The Heroes And The "Villain" (IC)

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"No, I didn't go back to sleep." Alice answered him. She was still slightly uncomfortable. She cursed Liex for being good looking and instantly she tried her best to shake the thoughts away. She was extremely confused and then suddenly the thought of X shined brightly in her mind and instantly her struggle stopped. However, a new one had started. What was she feeling now? It was a feeling she had not felt since that time... She had nearly killed people. Alice was feeling guilty, but she couldn't pinpoint as to why.

She nods and then gets up to leave. She didn't know where the bathroom was so she wandered around looking for any room with a toilet in it. Eventually, she found it and she walked and began to undress herself. She didn't know how decent it would be for her to wear Liex's clothing without under, but there was nothing that she could do about it at the moment. Alice let the warm water run against her skin. It lets her nerves calm down. It doesn't take her longer than a half an hour to get out and she walks out her hair still wet and in Liex's clothes. She wasn't wearing underwear, but she used the bath to hand wash them. Now all she needed was a place to dry them.

All of Alice's focus however, went to the dust upon seeing Liex again. Things were getting extremely difficult. And they didn't even have to be...
 
Liex looked over his shoulder at Alice walking into the bathroom, 'Guess she is taking that shower' He thought to himself as he slid the bacon off the pan and then proceeded to pour pancake mix into a bowl. Sure he was a cold blooded assassin, that didn't mean he couldn't eat sweets like pancakes, he thought to himself.

He then started to wonder what might have made Alice seem uncomfortable, it might have been that she didn't have underwear. He could offer to lend him some of his that he hadn't used. Much like his shirts and jeans he bought underwear in bulk, so it's not like it would have been dirty or used. Or he could just take her to buy clothes. If they were very careful and disguised themselves they should be fine.

Liex had some of the cops in the area under his thumb, meaning he'd give them money in exchange for them leaving him alone. He nodded to himself and decided to do that as Alice stepped out of the bathroom. He turned around with the food and placed it on the table, he looked up at her and nodded at the window sill, "If you have anything to dry, hang it out by the window. When we're done eating we're going out to get you your own clothes." He said, then looked down at himself and looked back up at Alice.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked to the side, "Oh, speaking of clothes... sorry about this. Since I've lived by myself for so long I have the habit of walking around in nothing. I should be glad I wasn't completely naked actually, I usually wake up naked and stuff..." He said as he walked past her, "I'll be changing now. You go ahead and eat." He said as he stepped into his room.

He shook his head at himself and put on his clothes, living with another person would take some getting used to. And he'd have to drop some of his more... inappropriate habits.
 
Alice blushed at the mere thought of Liex shirtless. Now he was putting thoughts into her head that otherwise had no reason being there. She took a deep breath to calm her raging nerves. The thought of him without clothes was too much for Alice to handle without her face turning a light shade of pink. It was out of her control this time and she was hoping that Liex had missed it. What was more was that Alice was suddenly reminded that she wasn't wearing underwear and that it would be best if she took extreme caution when thinking of Liex.

"It's fine... I don't mind really..." Alice said looking at the ground, "It is your place after all."

She tried hard not to look at Liex directly. Alice immediately went to the window sill and then she nearly slammed her head against the window in frustration... Was she really going to have leave her lace underwear hanging on the window sill out in the open. Alice shrugged the thought off. There was nothing she could do about that except hope that this place was as discrete as Liex had told her. Alice hung her underwear on the window sill. She cursed herself for it being lace.

Alice sat down to eat. She was grateful for the meal. She had never eaten pancakes before and it would be her first time. She took a bite and she smiled. It was a little sweet, but nonetheless it was perfect. She ate it slowly as if to savor the food. Alice thought she would have to make these herself when she got the chance. Alice then remembered... she had some habits of her own that would have to be dropped...
 
