Fighting Fire with Fire

"You've killed people," he retorted, staring back at the spider in the corner of the room to avoid glancing at Skyler's faceless mask. "i think that makes you a bad person. I... I don't even care what made you this way. I-I've not had it easy and I'm not m-murdering people."

"Kudos. Seriously, congrats, kid. You have morals, good for you. I don't. I don't give a shit. I do care about what you are though-- and you're boringly refusing to tell us, which is kinda making me mad--"

Regardless of the fact the much preferred not using his power, there was only so much taunting and prompting he could take before he got annoyed, which instantly made Brandon regret forcefully asking him - it left the villain clutching his throat and choking for breath whilst simultaneously feeling like every bone in his body was breaking. It lasted just a few seconds -given Harry didn't want to actually kill him- but it gave him a hefty nosebleed, one he was unable to wipe away with his hands locked to the radiator behind him. There were many reasons he didn't like being able to do this. One, he wasn't a villain and had no desire to hurt people, even these two students taunting him (though it had come in handy to get bullies off his back at a few previous orphanages). And two, the consequence of using it left him in agony: he got nosebleeds and he got more sick than he already was. Using it was a detriment to his own health, which was why he much preferred... not to.

But Brandon wouldn't stop asking, so he got what he deserved, really.

"C-Can... I have a tissue or something? I-I don't feel good-- you said you'd let me go, right? C-Can I go now?"
 
Remaining seemingly unaffected, it wasn't until he heard Brandon gasp for breath. Carefully turning Brandon's face towards his, he carefully eyed the other's throat for some form of bruise. Carefully rubbing his neck, he let out a sigh before getting to his feet to walk to the bathroom to grab a paper towel. Leaning down, he carefully wiped the boy's nose clean of blood before getting back to his feet.

"Huh." He murmured quietly before backing away and adjusting his tie. "I see. I'm surprised you can fuck with Brandon, that's a skill," he admitted before taking a seat. "Why do you want to be a hero?"
 
"F-Fucking-- H-He almost fucking killed me!" Squeaked Brandon, tearing off his mask without really caring that it revealed his identity Frankly, the fact he was almost choking on the blood that filled his mouth was far more serious a concern than concealing his face. Spitting up over the rug beneath him -again, he didn't care about that either-, he only really relaxed from outright panicking when he gulped back breaths and forced himself to calm down. "...J-Jesus, that was-- you're a-a real freak, you know?!"

"...Mm," shrugged the teenager, only until realising that he had been shot in the shoulder and shrugging brought back that pain. "I... Why did you want to be a villain and m-make people's lives a misery? I... I'd rather... try and help."
 
"Because there aren't good people in this world, only bad people who pretend to be good for the sake of their own egos," Skyler replied, making sure to keep his own mask on as he moved to do the same as he did with Harry, only this time wiping Brandon's mouth carefully. He had come to realize that staying calm and seemingly neutral was doing him well... on account that he didn't have a bullet in his shoulder, not coughing up blood. Remaining calm with his mask still covering his face, he moved to offer Brandon's mask back to him, no matter how useless the thing was now.

"Let's make a deal, shall we?" He offered calmly, despite holding Brandon close to his side to relax the other a bit.
 
"No. No, the deal was I showed you what I could do and you'd let me go.That was the deal," snapped the teenager in a rare moment where his words weren't stammered and stuttered, though his eyes did still widen at the sight of Brandon. He didn't quite know what he thought the villain would look like. From the voice, he knew he was relatively young-- but he didn't think he was just a few years older than he was. Brandon being this young did definitely... shock him.

But it also comforted him. He didn't feel as nervous taking on someone just a few years older than he was. In fact, it made him feel a little more confident, if anything-- and, assuming Skyler was around the same age, he couldn't help but smile a little bravely to himself.

"I... want to go home," he began again, "and you promised I could. I... I--"

"Yeah? We're fucking breaking that now, alright?" Snapped Brandon, only really calming down once Skyler helped him out, smiling briefly to show his gratitude. "Just-- if my buddy here wants to make a new deal, we're making a new deal, you ain't got a say in that."
 
"We're still going to do as we do," Skyler proposed slowly as he eased against the couch, "I know what you're thinking; 'oh, that's hardly a deal!', but there's a catch. Not only will we not kill you, but we'd let you have some of the limelight. You're powerful, it would take a moron to not realize that, and there would be nothing more satisfying as having you join us - you know, getting a cut of the earnings, buying your way out of being an orphan, but I'm smart enough to know that you won't accept that. Instead, we'll leave your shitty little part alone. You can't fix the world singlehandedly, kid. "

Underneath the mask, his frown would contrast his confident tone. He would offer his hand, but Harry's powers could hold more than just we showed, hence keeping his distance. "Plus, we'll let you go if you agree to a.) not hurting us when we let you go and b.) being knocked out. Can't have you finding out where we are, can you?"
 
