Adrian narrowed his eyes at her. Hearing Lydia say he was actually scared of something seemed to strike a nerve in him. Adrian walked closer to Lydia, in her face now before saying, "I fear no one, but I'm not an overconfident bitch, like you, Lydia. Knowledge is power, and knowing what your opponent is capable of is key to winning. If you wanna be an idiot and go home, be my guest, I didn't plan on counting on you anyway. You can walk," he said, not bothering to give her the keys.

Josh was freaking out where he was. "Lydia! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Oh, shut up, Willow. Go have another bad dream and piss the bed some more." Lydia raised an eyebrow at him before looking back at Adrian, shrugging her shoulders. Awwwww... I pissed him off? Poor guy. "That sounds like something anyone who's scared would say. 'I'm not scared. I'm just doing research...' I'm sorry if I hurt your big boy feelings by implying you were scared... " Lydia's smirk deepened, as she crossed her legs. "But the good news is that you're not alone. Willow's scared of the dark too. You can be scared together."

"You can go fuck yourself, Lydia. I hope you get plenty of exercise walking home," Adrian said, before turning back around and walking to the minion arena. However, hearing her insult him, again, seemed to only amplify his rage, so he took a deep breath and continued walking away.

The entire time Benjamin had been quietly giggling to himself as he followed behind Adrian.

"The fuck are you laughing about?" Adrian asked.

"You two are going to kill one another one of these days."

"Sometimes I don't see a problem with that."

Adrian and Benjamin made their back into S.U.P.E.S. and walked back to the villain arena for the minion matches. Adrian paced back and forth, still steaming about what Lydia had said to him. He took deep, calming breaths in an attempt to calm himself. To think I almost thought I could learn to like her. She's such a fuckin' bitch. I can't believe I actually trusted her with something so important. I'm such an idiot. It'd be nice to have Void's 'Forget-Me waves.'

It wasn't long before the minion matches began and Adrian and Benjamin sat through the entirety of the matches until the top three sophomores stood on their respective platforms.

"Not much longer now," Benjamin said.

As Adrian retreated, Lydia yelled at his retreating back, "Looks like Adrian's being too big a pussy to fight me." When he ignored her, she grew that much angrier, swinging a leg out to hook Josh, pulling him closer. "Willow, get your ass inside. Watch the sidekick matches, if it's not too much trouble for you. Try not to be terrified of anyone, or fall in love with anyone else."

"What is WRONG with you?" Josh asked, in a quiet, angry voice, heading inside.

Josh headed into the arena, angrily, shoving his hands in his pockets. There was a large group of sidekicks who immediately spotted him and waved him over. Josh brightened up again, having seen some sidekick friends of his who were in a lot of his classes. He headed over to them, taking a seat in the middle of them. “Hey, guys. How’s the matches going? I got here a little late.” He looked out into the arena.

“Mm. A little too busy standing and strutting up at the top,” one of the sidekick females accused, playfully. “Don’t know why you even bother with us little people. Acting like it was so hard to get up there… You used to be a number 5 ranked hero your FIRST semester, and then you act like you’re struggling through the sidekick ranks… acting like it was so tough…”

“Oh, come on, no need to take it so personally. I was chasing a bitch,” Josh studied the ones out in the arena. “Come on, Era, don’t hate me because I needed to move up slowly.” He flashed her a grin.

“I’m just saying, it felt stupid for you to be ten ranks below me when I knew you could have wrecked me in your sleep,” Era lifted her hands.

“Oh come on, you two, stop flirting. Hey, look, look over there.” One of the other sidekicks pointed off to the side of the arena.

Two sidekicks were fighting in the arena, coming to physical blows. Josh’s eyes looked right off of them to a boy who had a belt full of small bottles and a small object in his hand. He looked left and right. “No. Watch him.” Josh pointed at him.

“Who, that guy? He’s lame! He’s not even doing anything!” the sidekick in the stands protested.

“Shut up and watch him.” Josh glared at his friend, before looking back down at the arena.

