"I doubt you'd be able to," he said quietly, looking down at his feet and just taking the verbal beating. In a way, the words struck him harder than Whirlwind had. Once again, leave it to his best friend to make him feel like the biggest shmuck on the planet. Now that he thought about it, he very well could be.
“That’s what you’re going to say to me right now? God, Winston, you’re so…….ugh!” She whirls away from him, needing a second to pull herself together so she doesn’t do anything rash. It takes several moments before she turns around and faces him again. “You have one chance to explain yourself. Make it count.”
He didn't look up from his feet, his eyebrows pressing together as he once again thought of what to say.
"I tried to do that hero shit before," he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper, "About 2 years ago. The first time I got in a real fight, like with a villain, a whole block was leveled. I mean, like, gone. Nothin' but rubble and fucking dust. A demolition crew couldn't have done better, even if they had a year. The guy didn't make it out alive, neither. Everyone was so…..mad at me afterwords. Like it had been my intention to kill the guy the whole time. Nothin' I said changed their opinion, neither. Seemed like the whole world was trying to make me a villain." He looked up at her, his eyes laced with sadness and regret. "So I gave them that villain. And it's not like I don't know that what I'm doing's wrong. I just….get so mad. I see all of them out there, getting praise for the shit that they do when it's no different than what I did. It just ain't fair."
She shuts her mouth and listens as he talks, her eyes staring a hole right into his soul. The story makes her feel a little bad for yelling but not nearly bad enough to apologize for her behavior. She knows that he had good intentions in the beginning but that doesn’t excuse his current behavior. Hearing that he’s an idiot will do him some good.
“Why didn’t you just stop? You didn’t have to become a villain. You could have just lived a normal life. The path you chose wasn’t forced on you.”
"'Cause it ain't far," he repeated, his hands clinching into fists inside of his jacket. "Those guys get to do anything they want and will always have people falling at their feet just to lick the bottom of their fucking shoes. It gets me so mad that I need to go take my anger out on something. The fact that it typically involves fighting a hero is like killing two birds with one stone."
“Winston, people have died because of you. You’re destroying the city and people’s homes and wrecking their lives. Take your anger out on a punching bag, not on those you have done nothing wrong.” Charlie stares him down, her gaze unwavering. Slowly, her anger is starting to die down but it’s still there. She can still easily be set off on another furious rant.
"I break the punching bags," he mumbled, scratching the side of his face and looking down at his feet. "Sorry. That was a dumb thing to say."
She throws her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Then go to one of the abandoned buildings and just throw a bunch of shit around. Punching bags are just one option.”
Winston shrugged in response. For the first time in a while, he was at a loss for words. His mind went over every bad thing he had done over two years. So many people had died at his hands. Hundreds more injured. Millions of dollars of destruction.
"I….I gotta go." Without another word, he opened the door of her apartment and ran out, so fast he was hardly a blur.
“Don’t your dare!” By the time the words leave her mouth, it’s too late. She sighs heavily and kicks the side of her couch. What the hell do I do now? I can’t call the cops on my best friend. But…..he is a super villain…… The gears in her head turn as she tries to think. This is all way too much for her.
She heads into the kitchen and climbs onto the counters. There’s a single bottle of whiskey in one of the cabinets. It won’t help her think but it’ll help her feel better.
Another notification on her phone around 15 minutes later. Indigo had appeared at the scene of the fight once again. A video feed followed barely two seconds later. Winston walked forward, that characteristic smile of the villain nowhere to be found. He stared down at a bloodstain in the sidewalk as the emergency respondents, police force, and civilians scrambled away from him.
"I'm…..sorry," he mumbled barely able to be heard. Then, he reached up and gently removed the wig from his head, dropping it to the ground next to him. Finally, he fell to his knees and put his hands on the back of his head. He was surrendering.
Charlie, only a little ways into the bottle, stops drinking entirely when she sees the news feedback. With literally no plan, she throws the bottle aside and runs out of her apartment. There’s no time for trying to take her car so she runs the four blocks to the scene of the fight.
Sure enough, there he is, on his knees. The police has there guns drawn. No. No! She shoves a few people aside as she sprints up to him. There’s no way she’s letting anything happen to him. She positions herself right in front of him, making sure that not a single officer with be able to get a shot in without hitting her as well.
"Lady, get outta the way!" one of the police offers shouted.
"Charlie," Winston said quietly, "I'll be fine. Please move."
He never said please.
"You shut your damn mouth," Charlie snaps quietly in response. Staring down at the cops, she refuses to move at all. "Get out of here now, Winston." Based off his fighting tactics, he can fly so that means he gets a gettaway.
"Let me make this right," he mumbled, looking down at the ground as the police began to converge on the two. "I've been blind. Blind from my anger and jealousy. And I've done bad things because of it. Stuff that I should be punished for."
"Knock it off. You're being a big idiot. Get up and go home." She uses her heel of her foot to nudge him, her eyes not leaving the cops. "Sign up for community service and donate every cent you have to the city. They're probably going to kill you if you go with them."
Winston grit his teeth as the circle of police officers slowly inched in closer. "Mm…….fuck."
With that, he took off into the air, disappearing through a dark storm cloud.
Charlie nods her head in approval. All she has to do is get out of here and then they're both good to go. She offers an innocent smile to the cops before slowly inching away.
"Hey, lady!" a police officer shouted as the watched the man fly away. "The hell was that for?"
She shrugs before turning and just walking away. Hopefully they'll be in shock long enough for her to get away. Being arrested is not on her agenda for today.
They did indeed let her go, unsure if they could really arrest her for anything she did.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Winston.
Charlie waits until she’s out of sight before sprinting all the way back to her apartment. She slips inside, closing and locking the door behind her. Noting that her phone is buzzing, she checks it.
It was a text message from her friend.
Where do you want me to go? he asked.
Get over to my apartment. You took off your wig so they probably know who you are and where you live. She texts back.
I'll be there soon. Soon, it seems, meant five minutes before her doorbell rung.