"...I'm not agreeing to that. I'm not going to leave you alone, either of you. I... Now I know you're just a couple of kids, really, I'm pretty sure I could take you both on. You don't deserve me b-being sympathetic or... cautious. Ideally, I wouldn't hurt anyone, but... but I don't mind hurting you for the greater good," he began slowly, smiling more and more when Brandon's response seemed to be frowning angrily, but unable to really do much. Not if he wanted to remain unharmed, anyway.

"You can't kill me, anyway. Take one step towards hurting me and I'll... resort to violence. I don't want to, but I don't feel bad about killing you," he continued with another growing smile on his face. Sure, he was just a 14-year-old, pretty lanky and thing orphan with nobody who truly cared for him. He was failing academically, had zero friends, had no social life... but none of that mattered right now when he felt this confident that he had the upper hand for once. He jsut wanted to help, and there was more than enough evidence in the apartment to justify him just killing these two and heading to the police. There was the CCTV in the bank too to back him up, where he would be seen being shot, knocked out and kidnapped by the two.

Simply put, killing them both right now would not just save a lot of people, but it would put him on the map as a hero. He would be liked and respected and appreciated, and that's all he really wanted.

"...Look, kid, I... don't you want, like, you know... power and shit? You can change things if you got power. My buddy wants that. I don't. I'm just having fun-- but you clearly wanna change things, yeah? You ain't gonna change anything if you... stick to this heroic bullshit," began Brandon again, growing more uncomfortable -and nervous- by the second. "Right, babe? You should, like-- join us? I dunno, I'd look after 'ya. We could hang out, I... I mean... I'd rather be your pal than your enemy."
 
"Kill me, then. If you're as seemingly ruthless as me, then do it. I have big plans, Harry, the kind you can't even comprehend. Unlike you, I think ahead. Saving a bank won't cause reform, you realize that, right?" He replies flatly, that being his sign of aggravation. The less emotion, the less patience he had. Sure, he didn't have quick healing powers, but he wasn't afraid to die if it meant he could beat the shit out of this kid.

"Kill is. Magically fix every problem with this shitty town. There won't be other villains. There won't be people worse than us, huh? Rapist and pretadors will disappear. Big business capitalist will vanish. Everyone will get what they need, huh?"
 
"Sky, chill, would 'ya? Like... jeez, he's a kid. Now who's the cruel one?" Cooed Brandon playfully, wildly winking at his boyfriend as he headed across to unlock the handcuffs. The only thing he could think of doing to try and keep himself from being killed was to offer a little kindness to the teenager. The boy was clearly a loner, so if offering some kindness to him would make him feel happier and thus save Brandon's life, he could do that.

And it did work. Silently frowning at the strange kindness, especially when Brandon offered a hand to help him up, the teenager shuffled awkwardly on each foot before breathing out slowly.

"...I don't want to hurt anyone," he began as he continued to shuffle nervously. "I... I just... l-look, you're not gonna stop hurting people, r-right? That's... I can't promise n-not to get in the way, I want to... to be liked. I just want to do something to help people."
 
"You'd be liked by us if you helped us," Skyler reminded, his only sign of anger being his white knuckles. "We could offer you a place to stay, we could offer you your part. Hell, we could even become friends. I think you're just picking the wrong group of 'friends'. My partner here doesn't seem to care about his identity but I do, and maybe I'd let you find out who I really am."

Getting to his feet, he eventually went to another room only to return with a cloth to hide the teen's eyes. "I guess we'll never know the answer because hopefully we'll never see you again. I'd love to be able to have you on our side."
 
"What are you gonna do? Blindfold him and dump him on the street? That's fucking dumb, Skyler. Seriously, he's seen my face. I'll just-- look, I'll blindfold him until we're down the street and I'll walk him home myself," grunted Brandon, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend's anger. He himself really wasn't that pissed off anymore, not now he heard -and saw for himself- how desperate for company this teenage kid was. Brandon knew that, with a little kindness and some nurturing, he could win him around-- and having him on his side was incredibly beneficial.

Not only did it eliminate the risk of some 'hero' cutting short his fun, but it won him the friendship and the help of someone incredibly powerful.

"...I'll take him for pizza first," he declared brazenly, shooting the lanky kid a grin. "He clearly needs a mate. Or mates. You wanna come and have some pizza or something, Sky? Seriously, chill. Let him see your face, it's not a big deal. He ain't gonna hurt us now we're buddies~!"
 
"We aren't buddies, Brandon. There is nothing stopping him from starting shit when he knows who we are. I'm... I'm not risking it," he replied, his firm tone soon growing weak in clear distress. If anyone were to find him out, he'd be ruined. His mother would come up with some bullshit story to rub salt into his wounds and, obviously, his vision would never come true... which was the only thing he ever wanted.

Eventually, though, he did carefully remove the mask, despite his intense reluctance. Pursing his lips together, the first thing he did was shoot a glare towards his boyfriend at just how stupid the whole thing was.

"I said what I meant about my paper, I can't... I can't just spend all night talking with the kid who fucked you up so bad, Brandon. I... I'd rather just bring him to the hospital, give him some food and leave."
 
