”Mhm.” Elijah nodded at Lilian’s muttering of the DNCC. He was glad to have avoided the question. Falcone did not meet Lilian’s eye contact. She was far more focused on the notes she was furiously scratching.

”You’re alright.” Elijah smiled, though that smile faltered at the question. ”Without saying too much, I can tell you that my previous job had me working with a lot of hurting people. People who died. I couldn’t stand people being abandoned by those that were supposed to care about them. Protect them. The police–”

Falcone interrupted, her head shooting up. ”Remember, you’re not obligated to say anything about your personal life.”

”Ah. Heh. Yeah. Apologies.” It was a damn good thing she stopped him. He was about to go off on a tirade she had explicitly advised him against. ”I’m in this to protect the people. The people who can’t protect themselves. Someone has to do it and I fit that bill.”

Falcone could have ripped Li apart there and then. Her gaze said she read right through their casual facade, though she probably assumed Li was attempting to throw King Stag under the bus. Elijah was following that same line of thought. He did not know how to defend himself. Falcone started to stand, but Elijah put a hand on her shoulder. Li’s words were not inaccurate and, in some ways, damning. But that ending part was where it mattered. Elijah was not in this for the money, though it was a big reason why he worked for the DNCC specifically.

Elijah watched Lilian flip through the book. His mouth was dry and it took him a second to think of a response. By the time he did, there was another question. One he hoped would not be twisted. One he was prepared for. ”We can get to a scene faster, as well as get to the root of an issue quicker. Plus, we have advantages that can often save the lives of many police officers. For instance, my ability to handle radiation. Many others would die in that situation. We have specifics that generalized forces don’t have.”

Oh shit! How had he missed that? Had he been so focused on the interview that he had not noticed someone getting hurt? It was Falcone’s turn to grab Elijah’s arm before he took off to go check on the man. She shook her head and muttered, ”They’re handling it.”

That was, often, the worst part of being a hero. People wanted to do little things for King Stag so that his life was made easier. He knew they had good intentions, but that did not stop him from wanting to go help. Not to mention that it brought back particularly unfavorable memories of a time he preferred not to acknowledge. Falcone pulled him out of his thoughts by offering a donut. He graciously accepted, then tore off a chunk and awkwardly pushed it past his carapace mask and into his mouth.

Jenna did not mind the next question, luckily enough. Neither did Elijah. He relaxed considerably at such a silly question. ”I don’t think I’d ever replace my abilities. I love my little friends too much.” That and the carapace was the only thing protecting his fragile insides from harm. ”But if I could have a new power? Probably something like super speed. Really round out my kit, you know?”

Elijah never understood why cute men hitting him with ‘Technically…’ and then coming up with a long tangent had made him so enamored. If he had a nickel for every time that happened, he would only have two nickels. It was weird, though, that it had happened twice. The strangeness of it did not stop Elijah from staring at this man and rapidly developing a blush. Unfortunately for everyone else in the room, his ‘helmet’ covered his face, which meant he read as just silently, emotionlessly staring at poor Lilian.

It took Li clearing his throat for Elijah to snap out of his stupor. He was slightly disappointed by Li brushing it off as ‘science crap’. It was a rather intelligent and fascinating argument. He poorly forced a chuckle. ”Ah, yes. Breaking through windows is not my preference but it would be nice to reduce the amount I have to do that, wouldn’t it?”

That was stupid. You didn’t even add anything to the conversation. Say something better. You’re supposed to know how to interact with people. It’s no wonder mom made you stay out of fancy events for being such a mess.

Elijah quickly nibbled on another donut, attempting to think of ways to break the silence. ”Sssso… yeah. Super speed would make my job a lot easier. Especially with uh… all the reasons you listed."

Maybe it was his interviewer’s anxiety that made Elijah’s anxiety worse. He watched Lilian flip through the pages. All the while, Elijah drummed his fingers against his leg. He had always been rather terrible at hiding his nerves. When an actual question was asked, Elijah perked up.

