𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐂 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑.
chaos was lifting a giant, rusted dumbell.
"it's straight!" kraniac deemed, nodding to himself in approval.
"yeah, for someone who put it up with their eyes closed." havoc crossed her arms.
kraniac rolled his eyes.
"it's as straight as it's gonna get." he said, and moved towards the center of the room. "all right! mom is gonna get here soon, and this promotion is gonna be big for our entire supervillain family."
havoc and chaos stared at their father.
colby walked down the stairs, joining his siblings.
"what i'm trying to say is, ka-ching! daddy's gonna buy a getaway boat." kraniac thought out loud.
a disappointed colby leaned on the counter, and looked over at his family.
"hey, what's wrong with you?" havoc asked, noticing his obvious frustration.
"i've been thirteen for a month now, and i still don't have my power. i don't even have a villain name, my whole life you guys have called me number 3!" he outstretched his arms dramatically.
"well, if it makes you feel any better, we also call you other things." chaos said, turning to his father.
they both laughed.
colby looked off, annoyed.
"don't worry, you'll get your power! unless you're some sort of freak of nature. in which case, we'll still tell you we love you, we'll just laugh at you behind your back!" kraniac looked at chaos, and they began to laugh again.
surge stormed into the room with a screech, electricity storming out of her hands and crowding the room.
"what's wrong, honey? don't like the banner?" kraniac asked, standing back up.
"i busted my butt to be chief commander of the league of villains, but instead onyx promotes that half-lizard freak slither!"
"oh, i like her-" chaos began, but made eye contact with her mother. "she's not nearly as good at
her job as you are!"
"don't worry mom, you'll get 'em next time." havoc encouraged her mother.
"oh, there won't be a next time, because i'm gonna tell onyx that this family is done being villains!" the woman announced.
"what?" the entire family said unison, shocked.
"no way! we can't stop being villains, it's who we are! i'll talk to onyx." havoc decided.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
havoc stood before onyx.
"no." onyx said.
"but my mom worked really hard!" havoc pleaded.
"your mother isn't worthy of leading my evil legions. she can't even lead her own family! that's why you were defeated by starling. you're all weak."
"i don't care who you are. nobody calls my family weak."
havoc used her powers, trying to kill onyx. she failed miserably, and onyx demanded to have her family destroyed.
2 weeks later, they moved away, and had to change their names.
colby remained colby, just changed his last name to madden, just like the rest of the family.
havoc was amy madden, chaos was jake madden, surge was eva madden, and kraniac was vic madden.
they moved into a neighborhood in texas.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
cherry held onto the straps of her backpack, walking next to hartley and aria through the halls.
amy was talking about her next evil plan, while jake attempted to get her to better herself, like he was.
his first goal on his quest of becoming a better person was to make sure the rest of family were also becoming better people.
"hey neighbors!" hartley waved.
"you're so pretty!" cherry complimented amy, and turned to look at jake. "i like your backpack!"
"thank you." jake responded, and nudged amy.
"thanks." amy said, forcing the words out of her mouth.
jake shoved amy over to the group of girls, who were now standing next to cherry's locker.
aria steadied amy, who awkwardly tried to invite them to hang out with her after school, and gagged about it every second.
cherry, who was obsessed with giving second chances and seeing the good in people, assumed she was just shy and nervous, and didn't hate them.
"she wants to hangout after school!" jake called out to the group, saying what amy couldn't.
aria hadn't even noticed the boy at first; she'd prioritized not letting amy fall and embarrass herself.
she hadn't even looked at him. but now, she was staring.
jake stared back at her, suddenly flustered that a pretty girl was looking directly at him.
it was more like glaring, though.
he didn't mind.
she studied him, taking him in with an intrigued stare.
"cool." cherry nodded, accepting the invite.
"are you coming, aria?" hartley turned.
suddenly, aria was snapped out of her trance and she looked at the rest of the group.