Liex slipped on a simple pair of black jeans and a white shirt. Before he stepped out of his room he reached into his closet and pulled out a pair of hoodies. These were also baggy, even on Liex, so he could put on the hood and help hide his face. He'd walk around with a piece of cloth masking his face instead but that brought far more attention in this area of the city. So he opted for overly baggy sweaters to help hide himself. Luckily the weather was starting to get a bit chilly so he and Alice walking around in big sweaters wouldn't look too weird.

He walked out of his room and tossed the sweaters across his couch, once they'd leave they'd put them on. No sense in putting them on now and getting hot.
He walked to the table and sat down, piling food onto his plate, he peered at Alice as he placed down the plate in front of him, "Well, looks like you're enjoying the food. It's almost like it's your first time eating them."

Liex began digging into his food, finding it wasn't quite right to him but then again he wasn't the best cook and didn't bother trying to get better at it. "When we're done we're going out like I said. Just stick close to me, you will not at any point get too far from me. And don't look the people around here in the eyes, that's like asking them to mess with you."
 
Alice still had her own mask on. She hardly ever went outside without her mask now that she had betrayed the government. However, the government did not recognize her nor did the people. It was as though she was only known as Misfortune and not as Alice... Alice Baumgarde. In fact, she wondered if Liex had ever seen her without the mask throughout the duration of their partnership. Alice was willing guess no.

She looked across the table at Liex, "I am eating it for the first time..." Alice said quietly. She wondered if Liex knew about government issued food. There wasn't such a huge variety nor did she ask for one. Alice had known nothing more than the average salad or occasional soup. Every Christmas she would see a turkey. However it was still probably close to nothing compared to what she had been missing out on all her years of life.

Alice listened to Liex's directions intently. She wouldn't have to be told more than once to stay close to Liex. However, she wouldn't tell him that. As for eye contact, Alice wouldn't have a problem with that either. She feared the slight possibility of her powers going out of her control and giving the wrong person a nightmarish vision. In fact, if what Liex was saying about the people nearby, perhaps it would be dangerous for Alice to buy tight fitted clothing like her superhero uniform. And how on earth was she going to by underwear with Liex standing next to her? It was a problem she had forgotten to take a look at.

"So when I..." Alice started, her black hair covered the right side of her face," Go shopping for underwear... can we keep a slight distance? Or will I be sticking close to you as ordered?"
 
Liex stopped chewing his food and looked up at Alice, "Oh... erm... yeah I didn't actually think of that. In that case, I'll leave you alone to buy what you need. But I'll be waiting for you outside of the store. Or I can go in the store with you but keep my distance. Whichever way you'd prefer. I don't think you'll run into any trouble in there that you can't handle on your own anyways." He said as he finished off his plate. He stood up and took his plate to the sink, he placed them down and looked up when something caught his eye.

On the window hanging to dry he saw what he assumed was Alice's underwear, he felt his cheeks slightly heat up and turned away. Acting as if he didn't see it in hopes Alice hadn't noticed. He walked to the couch and picked up one of the sweaters. He slipped it on and pulled the hood tight over his head, causing his eyes to be shadowed and most of his face obscured. "All right, whenever you're ready we'll leave." He said over his shoulder to Alice as he walked to his room and pulled out a drawer.

Liex felt under the drawer for a hidden compartment he had, when he found it he pulled on it and revealed stacks of money that he had earned from his multiple contracts. Keeping his money in a bank left a possible trail to him when he had to withdraw, so when he had to hide in his safe houses he made sure to have them stocked with a decent amount of money.

He took out a small stack and folded it, slipping it into his pocket as he walked out to the living room and waited for Alice to get ready.
 
Alice took her own small amount of money with her. She didn't bring much. She probably brought with her two hundred dollars. Underwear was just ridiculously priced these days. She let her hair obscure even more of her face. Her mask did the rest. Alice hadn't noticed that Liex had seen her underwear. When she turned to look at him she simply assumed that he had been warm. Either way, she hadn't suspected anything like that. In fact, Alice would rather not imagine something like that happening in the first place. It was more or less a little embarrassing. Of course how embarrassing would depend on Liex's reaction which Alice had missed entirely.

