Villain Complex [REMOVING FOR PUBLICATION JUNE 1]

Chapter Thirty-Four

Charlotte found the door to Julian's room open and the room itself empty. She moved her gaze farther down the hall, to the room Jordan had assigned Harper to. As she approached the ajar door, Julian and Harper's conversation became audible.

"—because we can't get any of your stuff from the Complex," Julian was saying. "But if there's anything else you need, the heroes can get it from the store." Before Harper could respond, he added, "Not video games."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Harper asked. "Sit around all day waiting for Blazar to find us and kill us?"

"That's not going to happen."

Charlotte nearly moved forward to get their attention when Harper spoke again.

"So, what happened with Charlotte?" she asked.

"What do you think?" Julian replied. "She found out I was Citadel."

"But you're helping the heroes, now."

"I'm the only one who can help them beat Blazar. Doesn't change the fact that I killed Storm Warning."

After a few moments of silence passed, Charlotte knocked on the door frame. "Julian? Wendy's back with the groceries you wanted."

The door opened the rest of the way. "Come on, Damsel—Harper," Julian said.

Harper followed him out of the room, dressed in jeans and an oversized t-shirt she'd found among the extra clothes, with slits cut in the back to let her wings through. Her chin-length black hair was still damp from when she'd taken off her helmet during the fight at Dove Park.

The three walked downstairs to the kitchen, where Wendy was unloading the grocery bags she'd brought in. Julian assessed the food. "Good. Looks like you got everything."

Charlotte elbowed him in the side.

"Ow," he muttered, moving his hand to the spot. After a moment, he sighed and looked up at Wendy. "Thank you."

"The vodka's coming home with me," Wendy said.

"Fine by me." Julian said picked up the bottle and inspected it. "I only need a little for the pasta sauce."

"You're putting that in the pasta?" Harper asked incredulously.

"The alcohol cooks out. Did you not know—oh, never mind." Julian set the bottle back down and started rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. "Harper, find a knife and a cutting board. You're going to chop onions."

"I don't think you want my help," Harper said. "Unless you're looking for more reasons to make fun of my cooking."

"No, I'm going to show you how to cook."

"Do you need us to do anything?" Jordan asked.

"Just give me space," Julian said with a wave of his hand. "I'll let you all know when it's ready."

After one last glance at Julian, Charlotte followed Jordan and the other heroes into the living room, where they found places to sit on the couch and chairs.

"Hey, Jordan," Charlotte said as she settled onto the couch next to them. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your powers?"

Jordan chuckled. "It was an accident in one of the physics labs my freshman year. I could explain what happened in more detail, but—"

"I don't think I'd understand a word of it." Charlotte laughed. "That's cool, though." Jordan's freshman year was the year before they met, and the year before Charlotte started at NAU after her gap year.

"Took a few months to get the hang of it," Jordan said. "Before that, I accidentally walked through some walls. And slammed into others." They smiled. "But I was able to make my costume by decreasing the density of metal so that I could manipulate it, and then making it dense again to protect me."