Page 181 of Villainous Intent

Simmons glanced down the hallway before leaning closer. “A Council member arrived unannounced thirty minutes ago. They’re waiting with Mr. Havoc now.”

Fear curled through my veins. “The Council? Here?”

“Indeed, Miss. I thought you should be prepared before entering.”

The Council never showed themselves. Never. They operated through proxies and encrypted messages.

“Thank you,” I managed, my mouth dry.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself against the wall for a moment. The Council. Just the thought made my skin crawl.

Most people in the Super community believed the Council was just a myth, a boogeyman story told to keep ambitious Heroes and Villains in line. An all powerful shadowy group that supposedly controlled everything from behind the scenes? It sounded like conspiracy theory nonsense.

But I knew better. A select few of us did, the unfortunate souls who’d experienced catastrophic horror at the hands of Supers. We were the ones who learned the Council wasn’t just real, but terrifyingly powerful.

Twelve members, six former Heroes, six former Villains, all supposedly “retired” from public life. They maintained the delicate balance between the Alliance and the League, ensuring that the spectacle of Heroes and Villains remained just that, a spectacle controlled and contained. They were the true power behind both organizations, operating in complete secrecy.

I’d only encountered a Council member once before, when I was thirteen, three years after Havoc had taken me in. The meeting had lasted less than five minutes, but I still had nightmares about that featureless mask they wore. They’d come to evaluate me, to determine if I was a threat.

I never knew what conclusion they reached.

What I did know was that the Council didn’t make house calls unless something had gone catastrophically wrong, or was about to. They dealt in existential threats to the system they’d created, stepping in only when the carefully maintained balance between Heroes and Villains was at risk of collapse.

And now one of them was here, waiting with Havoc.

Taking another steadying breath, I nodded to Simmons and headed for Havoc’s office, dread curling through me with each step.

Havoc sat behind his desk, his posture unnaturally rigid. Across from him, in one of the visitor chairs, sat a figure in a pristine charcoal suit. Where a face should have been, there was only a smooth, featureless white mask. No eyes, no mouth, just a blank canvas curved to fit a human head.

“Annie,” Havoc said. “Please join us.”

I moved to the empty chair beside the Council member, acutely aware of the blank mask turning to track my movement. Despite the lack of visible eyes, the weight of their gaze settled on me as I sat down, my spine straight, hands folded in my lap.

The mask tilted slightly, studying me and I fought the urge to fidget under that featureless scrutiny, wondering what they saw when they looked at me. The orphaned ward, the Keeper, or something else?

“Dennis Reeves was murdered an hour ago.”

I looked down at my hands resting on my knees.

Dennis Reeves. I knew that name. Of course I knew it.

He was the only other Warden who’d survived Halcyon’s extinction event twenty years ago. The only other person in the world who was like me.

I stared at my clenched fingers, watching my knuckles turn white. I’d never met Dennis, only seen a photo of him. But knowing there was someone else out there, someone else carrying this in their blood, had been a strange comfort. A reminder that I wasn’t entirely alone.

And now he was gone.

“Could you elaborate?” Havoc asked, his voice tight.

The blank mask turned and light slid across the white surface. No eyes to meet. No mouth to read. Just a void. “His home showed no signs of forced entry. No valuables were taken. Only Reeves was eliminated.”

Eliminated. The word was delivered with a complete lack of emotion that made my skin crawl.

“Do you know who’s responsible?” Havoc pressed.

“Not yet.” The Council member’s mask turned back to me. “We do not know if the murderer was aware of what they were actually eliminating.”

I kept my eyes fixed on my hands. What they were eliminating. Not who. The phrasing wasn’t lost on me.