Good. Okay. I can work with this. It could make me come off as more normal if I– His heart sank when Li slapped his forehead. Shit. Now he was just making the poor reporter more nervous! Elijah wanted to shove the entire donut in his mouth and run. He did not do that, of course, but it was a tempting thought. ”Oh– No, don’t worry about it. That question is alright. I just really like to knit and hike and–”

The sound of chaos cut him off. Damn it! Not now, Gamma-Burn! I just had a handle on things! I don’t want to scare this hot guy off!

Elijah did not have time to process that he had called Lilian cute in his brain. He locked eyes with Li, ”I apologize but… well, duty calls. I’ll see you at the office, Falcone.” Elijah nodded to Falcone, then dashed out the door and outside.

chIRP! Mrrrrp~!!

Two in the morning. Of course, it was the weird little abomination experiment that Sorrel adopted, the sweet little slugcat thing. He named the little guy Becquerel, but everything except that ridiculous name stuck. Including the nicknames “Slugcat” and “Bee” for his strange little friend. Like any normal cat, little Bee had the zoomies. At two in the fucking morning.

Sorrel finally sat up from his bed. He didn’t know why he made his latest plans line up so close together— he was glad, at least, that he was resting, and glad that he was able to rest without coughing up blood and throwing up and screaming in pain at that moment. The mutant cat stopped the moment Sorrel got up, looked at him, and went to ask for cuddles and food. Of course.

”Oh, you’re just a little sweetheart, aren’t you, Bee?” Sorrel smiled softly as he whispered to his friend. The slugcat thing wove around his feet as he stood up and headed to the kitchen— honestly, he needed a snack as well. He sorted through his cupboards and ended up taking two things out: one small paper pack of dried seaweed and one jar of freeze-dried chicken hearts. It wasn’t feeding time for little Bee, nowhere close to it, but a little bit of tasty protein for a midnight snack made sense. The green and blonde dreads Sorrel sported were neatly wrapped into a silk cloth, but it didn’t stop sorrel from absently sweeping the blank space where his locs would be to the side. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Bee chow down on the treat, as he washed and dried his hands and put the jar away.

Scrolling through his phone at night was a bad habit— just like munching on a midnight snack while bundled up in bed, like the simple pack of seaweed at Sorrel’s side as he lay there and scrolled around absently. He knew he was being unhealthy right now, but he at least wanted to finish up the seaweed packet… Maybe, though, he was meant to stay up, that night..? His phone whistled its fun little tune as a text message popped down from the top of the screen.

Hey! It’s Cricket! I was wondering if you wanted to meet up this Saturday to have lunch? I could bring desert if you make a meal.

There it was, the reason why Sorrel’s face turned bright red at two in the morning. The reason why he blushed so hard that, once again, he bled from his nose like some anime moron. He scrambled for a towel or something— and then, from his little nightstand, he pulled out the bloodied cloth from the man who messaged him. Sorrel would’ve found that moment exceptionally romantic if he wasn’t fretting about being a mess on Saturday. What would Cricket even like..? Sorrel’s thoughts started to spiral on as he paced around the room, his right hand holding the phone and his left hand pressed against his nose with the little towelette.

He’s obviously a bodybuilder— would he like something protein and energy packed..? What allergies does he have? Would he have mentioned it in the text? What meals are considered romantic? It was hard to focus, but Sorrel eventually sat back down onto the bed. Would it be weird to send a text back at this time..?

It took a while for Sorrel to go back to sleep. Frankly, he never truly slept at all, and he still felt groggy the next morning. He assumed at that point, after more thought than he cared for, that Cricket didn’t really have allergies— the man was going to eat at Chipotle of all places, infamous for its shit practices, and then chose fucking Taco Bell as a replacement. He’d go something a little more low risk, anyways… a nice smoked salmon that’s been flashed-fired in the pan for a final touch and well-seasoned manoomin— wild rice— would do the trick, be healthy, be protein rich and the likes. He was sure it’d be the perfect lunch… Wait… is this a little too try-hard-ish for a first date…? Surely not, maybe it’d be… seen as a really nice gesture, instead?