The sidekick’s eyes skittered around the arena before dipping his object in one of the vials on his belt and he began to make great strokes through the air, creating something, painting almost onto the surface of the air. A final horizontal stroke, and he put the thing in his hand away, wrapping his hands around the gigantic hammer he’d created out of ink. He sent the nearest sidekick to him flying, and the ink dissolved as it made contact with the other, disappearing into the air. He whipped out his brush again and rapidly began painting a wavy line. He grabbed it and wrapped it around a girl sidekick who was fighting and it bound her up, constricting her to the ground.

“Oh shit, that’s cool,” Era proclaimed.

“That is tight as fuck,” the sidekick sitting next to Josh murmured. “How’d you know he was the one to watch?”

“I can tell. He’s not ‘being lame’, he’s being cunning and calculating. He’s plotting rather than diving in like an idiot, fists out.” Josh watched. “I’ve learned how to observe someone from my times in the arena, after all, my goal wasn’t to fight as hard as I could, but to slowly advance and match pace with Steelia-” one of the sidekicks made kissy noises. “-so I learned a thing or two about observing the competition. That guy’s going to win.”

Sure enough, the artist ended up emerging victorious, painting his way to victory. After the match, Josh and the group of sidekicks followed him out, laughing and joking about the powers of the artist. “Well, you’re going to have a hard time fighting THAT, aren’t you, Willow?” one of them mocked.

“Damn straight I am. That guy’s ink sinks into anything he paints. If he binds me or my plants up, it’s game over for them. I’ll have to think of how to keep him from touching me.”
-
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Lydia could explode with anger and she didn't even know why. She slid off the hood of the car and stormed off for home, nearly exploding with rage. If destroying the car hadn’t been too much work, she would have done it out of spite. Lydia, you're a fucking moron. she scolded herself. An absolute fucking idiot. She stopped at an outdoor bathroom along the way and in her rage, ended up breaking the sink off the wall and water poured from the pipes, soaking her clean through. Urghhh! Fuck! Fucking seriously! She left the bathroom and started walking home. I don’t even know why I’m picking fights when my powers are so dead.

It was a long walk home. Normally it would have been half as long, but she was considerably weaker. As she trudged up the driveway, she struggled out of her wet jacket, holding it in one arm, as she flung the door open. The TV was going and she wondered if Dillon was watching it. She looked at the TV first, it was some sports channel. She shut the door behind her, and then her eyes scanned across to see Thomas. He was sitting back on the couch, looking bored. He had a couple of the servants tied up, and he’d stacked them in front of him, and was using them as a footrest while he watched TV.

“What the fuck are YOU doing here?” Lydia demanded, angrily.

Thomas sat up, turning to look at her, a wicked grin spread across his face. “Well, if it isn’t Lydia! I was expecting to see dear Benjamin, but I’ll be damned if I haven’t come across something much better… Look at you.”

Lydia suddenly became self-conscious of her white tanktop, now soaked through from the fountain. When she was going to be home alone, it was okay… She pressed her jacket against her stomach. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“I already told you, I was here to see Benjamin…” He moved towards her, and Lydia ran past him, moving into the open room.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking but I will fucking kill you.” Lydia hissed. Thomas smirked a bit, before he suddenly was right in front of her, having used a super speed power. He grabbed her by the arm, switching to a strength ability - her strength ability, specifically- sending her flying across the room. She slammed down on her back, letting out a grunt.

“What’s this, Lydia? You seem unnaturally weak.” Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Why is that? I just used your own power against you and you just crumpled like a rag doll…” He started moving towards her and Lydia moved back, reaching for a vase. She flung it at him and he raised his arm, the vase shattering off it. He used advanced healing to seal the cut up. “So why are you so weak suddenly, Lydia? And why are you here?”

“I… I live here!” Lydia scowled. “I said, get out of here before I kill you, Thomas. I won’t say it again, I will rip you into pieces...”

S.U.P.E.S. Villain and Minion Arena, Minion Matches

Veronica and Frank appeared in the arena in their usual fashion.

"Ladies and gentleman!" Frank said with faked enthusiasm into his microphone. "Expectantly, the great S.B. has won his match with incredible ease!"

"But will his minion?" Veronica asked rhetorically.

"There's only one way to find out!" Frank and Veronica said before waltzing over to the three minions.

"What about you, Shield?" Veronica asked, before shifting the microphone over to the minion who stood on the platform labeled '2.' "Do you plan on taking what's rightfully yours?"