Alice went to the living room and while she did so, she pondered over her thoughts. The reason she was with Liex in the first place was discover the truth about herself and about the government. Alice was sure that there was something the government didn't want her to know and Alice was now fully aware that she wasn't human. In fact, she hadn't the slightest idea what she was and that was what worried her. Alice knew that she would have to research her species the first chance that she got.

She wondered if there were other people like her. Alice sighed. There was a high possibility that was not so. To build up on her disappointment, she wondered what other people thought of her race. What were her people like? She had so many questions. However, somewhere inside her knew, that she would get answers to questions that would have been better left unanswered.

"Okay, let's go..." Alice said quietly.
 
Liex nodded to her and proceeded to walk to the door, unlocking all the locks, he swung the door open a crack and stuck his head head. He looked up and down the hall. Once satisfied that it was clear he opened the door and stepped out, closing the door behind Alice and pulling out a multitude of keys which he used to slide all the locks in place.

Once he locked up he spun on his heel and walked down the stairs with Alice in tow. He stepped out of the building and onto the sidewalk, he didn't want to use a car. Too many things could happen that would involve a cop pulling them over. While he felt that was being too paranoid he rationalized it was better this way. He turned left and proceeded to turn down multiple streets. One thing that he enjoyed about the safe house in this city was that there was multiple stores near by.
Once they arrived to the store Liex put up the hood slightly, only enough to make his face a bit more visible. He nodded to the store and looked at Alice, "Here we are, it's where I typically go to buy my own clothes. Even though I buy the same bland clothes this place has a decent variety. When we're done here we'll go next door and you can buy your... well underwear." He said as he opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open for Alice.
 
Alice hadn't expected Liex to open the door for her. In any case, it shocked her entirely. She still wasn't used to being normal for once. The store was fine in her opinion and she had to admit, she had grown quite fond of Liex's clothes. Alice smiled to herself. She had to get her own clothes eventually. Alice didn't look at anyone, but people were certainly looking at her. Her gaze was not directed towards anyone in particular and in fact, the ground or the walls seemed to be getting more attention than anything. Alice assumed that she had not been seen before in the area and people were probably wary of her. She couldn't blame them. Her black hair and in her opinion her gaze was about as frigid as the arctic and unforgiving.

She didn't spend too much time in the store. Her clothes consisted of white and black mostly. They were thin and light. Alice would need clothes like this for stealth since she couldn't exactly fly about in the open anymore like she used to. She was going to have to do what she had avoided her entire life. She was going to travel in the shadows and shy away from the light. Alice blushed.

"I'm not going to stop from going into the store but... please don't stay too close..." Alice said, instantly trying to think of a better way to word what she just said.
 
Liex followed behind Alice and shot glares at people who stared at them, he was a bit known in this area as he always was in these types of cities. But no one knew who he was exactly, just that he was very dangerous. So people avoided Liex and Alice as they shopped. He also took this opportunity to buy himself a few more shirts to replace the few he had lost recently. Once the clothes were paid for Liex started to head outside when he stopped as Alice told him what she wanted to do about the other store.

Liex stopped and shifted from one foot to the other, "Well, if you want. I'll just be a few steps behind you while you buy what you need I guess. I won't try to look in on what you buy too by the way." He said as he looked to the side, he crossed the street to the store and reached out to open the door, but then hesitated.

For a reason he wasn't sure of he felt uncomfortable just walking into a store full of womens underwear. He pulled back and waited instead for Alice to go in first so he could follow her.
 
Alice walked in front of Liex and headed into the store. There was women's lingerie everywhere. She wondered if Liex was feeling a little uncomfortable being in the store. It was possible that he might even change his mind about going in the store with her.

A slender woman who had an unusual amount of neck approached Alice. Her gaze was a little unsettling and it her appearance was overall unwelcoming. She looked mean and perhaps like she was looking forward to taking Alice's money, assuming that Alice was here to buy lingerie.