Sorrel laughed to himself as he served his perfectly fluffy scrambled eggs onto toast and watched Bee eat raw duck, a small egg, and half a sardine. He wondered if Cricket would think he was weird for preparing meals for his little mutant cat— Wait, why am I even thinking that? I’ve only met this man once! And it’s gonna be twice when I see him at the park in like… a week.

As Sorrel absently ate his eggs and toast, he finally responded to Cricket. 9:24 in the morning was a… more acceptable time to reply, right..?

’Of course! I’ll make a nice surprise lunch for Saturday :)
I’ll see you Saturday at the Wilacrik Downtown Park
It’s the park by the Chipotle’

Sorrel stared at his little string of texts. Why did he feel so self conscious? Why did he want to try again? Why did this make him feel… scared? Lightheaded? He never really had anyone asking to go on a date with him before, this was his first one ever. He… also never really had someone wanting to visit him just to be with him, either… but that’s in the past, and right now he has a date and a meal and a hungry slugcat clawing at his legs for some of his scrambled egg toast.

A few minutes passed by, and he decided to pick the phone up again and send a photo. Why did he choose a photo of one of the silk moths that just came out of the cocoon..? He didn’t know. They were cute, to him, and this little lady had just wriggled out two days ago when that photo was taken. For some reason, Sorrel thought Cricket liked bugs… but what if the man didn’t..? What if Cricket actually hates the silk moth photo??

Sorrel groaned, turned off his phone, and finally went off to do chores in Ground Zero.

—————————A Few Days Later—————————

Friday.

Tomorrow is Sorrel’s date with Cricket.

Today is Gamma-Burn’s date with revenge.

And… prevention of further suburban sprawl, one of the causes for the United States having such a car-dependent culture, which is just… so unhealthy, for so many reasons. This was ultimately for the good of the common people, and for the detriment of the millionare who bought this perfectly fertile land to turn into pricey and poorly made housing that doesn’t benefit anyone. But.. all of that didn’t have as good of a ring to it as having a date with revenge. Or… vengeance, might be better? Sorrel shook his head.

Come on, there’s no time to think of random stuff like that. I need to get there, as soon as possible— before the fucking maggot arrives.

He also knew that insult wasn’t original— there was no time to think of original insults for the bumbling beetle!

Gamma-Burn had a few special packages in his pockets— seeds he developed, based from perfectly edible plants indigenous to the area that would also be nearly impossible to remove from the land with normal means once he made them grow on it. A food garden for the people, and a giant lost check for a greedy and corrupt rich guy… or, woman, in this case, if his research was correct.

The seeds exploded out of each packet the second this infamous specter threw them across the land— they weren’t harmful explosions, just the Pop! Pop! Pop! of various little capsules designed after sandbox tree seed pods. All he had to do now, before he ran out of time, before people came, was to grow those little suckers.

And, when Sorrel pushed his hands to the ground and sent an encouraging pulse of radioactive warmth through the ground, all of those seeds exploded out of the ground. Juneberries, strawberries, blueberries, wild leeks, raspberries, nettles, elderberries. mayapple, pawpaw, wild garlic, wild asparagus— they all grew, and grew, and grew and became giant, lumbering shrubbery with deep roots and resilient bark, able to regrow themselves at a moment’s notice. Maybe these plants were considered GMOs, but Sorrel knew these babies were going absolutely nowhere and would grow back even if they got plucked from the roots, like in the case of the wild garlic and leek. Hell— sorrel knew, from his experiments, that these guys couldn’t even be burned away and would just grow back from the ashes and the little seeds and roots that stayed in the ground. God, he was so proud of this idea. Acres and acres of land now belonged to the earth and the people, and can give food to those who are patient enough to just get on their knees and pluck from the branches and roots.

… and, frankly, now that he realized it— King Stag was taking a bit too long.

By the time Elijah had gotten to the bottom floor, he had wished he had jumped out a window. That would have saved him several minutes. People never moved out of his way fast enough and he had certainly bowled over a poor intern or two. Luckily, with all of the commotion and hearing the news report as he ran out, Elijah gathered the general direction Gamma-Burn was headed. Once he was outside, Elijah leapt into the air. Despite his clumsy flying, it was easier and faster than trying to push through an anxious crowd of people.