"Disappearance got her ass kicked, but I won't. I challenge you, Amp, for your number one spot." Shield was dressed as a normal teenager with one of his pale hands in his pockets and tossed his long, black hair with the other.

"That's stupid of you," replied the minion who stood on the platform labeled number one. He also seemed fairly normal with his short black hair and brown eyes.

"Let's just get down to it, shall we?" said Frank, and with a snap of his fingers Veronica, Frank, and Eater disappeared.

"Are you sure you're ready to do this? I'm going to crush you," said Amp.

"Yeah, right," Shield scoffed.

A blue orb appeared around Amp and enveloped him, yet he didn't even flinch. Shield extended his hand out toward him, "I'm going to crush you, actually." The orb surrounding Amp seemed shrink in size around him, yet Amp seemed completely calm in the situation.

"A force field," Adrian thought.

The forcefield surrounding Amp seemed to only get smaller and smaller until it was only a few moments away from actually touching him, and he only yawned in response, clearly bored. "Are you going to crush me, or bore me to death?" Amp taunted as he held out his hand and touched the force field beginning to surround him.

In one fluid movement Amp crouched, and for a brief moment he seemed to concentrate; he then jumped into the air, and a separate, red force field surrounded him for a brief, quick moment, and the forcefield expanded until it blew apart the outer forcefield surrounding him.

Shield's eyes widened at this, "H-How did you."

Amp didn't bother answering his question, and instead only held out his hand toward Shield. Another forcefield appeared but around Shield, and Amp proceeded to telekinetically lift Shield into the air.

"How is he doing this?" asked Adrian

"From what I understand, lad, Amp gets his power from his opponent." Benjamin explained. "He's also capable of increasing the power he received to unknown measures. All he has to do is touch that person or an example of their power."

"Ah, so when he touched the forcefield earlier."

"Yeah."

Amp slowly closed his hand into a fist, and the forcefield surrounding Shield closed as a result. A smirk formed across his face, "Told you I'd crush you."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Shield said frantically, fear obviously striking him. "I give up and... whatever!"

"Smart," Amp smugly said before releasing the forcefield around him mid-air, and allowing Shield to free fall to the ground. Shield screamed, but was caught before he hit the ground by one of the medics.

"Match Set! Favor: Amp!"

"I wonder how much he can actually copy..."

Benjamin's house, Dillon's room

Dillon looked at the two wirings she held lightly in each hand. They were white with needles on the end of each, "Oh, fudge. This is gonna hurt." Dillon looked into the series of mirrors she arranged around her, and they were all positioned so that a clear view of the back of her neck could be seen.

On her neck were two blacks dots perfectly placed apart from one another, "The doctor marked it right there." Dillon thought as she lifted the two needles to her neck. She then took a deep breath in an attempt to steel her mind. "Okay... Here we go. It won't be so bad, it'll be quick. Damn, I hate needles." She took another deep breath and painstakingly sunk the needles into her neck where the black dots were intricately placed. She grimaced at the momentary pain that quickly passed and breathed out a sigh of relief. She then fitted the metallic gauntlets onto her fists and commanded, "Fit!"

Mechanical whirring could be heard from the titanium gauntlet as it inched up to Dillon's arm, and fitted itself around her forearm and stopped moving upon reaching her elbow. "Perfection," she thought with a smile as she examined her gauntlets.

"Alright," she then walked over and stood in front of a target. Time for a test run." She held up her left arm and thought, "Sedatives." Mechanical whirring from the gauntlet sounded again, and from the top of the gauntlet forearm protruded a single dart propped up on a firing mechanism. Dillon lined up the shot,"Fire" and the gauntlet responded by firing the dart, "Bullseye."

She stepped away from the target and thought, "Blades." Beneath the visible surface of the metallic gloves the wiring and metal shifted, and in a few seconds blades jutted out from the top forearms of the gauntlets at incredible speeds. Sweet! Dillon thought as she stood tall, proud of her work.

"Alright, time for the boots," she thought as she made her way toward the metallic boots on the ground. She hooked up the wire connected to her neck to the boots and slipped them onto her foot, "Fit!" The boots lit up and slowly began to inch up her legs and stopped upon reaching and covering her kneecaps.

