Villain Complex

Chapter Four

Julian felt unstoppable when he returned to the Complex.

It was the morning after the fight when he walked in. He'd wanted to deal with his injuries on his own back at his apartment and take a few hours alone to relish in his victory. The downside was that hadn't slept much, unable to stop his racing mind from wondering what Blazar's reaction to the news had been. What he would say when he saw Julian.

"Julian!" Blazar was waiting when Julian entered, leaning against the wall by the entrance with his arms folded. "You actually did it. I must admit, I'm—"

"Impressed?" Julian tried.

"Surprised."

Julian frowned. "What, you didn't think I could beat him?"

Blazar shrugged. "Not by yourself. Don't take it personally. Storm Warning's been around for a long time. I was starting to think he'd never go down."

Blazar's strawberry blonde hair was getting long, for him. It had been a few days since he last shaved it for his costume. Most days he was Blake Sullivan, and he used his super speed to accelerate his hair growth when he wasn't terrorizing the city. It was a convenient way to make himself look different from his supervillain persona.

"Well, he's down now," Julian said. The last of his stress faded away. His shoulders relaxed. Things were finally looking up for him.

Blazar stepped away from the wall and straightened up, reminding Julian that even with his above-average height, the other villain towered over him. "I assume you found the stormoid?"

"The what?"

The shift in Blazar's expression made Julian tense.

"The source of Storm Warning's power," Blazar said. "We don't know exactly what it is—yet—but we know it was inside of him. It usually showed up as a sphere in his chest on Saturn's scans. Sometimes it took on a liquid form in his blood."

"I didn't know any of that!" How did Julian not know that? "How long have you known?"

"Hm. Not sure. A couple years?" Blazar rubbed his chin. "I thought we mentioned that to you."

"You didn't."

Footsteps came from the hall. Both Lord Saturn and Damselfly emerged and entered the living room.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Blazar said, not acknowledging their presence. "We need the stormoid."

"What for?" Julian asked.

"To train a new villain, of course!" Blazar laughed. "Can you imagine if we had someone with Storm Warning's power on our side? We'd be unstoppable."

"Well, it must still be in his body, right? I can...retrieve it."

"You'd better hope you can," Blazar said. "We need to scare off any heroes who think they can take his place."

"I'll get it," Julian promised. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Where do you plan to find someone else to train?"

"I have a few candidates in mind. It's nothing you need to worry about," Blazar replied. "Now, I'm off to work. You get this taken care of."

Julian stepped aside so Blazar could pass him and leave the Complex. While the elevator door whirred behind him, he turned his attention to Lord Saturn and Damselfly.

Out of costume, Lord Saturn—or Sophia Novak, as she was known at the car manufacturer where she worked as an engineer—was a woman in her mid-thirties with light skin and dark red-orange hair kept up in a bun. "I'm surprised Blazar wasn't more pissed," she said. "He's wanted to get his hands on the stormoid since we figured out it existed."