"Silver Spark!" Greyman and Foxtail called out to their teammate in concern, busting into the locker room.
Silver was sitting down on the bench, looking sick. Rippy Roo was in front of her, shaking in shock.
"What's goin' on?" Foxtail asked out loud.
Rippy yelled noises of disgust and quickly hopped out the locker room, probably crying.
"I didn't mean it, Rippy!" Silver called out to her.
"Did something happen, Silver Spark?" Greyman asked the woman, he and Foxtail nearing her.
She put a hand on her stomach, patting around lightly. "I think I'm pregnant,"
Before either of the two could react, Silver began to sob to herself.
"Don't cry now, Silver," Greyman tried to comfort her.
"It's just-" She sniffled, "o-our- my baby! Poor little thing won't even get to see his papa,"
Greyman and Foxtail were saddened. Laserblast meant so much to them.
The three sat there for a while until Silver stopped crying.
"Whatever happened to Rippy Roo?" Greyman asked, breaking the silence.
"I...may have thrown up into her pouch,"
"Silver Spark!" Foxtail was disgusted.
"I-It was just instin—look I couldn't not throw up, alright!" Silver tried to explain herself. "I'll make it up to her, I promise!"
___________
"Had you told me that before, maybe I wouldn't have so grossly underestimated you," Elodie laughed. "The son of two P.O.I.N.T. members? I didn't even know romance occurred within the group!"
"I'm not really sure, but based on the flashbacks I've been getting, I think all that junk wasn't so smooth." K.O. replied. "Doctor Greyman or Miss Foxtail didn't say anything?"
"Well, secrets are secrets, K.O.," Elodie remarked, opening the door into the faculty room.
The room seemed to be divided into three, each cubicle with its own little aesthetic.
The room had a meeting table in the center. Foxtail was seated at one of the ends, the one facing the door from which K.O. and Elodie had entered.
"Good thing I caught him before he could leave," Elodie greeted jokingly towards Foxtail, letting K.O. sit down.
"...and of Professor Venomous?" Foxtail asked in concern.
"I've got him under control," K.O. piped up immediately.
"I trust ya, Sugarcube," Foxtail then breathed.
Elodie then sat down.
"K.O., what was that about your dad?" Foxtail asked in apprehension. "Is this something your mother knows, or—"
"I told you already," K.O. replied bluntly, albeit uncomfortably. "Professor Venomous is my dad."
Elodie and Foxtail stared at K.O., the leader of P.O.I.N.T. almost doing a double-take.
"But you just told me Laserblast was your father on the way here!" Elodie questioned in surprise.
"H-he's supposed to be g-" Foxtail rambled out audibly but quickly cut herself off. "K.O., I'm sorry, but I just don't understand—"
"I'll explain!" K.O. banged his fists on the table, that spark of purple blasting visibly in his irises.
The boy sighed heavily. "Look, I just wished I didn't have to find out that way, or for things between him and Mommy to go so sour..."
He reclined on his chair, "I don't think Dad liked being a hero...he called it, um, medium? That wasn't the word but basically, it was like he wasn't happy at P.O.I.N.T...."
___________
"You wouldn't believe the guy I found!" Foxtail was ready to announce to her good friend Laserblast about her new recruit.
The recruitment of extra, junior members was their collective idea (though to be fair, it was a 2 vs 1 thing), and Foxtail couldn't be happier.
Laseeblast turned to face her, polishing his helmet. "Oh?"
"I could see myself in the fella! He was just like me when I was startin' out wrestling," Foxtail leaned across the wall.
"Well, shakier and sweatier though. His name's El-Bow; guy also looks like your type." Foxtail winked at him teasingly.
"Like you'd know anything about my type,"
Smirking, Foxtail elbowed a locker, in it stacks of magazines and posters filled with conventionally attractive supermodels.
They were mostly human, in a balanced mix of male and female, generally ones with that dash of adorable innocence that really got Laserblast going.
"Hey!" His face reddened, running to the locker to grab the magazines and posters.
"How did you-"
Foxtail laughed at him.
"My taste is great, you prick!" He spat back, taking out the magazines and posters and dragging them to his workbench.
"I never said it was terrible!" Foxtail slowly calmed down. "You oughta find a better place to hide them before Silver finds out."
He blew a raspberry. "Foolish Foxy, we share these—well, some of—these magazines."
"Oh yeah?"
"Go ask her when you can,"
Foxtail chuckled and tsked.
"Anyway, where's this El-Bow from?" He then picked up the helmet, looking into the visor's reflection, his dark brown eyes lined with an amaranthine shine.
"Folks say his roots are from some city out of the country—a Monte Macabre,"
"That's pretty far from Neo-Riot City," Laserblast chuckled out, putting on his helmet.
"I know!" Calming down, "What about you, Laser? Found your guy?"
He did not exactly find this guy if anything Laserblast had doubts whether he could find a good recruit for his side of the team.
He remembered though, the relief he had one day when this young hero from Downunderland just immigrated into Neo-Riot City. Everyone started following her around instead of him, and he couldn't be more thankful.