"So awesome! Alright, I'm going to need some space for the next test run..." Dillon opened the door to room to leave and slowly descended the steps to leave, but heard something, "I… I live here! I said, get out of here before I kill you, Thomas. I won’t say it again, I will rip you into pieces..."

Dillon quickly hurried to where she heard Lydia's voice, and seeing Thomas Dillon said, "You heard her, Thomas. Get out." She stood tall, not faltering as she threateningly stood her ground and stared daggers at Thomas. Her armor gave her confidence despite not being entirely sure if everything worked correctly.

Thomas raised an eyebrow at Dillon. “What is this? Do YOU live here too?” Lydia crawled towards her jacket, recieving a solid kick to her chest which sent her flying back. “Uh-uh, Lydia. I’m not quite done with you yet.” She landed again, with a grunt, before Lydia crossed her arms over her chest, looking towards Dillon. “So, who ELSE lives here?” he smirked a bit to himself. “I think I get it… I understand exactly what’s going on… this is so interesting… Cute outfit you’ve got there. Did your daddy build that for you, princess?” Thomas raised an eyebrow.

Lydia looked back over at Dillon. “Dillon, Thomas’ powers are-” She was silenced by a foot in her windpipe, and unprepared, the words were cut right out of her mouth.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Lydia? Cat got your tongue?” Thomas mocked, looking back over at Dillon. He slipped his hands in his pockets, looking her set up up and down. “Eh. It’s no fun with someone else here… you got unlucky, Lydia. I was about to make all your unspoken dreams come true.” He started to walk towards the exit.

“I wasn’t scared,” the words came out barely louder than a whisper but they got his attention. “I knew you would have finished before you ever got started.”

Thomas turned on his heel, his eyes sparking with rage a moment before it was smoothed over, and there was a smug amusement. “I’ll see you soon, Lydia.” He slipped out the door.

“... Thanks, Dillon,” Lydia held her throat, a bruise already starting to form there.

Benjamin's Mansion, Dillon and Lydia

"Are you okay?" Dillon asked as she hurried over to Lydia and extended an open hand to help her up. "That guy was an asshole and a creep." Helping Lydia up wouldn't have been an issue for Dillon since her armor augmented her strength.

S.U.P.E.S., Benjamin and Adrian

"Well, that was fun," Benjamin said sarcastically as he and Adrian left the matches.

"You don't enjoy watching people rip each other in half?"

"Of course not. I'd much rather spend my time enjoying a bottle of scotch or a woman, or maybe a man."

"No drugs?"

"Bloody hell! I may enjoying getting high off life, but that's the only place I enjoy getting my highs from."

"I didn't think you'd try it."

"What about you, bruv? What do you do for fun?"

"Fun isn't in my vocabulary. I train."

"With those swords of yours? Blimey! I think I know what's wrong with you and Lydia now."

"There's nothing wrong with me. Lydia, on the other hand..." Adrian said as he unlocked the doors to the Ferrari.

"You bet there is! You and Lydia both seemed to have no concept of the word fun! Come on, there's at least one thing you've always wanted to do, right? You're a hormonal teenager with superpowers."

"I've always wanted to graduate."

Benjamin rolled his eyes, "Fun! Think fun, lad!"

"I've never been out of the country before."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"I think it's time you learn to live a little."

Lydia took her extended hand, getting to her feet. She took a deep breath, although the action caused her throat pain. “Yeah… Old friend. Way old. We attended 3rd grade together at normal school.” It came out as a whisper, though she did her best to talk louder. “We were the only two in the school with powers.” She held her hand to her throat. “I thought we were friends but… I guess he wanted something else. I’m fine. I’ll probably heal up by tomorrow.” That’s a lie. I don’t have rapid regeneration. She looked over Dillon’s armor before smiling. “You’re such a good person. Too good to be a minion. Don’t tell the others?” her eyes scanned the room. “If they comment on the damage, I came home pissy and destroyed some shit.” Despite her injuries, she winked at Dillon, before untying the servants Thomas’d bound up, before strolling off to her room, shutting the door behind her. She locked it for good measure, sliding down it to the floor. She checked her chest and she had a large foot sized bruise across it, splashed across her chest, red blue-black and green yellow, complete with treadmarks. Shit, that hurts. Still though, I can’t say I didn’t deserve it.