"We have a wide selection of underwear over here. Might I suggest the underwear over there. It's the Romaj brand. Romaj is very expensive looking, but it's affordable and quite comfortable." The woman said as she guided Alice away, increasing the distance between her and Liex.

Alice was getting a little uneasy. She didn't quite trust the woman at this point. Alice looked at the wide selection of underwear. The woman had been right and what was more was that it was just her style. Gothic Lolita. It was affordable much to Alice's surprise. She quickly found herself buying a few pairs before believing that she had enough. She looked around and hoped that Liex hadn't seen her selection... The last thing needed was for him to see her buy lace underwear. After she had finished, she nodded at Liex...
 
Liex cast the women who approached Alice a glance, she looked a bit off, but he didn't let it bother him. They were only there to buy underwear after all. Which was the cause of his discomfort. He wasn't sure why he just noticed now, but all the plastic mannequins around the store were unnerving him. It wasn't the first time he'd been around mannequins of course, but for a reason he wasn't sure of this time they unnerved them. As Alice and the women began walking along he followed them slowly, letting them get farther away from him as he tried his damn best to not stare at either the frilly underwear everywhere or at the creepy mannequins.

When Alice nodded at him showing that she was done he sighed and turned on his heel and started heading out of the store. "I do hope you bought enough to last you a good while. I don't think we'll make a habit of me tagging along with you to buy more, eventually you'll be able to come on your own." He said over his shoulder as he stepped out onto the streets.

He nodded at Alice to follow him and made the trip back home. He finally reached his door and unlocked it, opening it and letting himself and Alice in. He relocked everything then sat down on the couch, pulling off the sweater and tossing it to the side. "Well, that's done with and nothing went wrong." He said more to himself than to Alice. He rested back and peered at Alice, "Well, I suppose we should... get to know each other. That's what normal people do, right? It'll help since we'll be partners now."
 
Alice followed Liex and couldn't help but to smile at his comment about going to buy under garments. She simply nodded. She hoped that she wouldn't have to have him tag along the next time she went to buy underwear either. In fact, she didn't want to make buying underwear a habit in general. Alice didn't like going into those stores. She felt like everyone was staring at her and it made her feel uneasy. It didn't matter that everyone in the store was typically female. She would rather buy her underwear in private.

Alice ignored his comment about how nothing went wrong. They couldn't really stir up much suspicion if they were in the store to buy clothes. Alice hadn't made any eye contact either. Either way she was happy that nothing went wrong either. The last thing she needed to do was make a mess of things.

Alice froze at the mention of getting to know each other and normal people. She was suddenly afraid. Get to know each other... Alice didn't know much about herself to begin with. In fact, her entire life had been based on a lie. What could she tell Liex that wasn't a lie? In fact she was still trying to figure out herself. Even so, Alice was going to try to do her best.

"You can ask me any question... And I will answer it best I can..." Alice said as she looked down at the ground. She supposed she could answer questions about her past. Alice noticed that she was beginning to remember a lot more about her childhood than before. However, the more she remembered, the more lies she could detect. It was sickening... She couldn't believe that all this time she thought she had been helping people, but she was being used the entire time, but that wasn't what hurt. No. It was the fact that people she thought she could trust had used her and fed her lies as a child so she would obey them. Was that really all she was? A weapon to be used for destruction?
 
Liex noticed how tense Alice had suddenly become and wondered why. It was a simple question until he remembered what he had said to her before about being a tool, and that she had mentioned that she needed to find out who she really was. He didn't feel bad about bringing up such a touchy subject, he wasn't going to treat her special after all. But, he decided that at the moment he'd ignore the subject of her past.

"Well for starters, what exactly are you capable of doing? I've had people gather information on you before but... well I've seen you use powers I wasn't aware of. So naturally I'm curious to know exactly what you can do." He said slowly, wondering if maybe the subject of her powers is what made her so tense. "Oh and feel free to ask me anything you'd like, I'll answer it to the best of my ability."
 