His mouth pressed into an unreadable line as he began to think about that young hero.
"Laser—"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Come on, you know how this went down! 2 against 1, there ain't nothing you can do about it, buddy."
He frowned, his visor emitting a faint glow. "I have way too many suitors, Foxy. I can't even go around without someone fainting at my feet—you and Greyman know that!"
"And we're confident that you can handle them," Foxtail tried to reassure him, worried about whatever it is he was worried about, "unless of course, you want our hel—"
"That's fine, Foxtail," Laserblast cut her off. "I already have someone in mind; I'm just not sure if I have any other reasons to get her on the team,"
"Oh? Who is this heroine?"
___________
"Rippy Roo," Venomous reminisced to Fink, driving according to the coordinates K.O. had texted him.
"What kind of name is that?" Fink commented. "You brought her into that dumb hero team for what reason?"
"Well, she was green, and green is one of my favorite colors," A left turn.
"You're kidding?"
"Look, she's a Downunderlandian kangaroo—those guys are adorable!"
Before Fink could comment some more, Venomous handed her a Pow Card.
It had the shine of vintage cards.
"Huh," Fink understood immediately, looking at the card.
The vehicle suddenly halted, and Fink almost dropped the card.
As she got out, she immediately recognized the location.
Venomous then opened off the lid of a manhole.
"Boss, I thought we were gonna wait for K.O.?"
He stopped in his motions and faced her with a solemn expression.
He pulled out his phone and looked for the coordinates again, "I have to do this for K.O.,"
"Boss," Fink's voice was lined with worry, "that's K.O.'s thing! H-he should be the one to go up against Shadowy, n-not you—"
"Why not?!" He hissed at her with aggression, his suddenly sparkling indigo eyes lining with shadow. "I can take on Shadowy Figure!"
Fink gulped.
"And K.O. will see!" He cackled, "watch!"
"Boss!" Fink exclaimed as she watched him jump down into the manhole.
___________
"To feel more powerful, he would secretly experiment on glorbs," K.O. narrated.
"Glorbs?" Elodie reacted.
Foxtail muttered to herself quietly, suddenly exclaiming, "No, it can't be!"
K.O. looked at Foxtail. "Can't be what?"
"Doctor Greyman found these experiments from an unknown villain—one for black holes, one for molecular shrinking—"
"And one that removes your powers?"
Foxtail stopped with her breath in her throat.
"...is that what happened to Doctor Greyman?" Elodie asked quietly.
Foxtail nodded.
"The day Greyman lost his powers was the same day Laserblast disappeared," Foxtail replied.
The three didn't know where to go on from there. After 3 long minutes of silence, K.O. continued.
"It's not like I knew what happened there at the donut shop, or what Mommy and Mr. Gar refer to as 'the sandwich incident', but," K.O. broke the silence, "That was when everything fell apart. Those were Dad's experiments—Doctor Greyman found them and he didn't wanna get found out. I guess some accidental explosion happened, I think. Dad lost his powers too, just like Doctor Greyman. I can't imagine what that must feel!"
K.O. gripped the arms of his chair tightly, "Mommy always tried to reassure him that everything was okay, that he had nothing to feel weak about. Mommy loved him very much...she was so heartbroken when the explosion happened—s-she though dad was gone."
"We all thought so too," Foxtail added weakly.
The boy glared at her unnoticeably, slightly annoyed by her interruption. "Dad had the choice to walk out, but he heard Mommy say something that hurt his feelings really really bad...he just refused to. H-he could've walked out and-a-and,"
K.O. paused, rubbing the tears that had formed when he was speaking.
"It's alright, sugarcube," Foxtail tried to comfort him, weakly.
"M-Miss Foxtail?"
"Yeah, K.O.?"
"I hope you're not angry at Mr. Gar anymore."
"Oh, Sugarcube," Foxtail sighed out.
"He told me you kicked him out the day after," The boy stiffened. "And he was really sad until he was found by the President of the Universe and got tasked to protect all the glorb hotspots in the world—"
"Gar was what?!" Foxtail suddenly felt guilty. "He and the President of the Universe?"
" You bet! " echoed the sky.
The three were shaken by the response of the heavens.
"That's why Mr. Gar built the plaza," K.O. continued, his tone slowly growing in aggression, "To protect one of the world's biggest ones,"
"In Lakewood," Foxtail noted.
"H-He," K.O.'s eyes suddenly dulled into static, his fists banging against the table with a shock of purple.
Elodie was pushed back literally at this energy, but Foxtail held on.
K.O. rose as his voice suddenly did, his hair slowly getting too disheveled for his headband to hold.
"Sugarcube!" Foxtail tried to calm him down again but was overtaken by the boy's yell of anger.
The boy growled to himself as he curled into his seat. He cried as he pulled on his headband.
Elodie immediately got up and went to K.O., facing his chair away from the table.
"K.O.," She reached out to him, "it's alright—"
Suddenly, he smacked Elodie's hand and did so with a force so great that she had been slammed against the wall. Hard.