"He's, like, 14 and a twig. He has that awesome power, sure, but he also looks like he'd get blown over by the wind, so just... chill. Come and have some pizza, my treat. Then we'll go back to the dorm and... I'll help you with your assignment, 'kay? Can't promise I'll be much help but I'll try," promised the boy with a dramatic hand over his heart, before simply moving to take his boyfriend close and affectionately pecking his lips a few times, hoping the display of affection would be enough to calm his worries a little. "Jeez, you're so... serious. Relax, 'kay? The kid needs some buddies, it'd be handy to have him on our side. We gotta hang out with him a little-- right, pizza, yeah? You wanna come for pizza, Harry?"

Staring towards the couple, every fibre of his being told Harry to kill them there and then. It was the perfect opportunity-- but he didn't take it. Instead, he meekly nodded yes and offered a smile, hoping that would be enough to convince Skyler he wasn't planning an attack. Pizza sounded good -he hadn't had it in months- and he wanted to go out and sit with two genuinely cool-looking people. Hopefully, some kids from school would see and stop calling him a friendless loser.

That would be nice. He was so desperate to be seen with friends that he was willing to go and socialise with two villains he had earlier stood off against in a bank. It was far from normal, but nothing about the trio was 'normal' at all.

"Pizza sounds.... lovely, r-really," he replied, tugging his jacket on carefully to avoid aggravating the pain in his shoulder. "You both are... s-surprisingly normal, for... supervillains and all."
 
"Thanks for the backhanded compliment," grumbled Skyler in response as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Rubbing his face wearily, he moved said hand through his hair as he silently contemplated the situation. On one hand, he was furious. The other, though - the hand that just wanted to relax - he wanted to just go back to his dorm and sleep the whole day off. Wiping his eyes clear of their wateriness, he got to his feet before leaving the room to grab his bag.

"I'll yell at you later," he decided to his boyfriend as he tugged on his varsity jacket, pulling the backpack as well. "Let's go, then. I'm tired and... I need to ace this exam."
 
"Holy fuck, really? I'm a bad guy for doing what exactly? For wanting to befriend a guy that could easily kill us both? Sorry if I'm thinking strategically-- y'know, planning ahead for once. Would you rather I berated the kid and ended up dead on the floor for my troubles?" Challenged Brandon irritably, frowning across at his boyfriend as the oblivious teenager strolled ahead, unaware he was being talked about.

"Babe, really, I... thought I was doing something good for once," he pouted dramatically, at least hoping that would bring a smile. "Am I that dumb that I can't do anything right? You're sort of dating me, we've had sex and stuff-- that's got to be something about me 'ya like, besides my dashing good looks~!"
 
Grabbing Brandon's chin, he led the man away to the other room briefly, if only to be able to voice his anger without Harry in the room. Carefully closing the door, he proceeded to grab a pillow haphazardly tossed on the worn down bed, burying his face in it to scream. Once letting out his frustrations on the pillow, he coolly ran a hand through his hair to recover.

"You took off your mask, Brandon," he reminded slowly, biting hard on his lip in stress. "You took off your mask, gave your name... sure, he might actually grow to like us, but why would he? He could kill us both At any time, especially now that he knows we both are in school. We're... We're fucked."
 
"I was fucking choking on blood. What would you prefer I did? Silently choke to my death just to conceal my identity? Don't be fucking dumb," groaned the villain in reply, genuinely bewildered by the other's anger. In his eyes, he succeeded in everything he put his mind to, so, already, he felt he'd won Harry over and stopped the threat he may have possessed.

"Seriously, he likes me, I think-- it's fine. Dude, it's fine," he -again- attempted to comfort, though wisely chose to stay his distance. "I mean-- look, he wants a few friends. That's all the kid wants. I think all this hero bullshit was an excuse to get closer to guys who had powers like him, make him feel like less of a freak, y'know?"
 
"You keep saying you think he'll be cool with us while bringing up the fact that you nearly choked on you own blood!" He snapped, his cheeks growing red in anger, his form seemingly shifting from his normal form to his incorporeal one, a rare sight to see for the man who often prided himself on staying cool.

"If he ends up deciding to just suddenly fucking kill us I... I'll somehow find a way to get back at you in death, understood?" He scolded whilst he paced, though his tense body seemed to ease just a bit the longer he walked.
 
"Hey, if he murders you and I miraculously survive, with my healing powers and all, I give you permission to haunt me," cooed the more relaxed student, deciding to stride back across to take him in his arms. If his words weren't going to have any impact, then he was pinning all hope on this physical, affectionate hold.

"Seriously, I'm-- confident, y'know? He's a kid. He wants a mate. Hey, maybe he'll help us out some, that'd be awesome, yeah? Having a little sidekick~?"
 
Immediately pressing his forehead to Brandon's shoulder, he let out a quiet groan in distress from the sudden tension migraine that hit him. The groan was soon followed by an equally loud sigh before taking a step back to take in the other villain.

"You're lucky you're charming," he grumbled, "that doesn't mean I'm going to be all happy and joyful doing this, you realize that, right? I mean, I... I want to get him to the ER first. He doesn't magically heal like you."
 
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