Elijah soared through the city air. He did his best to ignore the pointing and calls from the people below. He would never get entirely used to being recognized by so many people. His head buzzed with both bug wings and his roaring thoughts. We can go back and talk to Li later. We can reschedule the interview. It’s fine. He’s not going to be upset with us if we reschedule– Why do we even care about him being upset?! Elijah let out a frustrated groan. He knew damn well he should he focusing on hunting Gamma Burn than whatever frustratingly homosexual thoughts had filled him.

When Elijah got to the scene, he froze in place. This… did not look like a dangerous scene. It just looked like… well. Flowers. Plants. There were very few buildings. Nobody was in danger. Hell, most of these looked like native plants. He was no plant person but the rather incessant buzzing of his insides told him the pollinators enjoyed the smell. Elijah landed and stared around at the so-called devastation. This… did not look all that bad actually… Plenty of food… It reminded Elijah of his conversation with Sorel and he could not help but smile a little.

--Focus. Doing one thing does not make up for murder. Gamma Burn is still bad. You’re here to capture him, not fix this.

Elijah strode forward through the field. He tried very hard to not show that he was avoiding stepping on the plants. It wasn’t easy given the sheer amount of them. He could not help but enjoy the smell of it. He blamed that distracting bliss on the infestation. Just as Elijah was about to do a flyby to try to find Gamma Burn, he spotted the villain. He had arrived behind Gamma Burn, though he doubted stealth would be his friend with the kind of noise he made just from walking.

Elijah could not explain his hesitation. There was something familiar about Gamma Burn that he could not put his finger on. He chalked it all up to the annoying, buggy hesitation. ”Well, well, well. Gamma Burn! Just what do you think you’re doing?” Elijah put on his big super hero voice. It covered his hesitation, though his slowed movements were doing little to help his situation.

Sorrel smiled a toothy, spiteful grin— but it couldn’t be seen with that thick gas mask on his face. Instead, King Stag saw some apparition stare him down. The poltergeist, Gamma-Burn, cocked his head to the side, almost playfully.

“Fuck, took you long enough. What, I can’t even do something that’s objectively a good thing to do? Shit, you really are a waste of taxpayer dollars, huh?”

Maybe that was too cruel— but Sorrel tried not to fall into the villain trope of monologuing, even if… he desperately yearned for a conversation, ever since he started texting that bulky man from the chipotle— Cricket. He could hear rustling in the bushes, but… he frankly didn’t care. He knew he could dodge attacks at this moment, and maybe he’d pay the consequences later with his physical illness acting up. Hell— he was confident enough to take a few steps closer to the giant beetle. Maybe he should do the villain trope. Maybe tease King Stag a bit more..?

A dark laugh echoed from the mask. ”Just saying, if you make me go nuclear the fatalities should be on your shoulders, for stopping me making this damn forest. Ah! But—“

The supervillain Gamma-Burn had two daggers as his signature weapons, but right now, he only carried one. He forgot where he left his other dagger— and, frankly, he can make another one if given enough time.

“Should I... Try to kill someone, or somethin’? To make your uh. Gracious visit to this food forest worthwhile..?”

Maybe he pushed it too far. He definitely pushed it too far. It was absolutely time to run. Instead, with his dagger in his right hand, he braced for… anything, really.

Oh, good. It looked like Gamma Burn had some pep in his step today. Elijah was not sure if he would call that a bad or good thing. He leaned towards bad, though. Especially when Gamma Burn started shit-talking him. Elijah scrunched his nose. He would hardly call saving people’s lives a waste of taxpayer dollars! He clenched his fists.

–The rustle of bushes tore Elijah’s attention away from Gamma Burn’s words. His heart stopped when he saw Lilian. Of course that little rat was here! He was everywhere! And now he was almost certainly in danger. Elijah prayed that Gamma Burn had not seen him yet, attempting to cover his looking over with a small cough. His glare cut back over to the villain. He just needed to draw Gamma Burn away from the scene.

