Random Short Stories/Written Ideas

A Little Sunshine in the Rain

Bertie needed a moment to digest the information Anti spilled to him.

"I struck a deal with the Black Mamba to save you."

"Tell me this isn't true," they started. "Tell me this is just another one of your jokes."

The other's silence stretched on.

"Please, Annie." But his begging did nothing to change what he was sure was the truth.

The Anti-Virus shook his cloth-covered head and took a step towards Glitch. As though he were preparing to grab them if they ran. If they just... Turned on their heel and left this man under the overhang they had been hiding under.

It would be so easy to do that. To run. To get away from this very new, very big, issue. If Anti was now colluding with one of the many nefarious villains in this cursed city, what did that make him? What did that mean for Glitch?

Static popped in their ears as pieces of their body buzzed and became blurry. They flickered and fuzzed, the glitching arising as a response to their erratic thoughts.

"Glitch-"

Don't let him talk.

If they let him speak, they would listen. They wouldn't use their head, they'd allow their throbbing heart to follow this man into an early grave.

This man that had... Saved them. That had risked his own safety just to ensure their own.

"You are daft." They were backpedaling. The rain that was coming down in violent waves immediately drenched them when they left the safety of the overhang. The icy chill sliced through the fabric of their newly repaired suit, making him almost regret stepping out into the rain.

But he needed time to think, needed to process whatever it was he was feeling.

He couldn't tell if he was grateful, afraid, angry, or upset. He did know he was in distress, though.

As if that wasn't clear enough.

"Wait. Let me explain-" Their... Friend was saying.

They shook their head vehemently, continuing to back away. The roar of the rain was quickly drowning out any words Anti spoke after that.

That didn't stop them from shouting over it. "There were others you could have gone to. You didn't have to throw your life away-!"

They were cut off.

"-Christ, I didn't make a deal with the Devil-"

"-But you might as well have!"

They were a good six feet away from the overhang now. Anti was at the edge, arm outstretched.

"What did you give him, Annie?"

More silence.

He wasn't even going to tell them. Did he not trust them? Was it so bad that he couldn't share it-?

But their thoughts were cut off by the next two words, which were spoken softly enough that they had to strain their ears to hear.

"My loyalty."

That was it.

"Your loyalty?" They repeated back. "You work for him, now?"

This puts their friendship in danger, didn't it? Anti was doing more than just colluding with a criminal, he was a criminal-

Aren't they both criminals, though?

One of them was a vigilante, the other an anti-hero. The similarities between the two stop at murder. Both were hunted by the law, though.