To Find a Villain [Villain AU]

Chapter 9

Reverse rolled his eyes. This dude was really asking for a fight.

Adu-du growled at them. "Probe! Transform!"

The blue robot complied happily. The partners in crime fist-bumped as they both disappeared. Reverse teleported whilst Fang used his perforation to sink into the ground. Reverse reappeared behind Mega Probe. He created a minor blackhole and caused his inner support-circuits to collapse on itself. Before anyone could process what he had tampered with, Mega Probe's armour fell from his body as Probe was ejected into the sky.

Fang rose behind Adu-du and karate-chopped him to the back of his square head. Compared to Reverse, his battle description sounded lame. The author hasn't been writing for two days, and it's annoyingly familiar-unfamiliar how the word flow should go.

Reverse frowned and flexed his fingers. He shouldn't be relying on his power so much.

"Thank you," Tok Aba said warmly. "You saved me from them. Are you new heroes?"

Reverse refrained from screaming. "N – no, not really."

Fang glanced at Reverse. He turned to the elder. "No, sir. We're not exactly heroes..."

"Well, it doesn't matter, does it? You saved me, after all." Tok Aba shuffled back into the stall. "If he takes my cocoa another time, I won't have anything to sell."

Reverse looked up. "This isn't the first time?"

"As a matter of fact, no." Tok Aba started to rearrange his supplies. "Ever since Yaya and her friends left, he's been demanding more cocoa frequently."

Reverse buried his fist into his left palm. "If he returns after that, I say we kill him."

Fang didn't smile. "Won't that add to our list even further?"

"Who gives a fu—"

"Now, now, don't need to get worked up." Tok Aba gestured them to sit at the high chairs. He treated them to two cocoa drinks. "Here. It's the least I could do for you after you saved me. Are you two humans?"

Reverse stared at his ceramic cup. Even after four years, the design didn't change much.

"Not comfortable?" Tok Aba suggested. "It's okay. You two look plenty like human boys to me. Kids these days... becoming heroes or whatnot. My grandson used to want to become a hero, you know."

Reverse stiffened. Would he recognize him? He can't possibly face him like this. After all, he'd become the very thing he'd aspired to conquer.

Fang cupped the warm cup in his hand. "What happened to him?"

Tok Aba gazed into the sky. "He's reckless, and always acts on impulse. My neighbour, Yaya and her friends were heroes. They'd got their powers from a power sphere named Ochobot. My grandson admired them and wanted to be a hero. Then one day, he'd disappeared completely after they told him he can't fight with them with that kind of power. The power of thievery, was how they described to me. I can't blame him. He couldn't remember much of his parents, or his life, for that matter. He was sent back to me from an orphanage. I don't think he'll remember it, because of how traumatizing it was."

Reverse's blood ran cold. An orphanage? No recollection of his parents?

What?

Why?

Reverse had always assumed his parents were deceased, and sent him to Tok Aba's before they died in some sort of freak accident. Maybe it was a lie he told himself so much it became a half-lidded memory, a vivid dream.

But why couldn't he remember any of it? Was Tok Aba making up stories? As much as it pains to admit any of this, Tok Aba wasn't the best candidate for being a truth-teller.

Fang noticed his confusion. He shook Reverse's shoulder to snap him out of his spiralling thoughts that would drown him.

"Are you alright?" Tok Aba asked, concerned.

Reverse put on a straight face. He nodded, though it came out like a robot's. "Just remembering my own... childhood. It's not the best." Without warning, he spat, "Maybe my other version is enjoying life and I'm here dying."

Fang stared at him as if he'd finally lost his marbles. The expression of confusion only stabbed Reverse like a dagger, reminding him that the secret of the Skeptolians was now only his to keep.

Him, and a thousand skeptolians on that planet that will grovel at the hint of a clench of a fist.

Yeah... that secret's not so safe now.

Fang's mind stirred up a hurricane. What's wrong with his boyfriend? Is he delusional? Why is he suddenly talking about "Other Versions"?

He turned back to his untouched chocolate, careful not to thread on any landmines that his boyfriend had subconsciously set in his mind.

Would knowing there would be a replacement after he died calm his nerves?