Solace Ch.22

The four hired supers launched their first attack at me, and I floated up in the air, easily dodging all of them. I scanned each of them, choosing a good target to get rid of first, and ultimately settled on the guy in the robot/mech suit. 

FWOOOOOSH

I blitzed toward the guy and flew directly into him, slamming him through the glass of the penthouse and dropping him to the ground below. I didn’t even wait to see his mechanical body hit the ground. His fate was unimportant to me, and I was far from queasy when it came to the thoughts of killing and death. 

I locked my gaze on the next three adversaries and shot towards them like a bullet. My fist collided with the lava guy, the heat searing my skin as his body erupted, sending molten lava cascading around us.

“Step in any time, Titan,” I said sarcastically, gesturing to the two remaining guys, excluding Machine Head. 

I couldn’t see his face, but judging from his unmoving posture, I assumed he was either stunned or constipated. 

“...Right.” He finally spoke, stepping toward the fearful remaining hired supers. They rightfully took a step backward in fear before they straight booked it to the elevator.

“Hey, where the hell do you think you’re going~?! I paid you in advance~!”

I blinked at their fleeing forms. This…I had spent time worrying about this, thinking it would be the hardest fight to date, but instead, I got a group of four nobodies. 

I took a step toward them as they tried their best to get the elevator to open. This night was supposed to be a blank spot in history, meaning I wasn’t supposed to be here.

FWOOOOSH

I came up behind the first, and punched as hard as I could, my hand going through his back and out his front before impaling the metal of the elevator door. I pulled my hand back and visibly cringed at the blood and guts covering it. 

I think I’ve spoken too soon…I’m definitely feeling queasy now. 

The other guy looked at me in horror. He tried to attack me with a right hook, but I palmed his face with the same hand that I used to impale the other guy, and I tossed him hard toward the reinforced glass, his body exploding into blood, guts, and brain matter upon contact. 

I brought the hand that wasn’t drenched in blood to my mask, pushing it harder to my face in an effort to not remove whatever contents remained in my stomach. 

Now, more than ever, I need to look strong. Unkillable. 

“I’ve done enough, don’t you think, Titan?” I asked, thanking the built-in voice alternator I had installed in it. 

“More than enough.” He nodded, his eyes locking onto Machine Head. “I’ll take out the trash.” 

“Fine by me.” I shrugged, walking over to one of the comfortable-looking cushions in the apartment and taking a seat. My hands were shaking, but I tried my best to make it as unnoticeable as possible by interlocking my fingers and resting my arms on my knees. 

“No~!” Machine Head shouted, reaching into his desk and pulling out a futuristic-looking gun. “Stay away from Daddy, you bitch, or I’ll put a hole in my favorite tool~!” 

Titan didn’t stop to respond or stop walking forward. I could see the shakiness of Machine Head’s hand as he pulled the trigger, launching a blue ball of light at Titan. The large ball slammed into the rock around Titan’s body and stopped after carving its way just before his skin. 

“Wha-” Machine Head shouted, before getting his face gripped by Titan’s massive hand. 

“Did you really think just having money would make everyone loyal to you? There are plenty of people around you who want you gone. It wasn’t too hard to get some of them to side with me.” 

Titan reached into his pocket with his other hand and pulled out a phone, quickly typing something in it as Machine Head fought to escape his iron hold. 

DING

The elevator rang, and I looked back carelessly to see Machine Head’s second-in-command, Isotope, walk in. 

“Ha! There you are~! Get me out-” 

“Took you long enough.” Titan cut off Machine Head as he looked toward Isotope.

“You’re the one that told me to keep the Elevator occupied. No one comes in, no one goes out.” 

“...Y-You~”

“He’s still alive?” Isotope asked in confusion, the amusement in his voice fading quickly. “Just squash that shitty head of his and let us be done with it.” 

“...You traito-” 

CRUNCH

The entirety of Machine Head’s…head was crushed between the two massive hands of Titan, and his body dropped to the ground limply. 

“Finally.” Isotope nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

“Yes…It’s done.” Titan whispered.

“Nice.” I clapped and stood up. “Well, if that’s all, I got some things to take care of. Remember what I said, Titan.” 

“Of course.” He nodded, the stone dropping to reveal his face. “We’ll bring order to this city.” 

“Good man.” I nodded, floating into the air and zoomed out of there in the direction of Eve’s house. 

That was way easier than I expected it to be, even if I ended up more disoriented than expected. 

As long as they didn’t notice it, everything should be fine, and even if they did, they should know that they are truly replaceable. 

At the end of the day, this city doesn’t belong to Titan now, it belongs to me. He knows it, and Isotope knows it.

No one else needs to know.

— Later —

I let out a quiet sigh of relief. I had stopped at my house to hose down myself to wash away the blood that had been clinging to my hero drip, but now I can say for a fact I was completely blood and guts free!

I landed on top of the side roof of Eve’s house that led to her bedroom window. Seeing the light on within, I gave the glass a few light knocks and seconds later, the curtains were moved to reveal Eve’s tired face.

She unlocked the window and opened it. 

“Hey Eve, sorry I’m late. I was still patrolling.” I pulled off my mask and rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. 