"no. i have to do something." she said, and seemed distracted, but she'd been fine a second ago.
cherry didn't wanna push, but she would check up on her later.
"okay, then. we'll see you later! and everyday after that!" hartley smiled.
"bye!" cherry waved at them.
after that, aria went straight home to do some research.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
hartley walked up to me, wearing her bright yellow sunshine club hat.
even though i was part of the club, i didn't wear it, because it just felt fucking corny.
but hartley looked super cute in it!
"hi, cherry!" she smiled.
i grinned. "hi."
"you're still coming to amy's house to hangout, right? i'm heading over there right now, and i was gonna ask if you wanted to walk with me?"
"oh my god. i'm so sorry, holy shit. i ordered a pizza for us, and i have to go pick it up, like, right now. you can go ahead without me, and i'll catch up in like, twenty minutes?"
hartley took a moment to process everything i said.
"sure! have fun!"
i smiled at her as she walked away, waving.
my chauffeur pulled up on the street, and i turned to offer hartley a ride, but she was gone.
"hartley!" i shouted to her, after finding her on the road. "hi! do you need a ride?"
"i'm okay, thanks though!"
"alright. are you thirsty?"
"no, i'm really okay, cherry."
"okay. bye, hartley."
she smiled and waved, and i continued my ride.
the pizza place was empty, so i quickly picked up the pizza and drove to amy's house.
aria had disappeared after school, and i was checking in on her, but had to balance the pizza at the same time.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
aria was typing away on her computer, trying to find something.
why did this random guy in the hallway look so familiar?
the feeling of hatred welled up in her heart when she saw him.
she didn't know why, it just happened.
aria is a good person.
they're super nice, and they see the good in people.
but they just couldn't with him.
they wanted to try, really, but they just didn't want to bring themselves to look away.
she wondered how hartley was doing with the strange family.
in reality, it wasn't going good.
hartley had walked in late, and proceeded to sit down and watch a tv show about superheroes, and gush about how much she loved the heroes on tv.
"and even though i'm a superhero with incredible powers, i just want what every other girl wants. good friends, social media likes, and for all of you to buy my new starling light up high tops!" starling said.
she held up a pair of shiny golden shoes with rainbow led lights on the bottom.
the scene switched to flora, who was dressed in her normal superhero costume.
"those are the ugliest fucking shoes i've ever seen." flora spoke, and a corny laugh track played behind it.
amy, for once, agreed with a superhero.
"isn't she amazing? not even havocs sonic scream could take her down!" hartley gushed, continuing to spew good words about starling.
amy, who had been embarrassed and defeated by starling when she was still a villain, held back from being rude, trying not to expose herself.
jake dragged her out into the kitchen, where amy found a device her father made to transport people to a different dimension.
he attempted to take it before amy could use it, but then accidentally shot hartley. she disappeared a second later.
«───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ─────»
cherry walked up the porch, holding the pizza.
celia, hartley's grandmother, was already there, looking for hartley to take her to a dentist appointment.
"hi, celia." she smiled, and knocked on the door.
the boy from earlier opened it. "hey, celia! hey, amy's new friend!"
"hi! my names cherry." she greeted.
"cool, my names jake." he nodded.
"where's hartley?" celia interrupted.
"oh! hartley! i'll- uh, i'll be right back!" jake excused himself before she could interrogate him further.
celia and cherry walked into the living room, waiting for hartley to appear.
she did, 5 minutes later, not acting like herself.
"hi, hartley!" cherry greeted.
she didn't suspect anything.
instead, she threw her arms around her.
colby, who was shapeshifting and pretending to be hartley, really didn't want to hug her back.
but if he didn't, he would be out of character.
he'd just found out about his shapeshifting powers, and now he had to use it to pretend to be some girl.
colby wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug.
he could already tell that she had her stupid smile on.
he'd only known her for a minute and he'd already deciphered that she was really, really annoying.
she was dressed in obnoxious bright colors that hurt his eyes, and she was definitely overdressed.
as soon as she got into the room, she'd smiled at everyone, complimented them, and offered them pizza.
why was she being so nice?
colby hated nice people.
they reminded him of heroes.
he didn't have a problem with most of them. it's just that cherry was too nice. it was suspicious.
it was annoying.
her kindness infuriated him.
she was like the happier version of a superhero.
colby thought for a moment; how could he come off as more villain-like?
by being mean to the nicest girl in the world.
of course, she smelled amazing. someone so stupidly perfect had to be pretty and clean.
he hated her already.
