Heroes and Villains Never go well together

chapter 17

“Nice view huh?” a voice said behind him, his eyes widen as he immediately turns around to see no one. Jedediah breathes heavily, nervousness starting to eat him up.

“Ha! I scared you real bad, didn't I?” the same voice said, this time tapping his shoulder. Jedediah turns his head to see a teenager with horn buns with pigtails flowing down her back even if they were in a shadow form.

“Who're you?!” he exclaimed, the teenager smiled playfully “My name's Gloom! She and they pronouns thank you. And I'm here to learn from you!” they smiled.

Jedediah furrowed his eyebrows, “I don't know what you're talkin’ about young lady..” Gloom rolled her eyes. “I'm here to learn about being a villain! Duh!”

Jedediah made an annoyed expression, “Look, I don't wanna be a Villain no more!” Gloom looked at him with bored eyes, “Then how come you're still trying to rob banks and explode stuff?” she asked.

“I have no choice anymore! And...wait a minute, why should I be saying this to a teenager I just me?!” he said, as he started to walk back to his room, the teenager turned to their physical form and started following him.

“But you don't understand! Please, I need to learn!” they pleaded, Jedediah sat at the end of his bed, “Just go blow up a building or something if you really want people to think you're bad.” he said in a stern tone.

Gloom rolled her eyes “Oh whatever, look, the real reason why I'm here is.. I'm running from the police and I'm here to get revenge on the people who turned me this way.”

Jedediah looked up at them, aching up an eyebrow. “What in the name of Sam Hill are you talking about?” he asked, Gloom sighed. “I wasn't always like this, I used to be a normal kid but someone abducted me and then experimented on me. I just need to get revenge on them and I can be normal again.” she said, folding her arms together while a frown on their face was present.

“I'm sure you already know what I'm talking about, right?” Gloom said, Jedediah felt nervous for some reason. The thought of that happening to someone at such a young age was painful for him to imagine. “How old were you that time?” he asked for clarification. Gloom counted her fingers “Uh let's see..right now I'm sixteen and these powers kicked in when I was eleven...”

They stayed silent for a while before Gloom whispered a smile, “I remember, I was nine when they experimented on me..” Jedediah remained speechless.

“I..I didn't knew.” he whispered. Gloom rolled their eyes ”Eh, it was a long time so it doesn't affect me anymore.” they paused, looking at the blonde man, “Look, I just need to stick with you for a while then when I find the people who did this to us and the others, I'll get out of your hair. Alright?”

They looked at Jedediah, the Texan abouded their gaze, fear suddenly overwhelming him “I.. whatever. But you don't have to get revenge on ‘em y'know.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I know you want revenge on them as much as I do!” she clapped back, Jedediah furrowed his eyebrows. “If you take revenge on them then you're no different from them! It'll make you more worse.”

Gloom hesitated, taking a few moments to breathe before she shook her head “No you're wrong! I know you want revenge too, we both want revenge! We aren't much different from one another.” they said, frowning.

Jedediah shakes his head “Maybe we aren't different, but think of this. I'm tempted with the idea of revenge but that'll only make stuff worse, while you want revenge because you think it'll make things better.”

He paused, taking in a breather before continuing “But will getting revenge on them turn you back to a normal kid?" No, it won't.”

The teenager shook their head “You aren't making any sense!” Jedediah stood up from his bed, “You're the one who isn't making any sense, after all the stuff they did to you, you still wouldn't hurt them?” she said.

A knock on Jedediah's bedroom door made Gloom flinch and turn back to her shadow form. After a few seconds, Ira comes in with his toy sheep in his hands while rubbing his wet eyes as his nose drooped with snot

“Hey lil’ Peter. What's wrong?” Jedediah asked, turning to big brother mode. Ira walks up to him, his arms open as Jedediah picks him up and hugs him tenderly, “I had a bad dream bubba, can I please sleep here tonight?”

The blonde nods “Of course orange, if it makes you feel safe.” Ira smiled tiredly before getting out from his older brother's hug and flop onto the bed.

Ira starts to sleep, Gloom turns back to their physical form again “Look, they took you away from your family just to inject random liquids onto your blood. And you don't want to get revenge on them?” she asked, Jedediah nods.

“It won't change anything for me Gloom. But if you feel like you wanna do this then I won't stop ya, it's you're choice.”

Gloom nods, before returning back to their shadow form. “Fine, as long as you let me stick with you.” and just like that, the teenager's figure leaves his room and out the balcony. Jedediah stands up and walks over to the balcony door to shut it close.

He turns around to look at his room, his nedroom door still open while Ira slept peacefully on his bed. The blonde closes the door and sits back down on his bed to gently ruffle his little brother's hair.

Jed chuckles “Even if revenge would've changed things, I don't think I wanna change ‘em. I got everything I want, a loving family, great friends..” as he said the last part, he thought of Octavius and smiled even more.

The blonde covered him and Ira with blankets, as he kisses Ira's forehead and lays down on the bed to finally sleep.