Villains among Heroes

Chapter Sixteen

"Get away from me!" Alice demanded despite how scared she was. "If you do this..."

"If I do it, one more dies," Reverse Volt said with a dark chuckle. "I don't care who dies, but just one more dies." The villain shot a bolt of lightning from his arm, but before it got close to Alice there was a sudden loud boom as a solid streak of black lightning shot past her, absorbing the bolt and grabbing her before it skidded to a stop a few feet away, revealing Matt in his costume as Volt as he gently put Alice back on the ground on her feet, the speedster glaring at Reverse Volt and Tremor as more lightning than usual crackled around him; it seemed almost like he had managed to tap into a deeper level of his speed, granting him access to more of it.

"I think the party's over fellas," Volt said as he smiled coldly, his eyes glinting with a hard light as he undid Alice's bonds before taking a step forwards, the lights in the bar starting to flicker as small sparks started to fly from the outlets as his own lightning started to gather around him. "Why don't you all just surrender before this gets messy?"

"Surrender? Really?" Tremor grumbled. "All of you heroes say the same shit. You guys really need to shake it up. You know it gets boring right?"

"Very well," Volt growled before the air suddenly became almost electric as lights and outlets sparked, the speedsters eyes glowing with black lightning as he started towards Tremor.

"Oh I'm so scared." Tremor said sarcastically before gesturing to the man behind the bar. "Try fighting without your powers."

A humming noise came from several areas around the room before the lights flickered back on. Alice gasped as her wings retreated into her back.

"Power Dampeners." She mumbled. Tremor laughed at the heroes before taking another sip of his drink.

"I'm not in the mood to fight right now. I just want to ask a few questions then you're free to go." Tremor said, sitting at the bar. "I'm not a bad guy once you get to know me."

"Says every cliche villain in history," Volt said, before a grin spread on his face. "Plus, you're not accounting for one member of my friends."

A black-shafted arrow suddenly whistled through the air as it smashed into one of the power dampeners, sparks flying as the device short-circuited. Black Arrow was on his feet, another arrow already fitted to his bowstring.

"Next one's lethal to someone," The archer said in a deathly quiet voice. Tremor chuckled.

"I guess I have to change it up as well." The older man said, suddenly looking weaker and tired. "Has Watcher ever told you who his partner was while working on the particle accelerator? The one who funded the research?"

"No," Volt said, frowning. "Why would you know that?"

"You're a smart boy." Tremor said, tapping the counter before the bartender handed him another beer. "Sit down, drinks are on me. You know as well as I do why I know all of this."

"You," Volt said in disgust. "You were his business partner?"

"Try best friend. Known each other since we were kids. He grew up to become a scientist and me, well I became a billionaire. I first joined the military for a few years, but I was kicked out when I got injured. Then I made a living. Invested in a whole bunch of companies and made a lot. Stared in a few major movies then went on to become a TV star." Tremor smiled as he took another sip of his beer. He seemed deep in thought for a few moments before frowning. "I didn't see the bastard for a few years then I get a call asking for help. While Watcher was working for the government he got caught by some crazy terrorist group so I called up some buddies and got him out. We caught up with one another and that's when he told me about the project. Things went downhill from there."