"can i put my stuff down?" cherry asked.
"sure." eva said, motioning towards the coffee table.
cherry had already gotten introductions from everyone but colby and vic.
she set down the pizza, and her purse.
someone sneezed, and cherry instantly said 'bless you!'
she looked back up, as celia attempted to take hartley to the dentist.
colby panicked, and cherry wondered why hartley seemed so confused.
eva suddenly talked about her lighting needing work, and urged celia to fix it immediately.
"can i go to the bathroom?" cherry asked, planning on fixing her lipgloss.
eva gave her the directions, as none of her supervillain family was near the bathroom.
when cherry came back, there was two hartley's.
"hartley?" celia asked, looking between them.
"no, the flickering lights must've messed up your eyes." eva made the lights flash. "that's colby!"
some random boy appeared, where one of the hartley's had been standing.
cherry knew what she saw.
'why the fuck do they have superpowers?' she thought to herself.
"grandma! you will never believe what just happened!" the real hartley began.
the rest of the super villain family looked at her, and hartley stopped.
"i missed you." she said, and left to go to the dentist.
"hey, wait!" amy stopped her in the doorway, making sure that celia was gone. "you didn't tell her what happened."
what the fuck were they talking about?
"and risk her knowing the truth? i couldn't do that to my friend. you may be villains, but everyone deserves a chance to be better. your secrets safe with me." hartley smiled reassuringly.
"by the way jake, you're in the clear. amy's the one who told me your secret. gotta stay honest!"
cherry wondered for a moment, before correctly identifying every single one of the villains standing in the home.
eva was surge, her husband was kraniac, amy was havoc, and jake was chaos.
'is this why they disappeared? to live a normal life?' she thought back. 'ew, in texas?'
"what the fuck?" cherry said, standing near the stairs.
the family and hartley turned around to stare at her.
"oh my god, i'm so sorry!" hartley instantly apologized.
"okay, this is awkward now. i'm gonna go home." cherry said, picked up her purse, and walked to the door.
"you're not gonna say anything, right?" amy asked, before she left.
"no? it's not my business. see y'all later."
as soon as the door shut behind cherry and hartley, vic gasped. "you told her our secret! and now the other one knows!"
"who's the dented can now?" jake laughed.
"still you." the entire family replied.
he frowned.
later on, cherry and hartley returned.
they sat on the porch, talking about what had happened earlier.
"are you parents still freaked out we know the secret?" hartley asked.
"i'm still fucking freaked out, bro. i literally cradled that fucking guy in my arms thinking it was you!" cherry said dramatically.
"ew, colby?" amy guessed. "but yeah, a little."
her parents were looking at us through the window.
"it's crazy that, if we didn't go to another dimension, i might've never known the truth. but, now that i do, i guess we're all officially friends. oh, and aria! even if she doesn't know."
"yeah, i guess we are. just don't tell jake. i don't want to give him that victory."
"i'm hungry. i left that pizza inside and i should've devoured it as soon as it was in my hands." cherry said, even though it didn't have anything to do with the conversation.
"me too."
"i know your life is upside down right now, but maybe i can help you adjust a little? you know, teach you not to always be so bad?" hartley suggested to amy.
"aw, like an emotional orgy?" cherry gushed sarcastically.
"no.. like group therapy." hartley's eyes widened.
"oh. boring."
"for someone so nice, i didn't except you to be so.. verbal." amy searched for the right word.
cherry stood up, checking out her nails. "i appreciate it."