Alice relaxed a little. She could answer questions about her powers. In fact, their true potential was being controlled by Alice daily. She was aware of what she could do and the destruction that she could cause... She supposed a thorough explanation would be in order.

"Well you know what I can do already to an extent..." She started, "I can cause nightmarish visions and hallucinations, control shadows, and cause bad luck. I will start with the least dangerous which is controlling shadows. In all, I can become one with another's shadow. Meaning I can become a shadow much like the time when I decided to come with you. I was by all means a shadow. I couldn't attack and when ever you moved I moved. Wherever you went I went. I can also suffocate things with their own shadow or crush them or move them."

Alice took the bag from her shopping and held it up, "You see these wrinkles all have shadows and if I focus..." The bag crumpled up into a tiny ball in Alice's hands, "I can crush it..." She moved the bag over to Liex, "and move it..."

She took a deep breath... She was tired of hearing herself talk already, but there was still a lot left to explain, "You noticed that if I'm not focused, my shadows disappear right? A good distraction can keep me from using shadows to fly or suffocate things or move them... As for flying, I'm really just hovering and using the shadows in my clothes to lift myself up... Moving on to the bad luck... Well that's really self explanatory... The magnitude is what makes a difference. It can be widespread as you saw... or very small. From jamming helicopter guns to making pencils break. Typical things that would be mistaken for bad luck."

Alice suddenly looked a little sad, "Now about the power I'm sure you're most curious about... My nightmarish ones. Well you see, this is power is a bit of a backfire. I can make a person see something they fear the most or make them recall horrid memories that they would rather forget... Or I can make them hallucinate. The hallucinations are the most dangerous and can kill you in an instant. The visions or nightmares can also kill you if you let them. For instance someone has a fear of clowns, well those clowns can touch you, hurt you, kill you... It all depends on how powerful the fear is or how powerful I make the vision... The backfire is that I can't turn this power off when I sleep. I emit an aura that causes nightmares for the people around me, but I've learned how to redirect it upon myself. Therefore, whenever I sleep I have a nightmare... I forgot to mention, sometimes the visions I cause are so powerful, they can make the person see them again in their sleep for several days, even weeks, but I can make a person forget the vision. They just simply need to trust me and look into my eyes which is hard for people do seeing as they're afraid I will give them nightmares or kill them. Also, if I'm happy I can't make you see nightmarish visions... I can only cause hallucinations... Any questions?" Alice asked finally glad to be done talking.
 
Liex nodded slowly as he absorbed the information he received. Alice's shadow manipulation powers would be a great asset. She could pull off assassinations and never be noticed. He was actually a bit envious, he had many contracts where things got messy because he wasn't quiet enough. If he had had Alice's powers everything would have gone off without a hitch.

As Alice went on to explain about her flying ability and bad luck he was a bit surprised, why she was ever paraded around as a super hero dumb-founded him. With powers like her's she should have been an assassin used to take out targets of the highest threat, that was what he was used for. While he already knew a bit about those powers, when Alice explained her nightmare and hallucination giving powers he was glad to have recruited her again. She could waltz into a room, kill the target and then scar the witnesses so badly they'd have had no memory of her being there.

Liex didn't mention the fact that he was reliving his memories in his dreams when Alice explain she could get rid of them. While he did trust her, it wasn't completely. He decided to just deal with the memories, they'd be gone soon anyways. "I... see. That's all very interesting. Well, I don't have many other questions, I think I got everything I need to know. Is there anything you want to ask me now?"
 
Alice shook her head, "I'd rather have you tell me without me asking. When that happens, it means you trust me..."

Alice could think of several reasons why being a superhero would be better than being the government's assassin. One, she could go out in the open and kill targets anyway. In this way, she would be praised for it and supported by the people. This would make things a lot easier for the government. Two, Alice's superhero name was Misfortune and she would have never agreed to harm people. Being a superhero meant helping people to make up for the time she accidentally hurt people with her nightmare powers...