Josh entered the parking lot before slipping his hands in his pockets. “And there’s my ride taking off.” He seemed to think a moment. “Hey, Era, you mind taking me home?”

“You’re riding with someone who doesn’t even think to take you with them when they leave? Who is this asshole?” She looked out into the parking lot. “You’re riding with them?”

“Was, yeah, can I- okay…” Josh trailed off as Era started walking towards Adrian and Benjamin. He jogged after her, catching her arm. “Actually, this is a bad idea, uh, hey. You know what, I’ll just catch them, before they go. I’m sure they’re just thinking about the matches. Right? They’re villains so…”

“Villains?” Era narrowed her eyes at him. “Willow!”

“Ha… um, see you,” he patted her arm before jogging over to them, leaving a furious sidekick to stew in the parking lot. “Uh, hey. You mind if I catch a ride back? Sorry I was late getting out here.” He climbed in the backseat, avoiding Era’s annoyed gaze.

Era, from across the parking lot, didn’t hesitate to raise her voice, getting increasingly loud. “And this is why he hasn’t been hanging out with us. He’s too busy chasing tail and hanging out with VILLAINS, guys.”

“Yeah… damn shame… come on, Era, we really don’t want to upset those guys.” Some of the other guys ushered Era back inside.

S.U.P.E.S. parking lot, Adrian, Benjamin, Josh, and Era

Adrian stopped himself from entering the car upon hearing the loud girl. Her loud voice reminded him of Lydia, who he was already pretty pissed at. Her voice only seemed to trigger something more anger from him, "What is up with this school and unnecessarily loud women? I don't need this shit."

Adrian turned around to face the woman yelling, "You got a fuckin' problem? If not I can give you one real fast!"

Benjamin's Mansion, Dillon

"Yeah, no problem..." she said as Lydia walked away. "I didn't know she had accelerated healing... That was really weird too." Dillon thought as she looked about the kitchen and saw the servants scrambling to spruce it back up. A few of them mumbled under their breath, something about supers having no manners. Dillon rubbed her forehead, perplexed at the idea of lying and keeping a secret from Adrian, but quickly remembered how big an insensitive, asshole he was and became fired up again. "One of these days I might need to break something."

Era whipped around so fast, her friends who were leading her out, stumbled as she ripped her arms away from them, her brown hair swinging violently. She glared at Adrian but her friends immediately grabbed her, pulling her around the corner and she was gone. Josh let out a relieved sigh, slumping down in his seat. "I'm so sorry about that... like... so sorry." he let out a long breath. "She's the level four sidekick of the senior class. If we didn't all know what her powers and limitations were, she'd probably have beat us... I'm pretty much definitely cursed with women. If you ever see me hanging out with a woman, stay far, far away from her... You know what, forget it. I'm... never mind..." Josh realized he was rambling and went silent, staring awkwardly out the window.

Thomas sat back in his car, glancing down at his phone, thinking a moment. He picked it up, typing out a text message, addressing it to Benjamin. "Is this your answer, Benjamin? You believe the senior number ones will protect you?... You need not fear us if you would work with us. We're all still SO hoping you will change your mind... That was quite the treat you blessed me with, but I can't go easy in spite of it. This is your last chance."

S.U.P.E.S. Parking Lot, Adrian, Benjamin, Josh, and Era

Adrian stared in the direction Era was dragged away to, steeled for how she would retaliate, but she didn't. Adrian sat into the Ferrari driver seat, slamming the door behind him, and the Ferrari roared to life once Adrian turned it. The tires of the hot pink Ferrari screeched and white smoke arose from the concrete ground as Adrian sped away from the school.

"Girls are fuckin' nuts," said a still fuming Adrian.

Benjamin laughed, "The single sentence every man has said or thought."

"First Dillon, then Lydia, and now your damn friend," he said, glancing into the rearview mirror at Willow.

"Hm? What did Dillon do, mate?"

"She wanted to talk about feelings after Willow's fuck up."

"Oh? Oh! I did hear about that. I'm sure the servants have cleaned the vines up by now."