"K.O.!" The smack, snap, and pained yelp forced Foxtail to stand.
The boy ripped off his headband.
"What is the meanin' of—" Foxtail stepped back when she looked at the young boy, irises sparking a familiar shade of purple.
"K.O., what has gotten into you?!" Foxtail was then met with a flash and the boy pulling at the collar of her costume.
"The name's T.K.O., Big ol' Miss Foxy," he spat angrily yet somehow playfully, managing the strength to slam Foxtail onto the meeting table with a loud crash.
Foxtail grunted from the impact, trying to raise herself a bit until T.K.O. walked on top of her.
"Can you believe that my dad had to resort into becoming a supervillain?!" A punch.
Foxtail was surprised at the boy's strength as he hit her, the magnitude of which she couldn't trace to either of his parents.
"Can you believe that he was willing to leave Mommy just because he felt weak when he was always with her?!" Another punch.
Foxtail couldn't bring to defend herself, afraid to hurt the boy who was throwing down such a destructive tantrum.
"Can you believe that I would mean s-so little...t-to," T.K.O. cried, his fists engulfing in a violet fire.
"Can you believe how much pain he brought to all of us?!!" T.K.O. drew his fists.
The sudden, loud prick on his back stopped him.
The air of the room was tense.
Elodie lowered her weapon, the bow emitting pink sparkles.
"Stop," She spoke with the cadence of one in authority.
"Why not?" T.K.O. turned to face her with an angry grimace, the fire of his fists rising to his biceps.
"I can tell that you're mad, erm, T.K.O., but that is no way to express your anger!" Elodie stood in her stance, her bruises sparkling like glitter rather than bleeding like a normal hero. "We all are hurt by what that Venomous fellow has done. It is not right to commit and justify wrong actions because something terrible has happened and it affects you."
Foxtail felt that.
"Oh, I know," T.K.O. snarked back disrespectfully, floating towards Elodie. "But the thing is, I don't really care, princess!"
He fired a fist immediately but Elodie dodged at the same speed. She summoned her bow again and attempted to hit him with it, but T.K.O. dodged every hit as well. His dodges were slithery and smooth, like a foreign sense of focus was driven into him.
Elodie made a sudden and showy twirl and proceeded to give her all by throwing a strong hit with her bow towards T.K.O.
No noise, no impact—T.K.O. stopped the swing with one hand, clenching the weapon into disintegration. Sparkles, glitter, and shards flew everywhere, causing Elodie to gasp and back away in pure shock of T.K.O.'s power.
He acted as if he exerted no effort, no sweat broke, the smirk on this tainted child's face the icing to this revenge served cold.
Elodie kept her distance but stood her ground.
Taking a good look at the mess he made, as well as the women he had hurt, T.K.O. floated back down to the ground.
"I had some hope, y' know," he spoke, "that maybe my dad would be the great hero Mommy always said he was...but he wasn't. It kinda made sense though, for him to turn villain, to find more power, to ease that pain inside of him."
The boy then sniffled, tears beginning to form. "But that's the scary thing. I know that pain all too well, and it hurts so so...so darn bad! I wish I could stop feeling powerless! I wish people could understand me! And yet, the one person who does is the father that wasn't there for me, who felt too powerless to even face me and my Mommy, who just...h-hurt people, hurt me...t-to ease the pain inside him."
He cried a bit and wiped his tears. "I don't wanna end up like dad, like somebody who feels empty all their life, who feels powerless forever. Honestly, I don't even mind having an evil, supervillain dad! All I want is for him to be there for me and to recognize me."
T.K.O. sat down and began to sulk, suddenly unmoving.
When it seemed that the boy wouldn't act violently anymore, Foxtail and Elodie saw to it to comfort him, to calm him down again.
___________
"Boss?" Fink wondered as she followed the glowing streaks of purple down in the sewer.
The crack of a metal door opening sped her up. She found it at the end of a sewer and went inside.
Venomous was exhibiting shadowy energy—he didn't seem to notice it, the man looking around the lair.
"Look at this, Fink," Venomous said to her when he noticed her presence in the room. "Shadowy's secret lair."
"But he i-isn't here, boss," Fink argued.
"Unless he's hiding," Venomous began to rummage around and investigate.
Fink watched her Boss in worry, that shadowy vibe sparkling purple. Venomous seemed to get angrier and angrier the more he moved.
She stared at the vault in the ceiling, shaking at the thought of telling her Boss what was really up.
"What are you doing just standing there, Fink?!" Venomous asked, his voice distorting when he raised his tone.
His frantic stance tried to calm, going down on one knee to better communicate with his beloved minion.
"I understand if you don't like K.O. so much, but please," He gripped her shoulders, "this is for me...I can't help myself with this one."
Fink sighed. "I..."
"What is it?"
"It's," The rat hesitated. "Th-there's a way out, o-on the ceiling,"
Venomous looked and gasped. Looking back at her, "Thank you, Fink."