It caught Elijah off guard when Gamma Burn approached him. The flighty bastard rarely acted this tough and upfront. Elijah hated to admit the taunting was working. He matched Gamma Burn’s stride forward. The handprint on his back, still not fully healed from when Gamma Burn had scorched it into him, burned. ”There’s no need for murder. Besides, I’m not here to stop you from making a food forest.” That part was pretty cool actually… It reminded him of the man he had been texting recently. Those thoughts would have brought a smile to his face if he were not so worried about Lilian. ”Besides, I like to think that saving people from your reckless actions is more than enough for the taxpayers. The fact that you jump to murder says everything it needs to about you. You’re a monster in sheep’s clothing, Gamma Burn. Don’t pretend like your little schemes aren’t excuses so that you don’t have to feel bad about killing the innocent.”

With that, Elijah dashed forward. He charged the ghastly visage of his arch nemesis. His goal was to push Gamma Burn back. Maybe draw him away from the scene. Really anything to distract Gamma Burn from the one person truly in danger here. He guessed Gamma Burn would leap over his back so, when he attempted to grab the radiated man, he prepared himself for the possibility of that vault.

”Come on, bug boy, Desantis was hardly innocent.”

Luckily for Sorrel, he knew exactly what King Stag was going to do.

”You are so damn lucky that I’m in a good mood today.”

The specter slid to the side as Cricket dashed towards him, hit the carapace monstrosity at the shoulder to redirect him, and then dropped down to the ground to grow a thorny, brambly blockade.

”I love how predictable you are, my dear! I’ve got a message for your firefighter friends, if anything happens—“

Gamma-Burn jumped up, propelled by a burst of radioactive energy. He landed on the side of a large tree, his knife digging into the bark and his boots catching on a knot of wood for balance.

”This things grow back no matter what you throw at ‘em! Even fire, if that dumbass lady were to try it! Contain the blaze instead of watering it.”

…. That was genuine advice, not threatening at all. He did want to say it! Sorrel knew that was important, because usually he saw firefighters actively putting out a blaze, but this jungle he made didn’t need the treatment and it would be better to contain the blaze and focus if the fire spread. No matter, though— the living ghost of earth turned its gaze, the signature green eye glowing through his goggles, straight to the journalist from chipotle. He already knew this idiot was there, and that this was not a safe area by any means.

So, Gamma-Burn jumped from his perch, grabbed the stupid fucking shrimp by his shirt collar, and sped off effortlessly through the thick forestry. Once he was at the clearing close to the roadside, he set the pink dumbass down. As if strawberry shortcake deserved his fucking grace— he still was kinda pissed at this dude.

”Get out.”

Was that threatening enough?? Sorrel had to absolutely run, and didn’t want to be chased by a giant beetle AND an annoying reporter. He ran back into the cover of his food forest and hid away.

By the time Li had a moment to react to Gamma Burn’s mystery appearance and subsequent disappearance, he was at the edge of the food forest, alone. Well… Alone was not the right term. There were plenty of skittering critters and rapidly growing plants to keep him company.

”Put your hands in the air. You’re coming back with us.”

Oh, and, as it turned out, several rapidly approaching police officers. The officers were skirting the edges of the food forest, clearly afraid of the plants. Likely, they feared some sort of radiation effect. The police officer at the front had spoken through a megaphone. His two officer buddies were carrying handcuffs and a gun respectively, though the gun was not aimed at Li.

---

Damn that green haired bastard. Radiation nightmare. Pain in the carapace mother fucker. Gamma Burn made Elijah reconsider taking boxing lessons. Elijah managed to catch himself before he careened out of control. Gamma Burn was frustratingly good at redirecting the massive hero’s momentum. By the time Elijah spun around, there was already a wall of thorns between him and his prey.

”I would not call myself predictable!”

Even if you are.Elijah’s shell opened as he prepared to take flight. It would be awkward and not particularly efficient in the rapidly growing expanse of vegetation, but if Gamma Burn took to the trees, there was little else Elijah could do. It was only at that point that it clicked that Gamma Burn called him dear. He sputtered a little, his pace slowed considerably. It was only slowed more when firefighters were mentioned, which caused a little shot of panic to dance through his veins. It took him so long to process what had just happened that, by the time he flew into the air, Gamma Burn was already gone.