Adrian raised an eyebrow at Benjamin as he flicked his eyes over to him and then back to the road.

Benjamin reached for the smartphone in his pocket, whipped it out, and began typing away at it hurriedly, "bugger off. Thts my final answr," he replied, and tapped the sent button on his phone and locked it. "So, Willow," Benjamin began. "Is that girl back there, Era, a good friend of yours?"

“Uh, there wouldn’t have been a mess if they hadn’t cut them.” Josh spoke up. “They would have come back to me if they hadn’t been cut… so it’s the fault of whoever started cutting.” he glanced pointedly at Adrian. “They were being surprisingly well behaved, actually, they didn’t break anything or tie anyone up… That really hasn’t happened to me in years,” Josh said, embarrassed. “Like years before I came to the academy…”

He hesitated a moment. “Era… she’s… yeah? I guess so. When I first came here, she was my sidekick until I transferred to the sidekick side. After she ended up in the middle of my last relationship disaster, she’s started acting more… bitchy?... than usual. Granted, I probably would have never talked to me again after the, uh, organ tinsel and death threats, but Era said it wasn’t my fault. Luckily, Aella graduated so none of us ever have to see her again. Era’s kind of like my best friend and worst enemy. If I need her for anything ever, she’s right there, but if she sees anyone picking on me or anything, even if she imagines it, she explodes. She imagined you guys were picking on me, and that, combined with the fact that you're villains, I'm surprised she walked away.”

Ferrari, Adrian, Josh, and Benjamin

Adrian narrowed his eyes at Willow, "When you transferred? So you were a hero. Looks like Lydia's suspicions were correct. I wonder if Willow hadn't tranferred, would he currently be my rival, not Lydia? And why would he transfer?" Adrian shook his head at the thought.

"Your friend was smart to walk away," said Adrian. "I'd show no qualms about skewering her," he said as he pulled up to Benjamin's mansion. He tapped a button on the ceiling of the car and the garage door to the mansion opened up to him. He pulled into one of the parking spots, turned off the car, got out of the car, and began walking into the house. He walked into the mansion and was surprised to see servants hurriedly cleaning up a wrecked kitchen. "What the hell hapened in here? Did someone break in again?

"Hey, you," he said to one of the female servants. "What happened here?"

"Um. A super broke in here, tied us up, and beat up another super. A girl."

Adrian's eyes widened at this, "You mean Dillon?"

"Uh, you mean the redhead? No, she was blond."

"Lydia."

"Where is she now?" he asked. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She's up in her room now."

"Why the hell would someone break in?" Adrian began examing the house, but soon noticed Dillon outside, hovering in the air. From the bottom of her metallic boots was a bright light that seemed to propel her thirty feet in the air. Adrian walked outside and called up to her, "Dillon!"

Suddenly the bright light sputtered to a stop and Dillon fell from the sky with a loud scream.

"Shit!" he held out his hand, slowing her fall, and lightly placed her on the ground on her feet. "Whoa!" she said, slightly uneasy with standing on the ground now. "Shit. This still needs some work," she said as she looked down at her boots then to Adrian who walked over to her. "...Thanks."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't know you cared..."

"Do you know what happened in the kitchen? It's an absolute mess."

"Oh, Steelia got really pissed about something..."

"Someone's fucking lying to to me," Adrian narrowed his eyes at this. "Oh? Is that so? Okay," he nodded and turned toward the house.

Just then Benjamin walked into the mansion to find the servants cleaning up. "Well, well, my humble abode certainly seems to be coming under much fire lately! What happened here?" he asked one of the servants, this one a man.

"Oh, uh, a super came in and tied us up. He then beat some other supes' ass."

"Oh?" Benjamin said, his prosaically jovial expression disappearing for a brief instant. "What'd this man want?"

"Uh, I think he was looking for you, sir."

"Me?"

"Yes sir."

"Go back to work."

"Yes sir."

Adrian observed Benjamin's perplexed expression and strolled over to him. "You actually look worried," he said. "What'd he say?"

Immediately Benjamin's face reverted back to its cheery self. "Oh, the servants said someone broke in. I think it's probably... that one girl..."