"Something else you should know... when I'm scared or angry... my powers go out of control. You've seen that once already too. And I can heal... sometimes" Alice added. She started to think about everything she said. It was ironic that she was praised and not hated. In fact, it would have made more sense. Alice was a monster by every definition of the word. Just what was she? In some ways, she realized, that with her powers, she could never help people... only make them suffer. It seemed that was what she was created to do. Was her purpose to bring about suffering of those around her? All these questions... she had a feeling the library would only bring about more questions and even less answers. She just needed to find out what she could as soon as possible...
 
Liex sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm not too great at talking about myself. It'd much easier if you just asked me questions but if you insist. Well first is my teleporting powers. I discovered them when I was around... maybe 8? I was a young kid. A bit of a runt too, I was what most people would consider malnourished for the better part of my childhood. Anyways, I discovered my power by accident, I'll tell you that story at a later time if you want. I got my start as an assassin by working with the rebel forces of my home country. We eventually won and I left. I didn't want to be there anymore, too many memories, too many things that I wanted done but would never happen." He said, his voice growing softer as he said the last few sentences.

He paused for a second and closed his eyes, "I traveled for a few years. Doing whatever assassination I could to get money. Then I met a group of monks, they taught me to meditate and how to unlock the limits of my body. There's actually more to it, I could have eventually learned to fly like some of them did. But, I decided my time there was done before I could learn to do that. And it usually takes years to even float anyways." He said with a slight shrug. "That's it really, I was trained in the art of killing at maybe 17 or 16 and decided to just... follow that path. I didn't see any other way to get by."

He sighed and scratched his cheek, "Anything else you want to know? Just ask and I'll tell you. I know what you said about trust but... I don't talk about myself often so you won't learn anything about me unless you ask." Liex said as he peered at Alice, wondering what she thought of what he said about himself. Chances were she didn't have much of an impression since he didn't get too detailed about himself. He kept it this way since he wasn't sure what details of himself he wanted to give away.

It'd be easier if Alice just asked him questions, then he could choose what to say and what to keep to himself.
 
Alice listened intently, taking in every bit of information as though she would never forget it. Once Liex was finished she nodded, "It's a start, but that's not what I meant... things will happen during our partnership that will probably remind you of things that happened in your past... how I'll know this is when you hesitate or act a little strange... that will be the time that I will ask a question and if you trust me then... You'll tell me without leaving things out..."

Alice thought about a few things and she opened her mouth as if she would say something else, but she couldn't find the words. Alice wanted to know about Liex sure, but asking questions would be meaningless if they didn't trust each other. Alice had nothing to hide about her past... This was what made talking about her life a little easier.

"I will ask a few questions now however... did you ever love someone?" Alice asked.

She wondered. Alice didn't know anything about love. The government had long since shut her emotions away. Alice was practically incapable of showing other emotions besides anger and fear... she hadn't yet felt happiness because she was always feeling guilty about something...
 
Liex nodded slowly, "I see. Then yes, when that happens and if you ask I'll tell you what it was that your powers caused me to relive." He said with a shrug as he looked at Alice, he noticed that it looked like she wanted to say something more, but instead of asking her he merely raised an eyebrow and waited to see if she'd get the nerve to say what was on her mind.

When she finally did say it, he went quiet and his mind slightly blanked out. The question caught him completely by surprise, "Love, huh?" He said softly, the word "love" sounding foreign to himself. He shook his head, "No, I haven't. When I was younger... I might have felt it for the people I considered my family. But loving another person? No, I haven't. I... don't think I can love another person." He said, looking at the floor before shrugging, "I'm not interested in that anyways. Too many people are after me. I can't risk having a person I love, otherwise they might be used against me."

Well, it was that and the fact Liex didn't know what love was. He'd never experienced it. But, he wasn't going to admit something as touchy like that right off the bat, especially to someone who he'd just recently met. In time though, he might tell Alice. If she asked anyways.

"Why do you ask anyways?" He said as he looked at Alice with curious eyes.
 
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