”Shit!”

It was not very hero-like for Elijah to swear like that. Not that it mattered. The only people around were darting away from him.

He’s going to kill him and it will be your fault! Elijah dove back down and dashed into the brush in the direction the two had gone. Damn his big ass frame! It was difficult for the massive man to dodge around the plant life. It slowed the already slow fellow down and left a large hole in his wake. Just as he saw a break in the distant trees– Something bounced off his carapace. Something large enough to slow him to a stop.

”Huh?”

Of course. Of course, out of everything Sorrel runs into while trying to take cover in his food forest, it was King Stag, and of course he had to run full force into the beetle man’s shiny carapace and bounce off into another thick-barked tree. Gamma-Burn, the revenge of earth herself, slid off the trunk of the tree and started to cough and clutch his chest, pitifully hunched over on the lush undergrowth. Sorrel already knew he was coughing blood, and that his time was up, and maybe he was too cocky before, and— fuck, he needed to get out of there.

Fuck. Everything hurts. My head is dizzy— Sorrel could feel blood trickling down the thick mask as he looked up to try and salvage the situation. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

Sorrel started to hyperventilate. If his heart still pumped, it would’ve been pounding out of his chest. Instead, he felt that uncomfortable energy building up and buzzing around his stomach, his chest heating up dangerously. He— he didn’t want to discharge, not there. The plants would surely take it, but— this wasn’t a killing mission. Right now, avoiding unneeded death was part of his fucking plan and he surely could escape without murder, meaning death was unneeded at that point in time. He scanned the woods around him, and realized he grew his beautiful plants so thick that he’d need a bit of strength to jump away and hide in the treetops. And.. the only clearing was where that bug barreled himself through. On top of that, Gamma-Burn was still on the ground.

Fuck. He was still prone on the ground. He was thinking too long. His head kept spinning— Everything hurts so much. The ghostly figure tried to peel himself from the ground, but stumbled, coughed, and almost fell a second time. He couldn’t help but laugh—

And so, Gamma-Burn laughed a horrific, frenzied laugh, one full of rage and malice and… a hint of fear. He saw no option other than at least trying to fight for an opening to escape. So, a hand quickly hit an opening in King Stag’s armor— Sorrel noted he had multiple, on his joints and his neck and jaw, so Sorrel hit the joint of the right shoulder with a knife-strike.

Elijah turned just in time to see Gamma Burn smash into a nearby tree. Then he watched the poor man crumple to the ground and cough. It was… difficult to watch. Elijah knew he should have moved immediately to try to capture Gamma Burn but he was just sitting there, wracked with coughs. It did not feel right to descend on someone like that. This was… what, the third time in the past week someone’s bumped into him and fell? That sounded right. He was honestly starting to feel a little guilty about it.

”Hey…” Was all Elijah could manage to say.

Without much of a thought, he leaned in to just sort of… try to pick him up? There was no reason to attack Gamma Burn when he could just apprehend him like this. It felt wrong, though, for the battle to go this way. Hell, not even really a battle. As Gamma Burn stood and stumbled again, Elijah rushed to catch him before he fell. The poor thing was laughing. He must really be hurt–

Fuck!

Pain blossomed in Elijah’s right shoulder. He could feel hot blood bubble up between the gap in his armor. Panic shot through him. It hurt. It burned. This was not supposed to happen. He was supposed to be impenetrable! His soft insides were being damaged. His whole mind reeled on red alert. If that bastard even so much as twisted the knife wrong, the way it would peel up his carapace could leave a weak spot he was not prepared to cover.

Whatever gentleness there had been behind King Stag’s gaze had disappeared. Elijah had become a cowering figure, hiding behind the silent power of his super-sona. The air was quite suddenly filled with the sickeningly sweet scent of pheromones. That fresh wound poured not only blood but a wave of insects. Beetles washed down the blade and rushed towards Gamma Burn, hungry for meat. King Stag did not pull away from the wound. He had no desire to waste the opportunity of being close to the villain. Instead, he reeled back and threw a punch.