Adrian stared at Benjamin's face, looking for the smallest hint of deceit from him, but Benjamin's face remained unfazed. "Alright," he said, and with that Benjamin patted Adrian on the shoulder and sauntered off to the jacuzzi.

"Bullshit. There's something going on here." Adrian proceeded to make his way upstairs and toward Lydia's door. "Lydia!" he called as he rapped against the door with his knuckles. "Open up."

Josh couldn’t believe the disaster that he walked into. The kitchen and living room was pretty well trashed. Apparently someone had broken in, and Josh felt queasy thinking about Void again. He found the servant girl he always talked to, and he questioned her about what had happened.

“One of the supers broke in,” she said, quietly, her eyes looking down at the floor. “Sir. He, um, tied a few of us up, and when the blonde woman returned, he attacked her.”

“... What did he look like?” Josh asked.

“Kind of… snakelike. He was very strong. I got a terrible vibe from him, sir. Just… generally uncomfortable in his presence. I came through the living room while he was here and he instructed I fetch him a whiskey on the rocks. I was fortunate that was all he wanted from me.” She paused.

“Well, I know who that sounds like exactly.” Josh said, disgusted. “How was Lydia, was she okay?”

“She got kicked a few times but luckily the other super stepped in.”

“I’ll go check on her.” Josh went towards her room, stopping short. He leaned against the wall out of sight when he heard Adrian pounding on her door and yelling for her.

Lydia was sitting on the floor, stretching her legs and arms, hoping to be back to full strength again by tomorrow. Thomas’ attack had shaken her down to her core. She wouldn’t say scared her. She didn’t get scared. But she wanted to be at her best for if he came back. She couldn’t let that happen. The best way to do it was to do some stretching and let her muscles rest… She winced when she heard Adrian pounding at the door. He sounds angry. She got to her feet, trying to figure out how best to hide the bruise on her throat. She slipped on her exercise jacket, assuming that would work. It covered her neck, and it didn’t look too weird because she was exercising.

She opened the door, one hand resting on the frame, leaning against it. She rested her head against her hand on the doorframe, an odd look in her eyes as she stared him down. “What?” she questioned. Defiance was written across her face, because she assumed he was still A) pissed about the parking lot, and B) pissed about her destroying the kitchen. “Should I come out or are you going to yell at me through the doorway?”

Benjamin's Mansion: Outside of Lydia's Room, Lydia, Adrian, and Josh

"I don't give a damn how we talk." Adrian said as he paced back and forth. "I just need you to answer a question. Honestly. What happened in the kitchen?" he asked before getting close to her and looked her right in the eye.

"Come on, Lydia. Tell the truth," he thought to himself. "Don't make me regret trusting you once."

Lydia's hand went up to the bruise on her chest, feeling uncomfortable as Adrian seemed to be asking her, almost frantically, for the truth about what happened. The lie formed in her mouth but she paused. What has he heard... She looked away from him. I can't lie to him. "I really didn't want you to know... Dillon saved me today. If she hadn't come when she did, I would have been..." she paused, her hand resting on her throat. Speaking still hurt but she wouldn't let him know of it. "... If Dillon lied to you and that's what you're upset about, I asked her to. I think you've heard already. An old friend of mine paid me a visit. I'm still weak from yesterday, so he seized the opportunity to try to do something he always wanted to. And Dillon saved me. Isn't karma wonderful?" she asked, sarcastically. "Is that it? Or do you want to embarrass me further by asking me what types of things he said or-" her voice wavered here, but stayed strong. "How close he came to- ... I didn't think it was really that important for you to know about it. I'd rather you just thought I was a bitchzilla who came home and destroyed the place. I don't know how he knew I was here. He seemed really surprised to see me, or at least see me alone, but he adjusted to the idea pretty quickly."

A mixture of feelings between sadness and betrayal gripped him. However, the most obvious one was anger, and it showed in his scowl and dead stare at Lydia. "She'd dare influence my own minion to lie to me? She'd plot to lie to me? After I've been honest with her?!"Adrian opened his mouth, his voice low, angry and ready to verbally tear her apart, but he stopped, and his features turned from anger to quizzical as his tense features relaxed and looked at Lydia. His eyes flicked to her bruised neck, his ears listened to her wavering voice, and his mind explored what all this meant.