Eve looked at me with an emotion that I couldn’t place, before she gave me a small smile and backed away from the window, allowing me entry. 

I crawled in and stood to my feet, taking a moment to look around Eve’s room and see that nothing had really changed within it. The only noticeable thing is that any posters that she had once had of the Guardians of the Globe were now replaced with posters of us, Solace and Atom Eve. 

“Nice redesign.” I grinned, walking over to the most prominent poster in the room. “This is a really good one!”

The poster showed Eve and me flying down in front of a bunch of cop cars in the background. It was a very nice picture if I do say so myself. 

“Thanks…” Eve sat on her bed, and again, I realized something was definitely wrong with her.

“Hey Eve, what’s wrong?” I asked, walking over and taking a seat beside her. “You know you can tell me anything.” 

Eve remained silent for a few moments before letting out a breath. “Darius, do you remember when we first started working together? When you and Mark would stay at your house while I’d patrol?” She asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“The day my…siblings attacked. Do you remember that?” 

I remembered it, but perhaps not to the extent that she did. “I do.” 

“That day, you saw I was in trouble…and you called for your father, Nocturnus, to help me.” 

“Yeah, I remember that.” I frowned with clenched fists. At the time, I didn’t have my powers and was too weak to be of any use. I literally had no other option than turning to my father to help Eve. I didn’t want to risk her being captured or anything like that.

“That day, your father—he killed my siblings.” She breathed out shakily. I remained quite confused on why she was worried or caught up about that. They were trying to kill her, my father helped her. It’s not like the government told her siblings to kill Eve, they specifically chose to do that of their own accord, so what happened to them should have been completely justified. 

“T-They shouldn’t have died.” Eve said, and I could see tears begin falling from her eyes. “They were just kids, born into a life where they wouldn’t be able to live in the sunlight.”

“...They hated you Eve-”

“They hated their circumstances!” Eve shouted, rising from her bed. “And I don’t blame them.” Her fists were clenched, and she used them to quickly wipe at the tears falling from her soft green eyes. “It’s as they said, I was lucky, the one child that actually got away from that life! And the first chance they got to see the sun, it ended up with them being killed…I-I can’t forgive him, Darius!” 

I was stunned into silence. I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing from her. I already knew all of that, and I still don’t think it excuses them going after her. Not that I hate them or anything like that for it, but at the moment, I do not blame my father for it—but she does—and that is a problem. 

“You know…I haven’t even told my mom.” 

I blinked at that, but remained quiet. 

“I mean, how could I. She didn’t remember any of what happened to her, the one good thing that came out of the brain damage she had. I’ve never told her about the children she’s birthed, or what fate they went through…I couldn’t.” 

I stared at her for a long while, my mouth moved, but no words came out. I seriously didn’t know what to say. 

What mother should have to endure the fate knowing she birthed four other kids that she couldn’t be there for, but also that they died in the most disgusting, painful ways you could imagine. 

“I-I’m sorry, Eve.” Was all I could say in response. I had been selfish. I had been looking out for Eve and only Eve, I wanted what was best for her, and in that split moment I made a decision that made things so much worse.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t blame you, but…I can’t forgive Mr. Johnson. He wasn’t just trying to help me, Darius, he taunted them with words that should never be said to children before killing them, and he didn’t even care.”

That…sounded like my father. 

“Eve…”

“Darius.” She quickly sat down and gripped my shoulders. Tears freely fell from her eyes and she did nothing to stop it. “P-Please…never become like him. I won’t ever ask anything else of you again, but please don’t change.”

“Eve-”

“When we first met, I was in ruins. I didn’t have friends, I lived my life on autopilot, but you and Mark…you both changed that. You are the only two people who cared enough to pull me, a stranger, into your circle. Which is why, I want to try my hardest now to do what’s best for you…because I care about you, more than you could ever know.” 

“Eve.” I used my hands to wipe away her tears and then placed them on her shoulders. “I understand. I can’t promise I won’t change…but I promise I won’t be like him.” 

She looked at me for a long moment with watery eyes, searching my brown orbs for any sign of lie or deceit, before she pressed her head into my chest and let out quiet sobs.

I wrapped my arm around her back, knowing she needed this more than anything.

As her cries settled down and we sat in silence, I decided that this girl was perhaps the person I could trust most to keep this secret, even more than Mark.

“Hey, Eve,” I whispered. The girl looked up at me after a few seconds and a small smile crept on my lips at the sight of her messing up another of my shirts. This time it was the undershirt of my hero drip. 

“Yeah?” 

“You know that we…Mark, his dad, my dad and I, are aliens, right?” 

She nodded. Yeah, I’d be surprised if she didn’t after the amount of time she and Polly spent with our mothers on the cruise. 

“Well…contrary to what our mothers think…the Viltrumites aren’t good aliens. My dad and Uncle Nolan are no exception.”

“I don’t care.” She shook her head. “Just don’t follow their example…don’t end up like them.” 

“I won’t, Eve, but I thought you should know. Just please…don’t tell anyone. You are the only other person on the planet who knows, not even Mark or our mothers know.” 

Eve looked at me for a few moments before nodding. “I won’t.” 

— Chapter End —

Beta readers: @Dragonboy1

Author's Note: Late update, my bad.