Page 62 of Villainous Rise

“Are you hurt?” I demanded, scanning her face frantically while my shield deflected the shower of glass above us.

“I’m fine,” she answered, her voice breathless.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I held her beneath me, feeling the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive. She was whole.

I couldn’t stop myself from touching her face, my fingers brushing against her cheek. I needed the tactile confirmation that she was unharmed. Her skin was warm under my touch, her pulse racing at her throat.

For a moment, everything else disappeared, the restaurant, the attack, the screaming patrons. There was only Annie, looking up at me with those impossibly blue eyes.

“You’re sure?” I asked, my voice dropping lower as I searched her face for any sign of pain or fear.

She nodded, and I forced myself to shift my weight off her, though everything in me screamed to keep her protected beneath me. “Stay down,” I ordered, rising to a crouch, positioning myself between her and whatever threat had just crashed our dinner.

Of fucking course. Perfect timing, as always. Just when she was starting to soften toward me a fucking literal cockblock from the ceiling.

Two figures stood in the wreckage, Overload and Technomancer. Their crimson and black suits were a garish display of poor taste. Trying too hard to look intimidating and failing miserably. Custom-built, but derivative. Uninspired.

“Cipher!” Overload called out, voice distorted through their helmet. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Technomancer stepped forward, glass crunching beneath their boots. “Enjoying a romantic dinner while the rest of us do real work? How typical.”

My body shifted automatically, slipping into the arrogant Villain persona that came as naturally as breathing. Inside, however, my mind was racing through tactical options, calculating the fastest way to neutralize these threats while keeping Annie safe.

“Who’s your lady friend?” Overload asked, helmet tilting toward Annie.

I stepped forward, deliberately placing myself to block their view of her. If they recognized her as Havoc’s Keeper, this situation would become infinitely more complicated.

I gestured dismissively at the shattered ceiling, injecting my voice with bored condescension. “I’m disappointed in your entrance. All flash, no finesse.”

Overload stepped forward aggressively. “We’re not here for your approval, asshole.”

“Who’s the woman, Cipher?” Technomancer asked again.

I laughed, pitching it to be as infuriating as possible. Draw their attention to me. Make them forget about her. “My business is my business. Now, what exactly did you want? I’m in the middle of something far more interesting than this conversation.”

“Nothing personal, Cipher,” Overload said, hands beginning to glow with pulsing orange energy. “Just rankings. You understand how the game is played.”

Technomancer let out a harsh laugh. “Speak for yourself. This is absolutely fucking personal.” Their voice dripped with venom. “Remember Bay Side Heights? I certainly do.”

My shoulders tightened involuntarily. Bay Side Heights. A warehouse, a heist gone wrong, Alliance forces closing in. I’d had to make a choice: secure the goods or help my temporary ally escape.

I chose the goods, of course.

“That was business,” I replied coolly. “If you took it personally, that’s your problem.”

“You left me to rot in that Alliance holding cell for five months!” Technomancer’s hands began emitting crackling blue energy that made the air smell heavy with ozone. “Five months while you walked away with the glory.”

Overload stepped forward. “Can we just get on with this? I’ve got plans tonight, and taking down a Super Villain will look excellent on my seasonal stats.”

Without warning, Technomancer launched forward, blue energy coalescing into electrified whips extending from their wrists. I dodged the first strike and engaged both attackers simultaneously, keeping them focused on me and pulling them further away from Annie. She’d taken cover behind an overturned table, but I could see her tracking the fight.

A fight that was laughably one-sided.

These two might have had a chance against a regular League member, but against me? They were only playing at being dangerous. Still, I held back, maintaining the illusion that my powers came from technology and serum rather than my Trueborn nature.

Then everything changed.

Annie moved, trying to stay out of the path of destruction as the fight spread across the restaurant. Overload noticed her, abandoning their attack on me to lunge toward her.