Adrian, for a split second, actually seemed to flash a smile at her. A feeling of elation struck him, and he looked her deeply in her eyes, realizing what she was doing. Realizing that she was doing exactly what he did. Trusting him. Being vulnerable with him.

Adrian was unsure how to proceed with his quelled anger. He wanted to comfort her now that he was calmer, and not even he could find the power within his heart or vengeful anger to harm her any further. Adrian hesitated with his next action, but figured now would be a time, better than any, to help one of the very few people he cared about. Adrian reached and took her left hand into his, looked her in the eyes, and said, "Lydia," he began, but realized he wasn't good with human interaction. "I-I'm... not going to hurt you. I'm sorry for what happened..." he said awkwardly. He wasn't sure why humans said they were sorry, nor did he do it often, so it came out as sort of awkward.

Lydia stood awkwardly, the words, This is why I didn’t want to tell you, you idiot… on her lips, but unable to speak them. His small smile, his intense stare into her eyes, all of it made her feel incredibly, stupidly weak. I hate feeling weak. Damn it, Adrian. Her chest burned with the emotions she was compressing, but when he took her hand, and he spoke those gentle, well-meaning words, his eyes staring straight into hers, a sound not unlike a cry escaped her lips and she pressed her free hand against her mouth to stifle it. “... I-... I’m fine… if I hadn't been so stupid...” she mumbled around them. ... what, Dillon would have been here alone with him?... What was I going to say? How am I supposed to be strong like this, with him staring at me like that? She hesitated, feeling the weight and warmth of his hand wrapped around hers. She stepped forward, leaning against him, one arm wrapped around his shoulder in an awkward half-embrace, burying her face in his shoulder. “Thanks…” I hate you for making me weak. I was handling it just fine… She couldn’t let the moment rest, not even in her own mind. If he ever mentions this again outside of right now, I’ll strangle him.

Josh pushed off the wall and headed on, deciding to leave them alone. He walked back to the living room, sitting down on the couch, crossing his legs and staring down at his hands resting in his lap, his thoughts filling his head. I can’t let Thomas get away with what he did… I’ve never even seen Lydia show emotions… he must have really gotten to her. One of his vines crept down his shoulder, curling around his arm, and he held it in the palm of his hand. But what can I do? I can’t believe her enemy is closer to her than I am...

Adrian recoiled slightly at Lydia's embrace, mildly surprised by the sudden intimate embrace, but realized what was happening and leaned into it. The smell of her hair wafted over him, her face inches away from his, and her hand in his own. It made him uncomfortable, but also... somewhat safe. Adrian remembered someone once called a hug an action of vulnerability. He knew why now.

"Thanks..." she said.

"Yeah..." he replied, unsure if 'you're welcome' would be appropriate in this situation, but it felt odd to leave her expression of gratitude in the air. He then let go of her hand, stepped back, and asked, "Who was he?" Anger was steadily creeping into his voice again. "What's his name? What does he look like?"

Lydia chuckled. “I want revenge on him myself. I can’t let you take my revenge from me…” she waved him off, pressing a finger to her own lips. Tell him… don’t tell him… “After all, you’ve already beaten him before. You’ve fought him once. I went and watched the tape because I wanted to see you beat him. Abaddon vs Omnitrace… I don’t know what rank he is now, but it was for your rank 5 then. If the footage of your fight were on a DVD, I would buy it, screenshot it, and then make posters of it. The two of you tore the arena UP that day, and I believe it ended with Thomas being very, very angry and in a whole lot of suffering… But, don’t get arrogant just because you beat him. He’s a lot stronger since then. He showed me some of his new powers... It's safe to say I was concerned about them. But it might have just been the position I was in that freaked me out more than his new powers...” she took a deep breath, crossing her arms. She removed her exercise jacket, tossing it on her bed, stepping out of her room and closing the door. Her neck bruise was fully visible now, with all the ridge marks and patterns that were from the bottom of Thomas's shoes, along with the top of the lower bruise, extending slightly higher than her shirt. She moved past him, heading to the kitchen. "Don't do anything crazy, Adrian. He's gone and I'm fine... I am hungry, and I'm going to eat something, 'scuse me." She entered the kitchen, pulling the fridge open.