, followed by high-heeled footsteps, pulled his attention, and his eyes went wide.
“Viperlash?” he asked.
“In the flesh,” the woman answered. “I’m here for your answer.”
“Answer?”
“A man approached you with a proposition a few days ago, did he not?”
He scrambled to his feet, panic clear in his eyes. “You're telling me that man wasn’t full of shit?”
She let out a laugh. “Oh no, honey, he is quite sane, and I hope you will be, too. Now make the right choice, will you, darling?”
“So you want me to join some superhero union, right?”
“Oh god no, is that how they are pitching it now? I want you to strike it rich.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Oh, darling, I’m talking about the opportunity of a lifetime. You could have all your dreams and more come true, and all you have to do is turn a blind eye.”
“A blind eye to what?”
Viperlash sighed. “You are dense, aren’t you? A supervillain runs this city, darling, one that wants all the superheroes here on his payroll. So are you in or not?” she asked, venom dripping from her voice.
Green Eagle took on a fighting pose.
“Wrong choice.” Razor-sharp wires burst from the woman’s hand, and before he could muster a response, his left arm and leg were severed, and a deep cut opened on his neck.
He clamped his remaining hand over the neck wound and tried to take flight, but several more wires wrapped around his wings and cut them to ribbons. He fell to the ground, choking on blood as the monster in a woman’s skin walked close to him.
“A pity. Why do the cute ones always have to be idiots?” She kicked his arm away and, with a swift motion, slammed the pointed heel of her boot into his neck wound, ripping it out with a forceful upward motion, causing the wound to open to a grisly proportion. With one last gurgle of pain, the world faded to black.
 

Michael came too, panting as a cold sweat ran down his face. He frantically jumped out of the van and closed the doors.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Michael turned to see Saw walking toward him.
The shorter man looked from him to the van. “What did you see?” he asked, placing two buckets filled with chemicals on the ground. “What the hell did you see?!” he shouted angrily, pulling up his shirt and grabbing the handle of a semi-automatic pistol.
Upon seeing the weapon, Michael’s brain went into overdrive, and with zero hesitation, he launched himself at Saw. Before the older man even knew Michael had moved, a right hook landed on his lower jaw, attempting to knock the man out. His head spun 180 degrees, and he fell to the ground.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Oh shit,” Michael muttered. He reached down and grabbed the man again, attempting to right the position of his head. “Shit shit shit!” he said, increasing in volume each time. As soon as he touched Saw’s face, he got a vision confirming the man was dead.
Saw’s power was far simpler than Michael ever expected it to be. If the older man made contact with anything, he could mark it and know its exact location for the next 24 hours. Michael came back and frantically tried to figure out how the man had ended up dying when he was only aiming to knock him out, when he noticed two feathered wings attached to his back.
“Oh fuck!” he shouted, remembering the powers he had gotten from Green Egale.
Feathered wings, heightened agility, and superstrength.
He sighed, holding his head with both hands. After taking a few moments to calm down, he looked around to make sure no one was nearby before reaching down to Saw’s corpse and taking the gun and his wallet. He then threw his body into the back of the van and locked it.
Michael slipped the gun into his backpack and winced as he opened the wallet, revealing an image of Saw’s wife and child. He took all the cash and the man’s debit card. He figured he at least had a few days before it was cut off. He flew into the air, heading back to his base of operations and trying to convince himself the man deserved it, which proved far easier than he thought it would.
 
Raymond sat on his throne with an expression like a murderous thunder cloud. It had been over six hours since he had heard from Saw, and the man had not been responding. He finally sent a team to check on the man’s last location, which led to his current mood. First the bullshit with Null, who his underlings had still not managed to locate by some miracle. Then he had to clean that mess for Wonder, and now someone had killed his best disposal unit.
“What a shit show,” he muttered.
There were only two possibilities he could see. He knew from what had happened at Bill’s bar and the testimonial the man had given that Michael had hidden some sort of superstrength from him, while Saw’s injury looked to have been caused by someone with that power. The fact his head hadn’t been turned to mush like Donie’s made him doubt they were related. He also didn’t think Michael had the spine to kill someone who wasn’t threatening his life, but he was wrong about the kid before.
He pushed those thoughts from his mind and focused on the second and far more plausible reason: A rival family had moved into town, and he needed to prepare for war. He pulled out his phone, opened his contacts, and pressed on one labeled Viper.
“Hey darling, what can I help you with today?” Viperlash asked.
“I need you to recruit that other rookie.”
“Hmhm, okay, but can I have some fun with this one if he refuses? That last one left me with an insatiable–”
“Do whatever you want, just promise me you will try everything to make him join before it comes to that.”
“Oh? You never let me have my fun. Is something wrong?”
“Just think of it as a reward for all the wonderful work you do.”
“Oh, I will and I promise. Thank you, darling.”
Raymond hung up the phone and sighed. Even he was disgusted by that woman’s antics, which was why he didn’t allow her to do what she wanted 90% of the time, but sometimes it was better to give a psychopath what they wanted. After all, they were far easier to control when their more vile tendencies were satisfied.
 
Michael sat on top of the building, which was quickly turning into his home. He let his feet dangle over the edge as he thumbed the cold steel slide of Saw’s handgun. He sighed and got down from the ledge and stood on the roof. Midnight was fast approaching, and he still needed to maintain his appearance tomorrow. Walking to the roof access door, he pulled it open and walked downstairs. As he turned on the first landing, his paranoia flared. He was sure he had turned the lights off before leaving that morning, but light peeked from under the door. He slowly opened the door and crept into the large space.
“Hello there.”
Michael’s blood went cold as a voice he was sure he would never forget after today entered his ears. He slowly turned to find a woman with long red hair dressed in a green costume standing in the corner of the room. Michael tried to bolt back out of the room, but a thick steel wire wrapped around his neck and pulled him back into the room.
“Well, that’s no way to treat a lady.” She walked over and slammed the door shut before letting the wire loosen.
Michael rubbed his neck. “What do you want?” he asked.
She smirked and offered him a hand, getting back to his feet. “To talk.”