(I took an unplanned hiatus.)
Zeke's face turned an even deeper red, and this time it wasn't even because of anything she said. It was because she was incredibly adorable– and he couldn't help but think so.
Add that to the list of things he would never admit.
But that didn't necessarily mean anything, either, he attempted to reassure himself. The kiss and the hugs and his own thoughts and the paintings and the pancakes and her comments and the "date"– they didn't–
Okay, well, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to actually convince himself that none of those meant anything, and that made his internal panic, fear, and embarrassment levels spike, because he didn't know what to do.
Several seconds passed before he realized he hadn't answered her yet– he'd just been staring at her while his mind reeled and he tried to make sense of everything. "Y-yeah–" he finally managed to squeak out, but it was barely audible, so he cleared his throat and repeated himself. "Yeah, I'm ready."
He had to convince himself that she was thoroughly joking and that this was not a date. This was just… him going to hang out with her for… some perfectly justifiable reason that he couldn't come up with.
But it wasn't a date. He was far too terrified to call it that because the way things were going and the rapid pace at which they were indeed going scared him and he'd never felt like or done this before in his life.
(Evelyn is such a precious little spunky girl and I love her. I also love how she essentially volunteered Zeke for a date that he didn't sign up for and how he's going on it anyway because he secretly wants to while at the same time is horrified of it.)
(Oh… I thought I was the only one who does that from time to time…)
(Also, yes, Zeke, you’re not going anywhere but with Evelyn >:3)
Letting out a small giggle, Evelyn nodded and went to stand beside the man. She held onto his arm, leaning on his shoulder and thanks to their height different, she was perfectly comfortable with that pose.
Of course, she locked the door before they headed anywhere. Safety’s first of course. For both her and her cats as the feeding machine was on and scheduled.
”People don’t seem to recognize me so that’s nice…” Evelyn said casually, her hood covering her head.
They did have some time to waste before Evelyn had to give Wisteria a visit. Two hours, to be exact. Which was why she came here, the Fountain Plaza in the middle of the city. She looked around wonderingly. She’d never been able to see the Plaza in its finest form as she had always been in the middle of a crowd. This change of pace was… nice.
”Can we go there?!” she asked, pointing to a cafe that looked not so crowded but was nicely decorated. Her eyes seemed to sparkle… somehow.
Zeke hadn't really been there, either. He didn't get out much, aside from when he operated as Nightmare– but, of course, that was always during the night. He usually sulked around at home during the day and attempted to get what rest he could while mostly having unseen nervous breakdowns. Enjoying himself wasn't something he did often these days. Or ever, truth be told.
He admired the place, though being in public– even when there weren't any crowds around– had it's way of making him nervous. He didn't like being seen by people.
But Evelyn's presence secretly helped him not feel as nervous in that aspect. Then again, the way she held his arm and leaned against him made him feel exceedingly nervous in another. And the way her eyes sparkled only made it a thousand times worse.
But he nodded stiffly and managed, "Sure. Why not? I've never been."
Evelyn practically clapped her hands with glee, taking Zeke by the wrist and bringing him towards the cafe—
”Sweet, let’s g—“
BOOM!!!
An explosion occurred not faraway from the two. To be precise, it happened across the street where a park was and where number of people were. The culprit landed amidst the flames of the explosion, being a humanoid figure in a black metallic suit.
Out of instinct, Evelyn pulled Zeke along with her into a nearby alleyway to hide from the villain’s line of sight while several civilians were shouting and screaming. They ran away as quickly as they could, only to be met with sleeping gas deployed by the villain.
”Tsk. Termina…” the rogue stated in an annoyed tone. What was a sociopathic villain doing this early in the morning anyways?
”Ow…” she quietly sounded, realizing that her elbow had gotten burned due to the first explosion.
Zeke peered around the corner before spinning around to face Evelyn. He was about to say something, but it slipped his mind as his eyes landed on her injury. "Evelyn! You're hurt–" he blurted out in a harsh whisper, his concern evident. He grabbed her gently by the shoulders and guided her deeper into the alleyway. "Come on. We have to get out of here." Zeke wasn't much for fleeing, but he wasn't one for fighting when he was out of control, either. Here, he was without his suit, which meant his identity would be exposed. It was daylight, so he was without the cover of night. Quite frankly, none of his abilities remotely protected him from sleeping gas.
But more than anything, he didn't feel like he could adequately protect Evelyn, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.
A loud sound came from where the villain was… it sounded like jumping. And boy was that correct. The villain, namely Termina, landed in front of the two as they were moving into the alleyway.
”Now where are you two going…” the villain’s voice was distorted by the mask they wore. Truth be told, their gender was never revealed to the public so most of social media just referred to this villain as a ‘they’.
They aimed their hand which was filled with bombs at the two before lowering their arm just a bit when they looked at Zeke.
”Wait…” they were about to say something but was quickly cut short when a dozen of golden strings wrapped around them, ultimately tying them like a cocoon and pulling them upwards.
”You two safe?” Aureus Arachnid, a hero, asked from above, carrying the cocoon of the villain on his back with ease. His hero’s suit lived up to the ‘golden spider’ name; he literally had six spider legs on his back which were creepily controllable.
Evelyn looked up, giving the hero a thumbs up, telling him that they were fine. The hero gave a thumbs up back.
”That’s great, I’ll take this… person to the station real quick, I’ll be back to clean this up—“ the hero said before crawling, with his spider legs, from the rooftop to the nearest police station.
Lynn let out a calm sigh, before that quickly turned to a concerned and hurtful one when the pain of the burn came to her. She hated burns like this but couldn’t do anything about it.
”Ow ow ow…” she used her other hand to cover the burn, trying to reduce the pain the best she could. At least before the medical units arrive.
Zeke had reacted to the threat in the moment by pulling Evelyn protectively against himself and preparing to teleport both himself and her away– and he only hesitated as long as he did because he would officially betray his identity. Not to mention, teleporting with another person was not as easy as teleporting alone.
But none of that was necessary, because the spider-dude showed up. Zeke had seen him before– on the news some, but also in Evelyn's paintings. Though the man's name slipped Zeke's mind, he was a hero.
Zeke– out of nothing more than his own injured pride– found himself mildly annoyed at being rescued. Some part of him was grateful on Evelyn's behalf, but Zeke– well, his pride was clearly quite fragile to begin with and things like this bothered him when they shouldn't have.
As far as he was concerned, he shouldn't need to be saved by anybody else.
And he should be capable of protecting other people– namely Evelyn– of his own accord.
Speaking of which–
"Evelyn!" Zeke's expression softened and he very gently grabbed her arm to assess the damage to her elbow. He knew how bad burns could be– he'd had plenty in his life, and he was not a fan. The only thing worse than burns would have to be whip strikes, but he'd rather not think about those.
Zeke frowned at her wound. He was no doctor, but it looked painful. "Evelyn– I'm so sorry." He wasn't sure why he was apologizing. Maybe for not preventing it? "Do you need to go see a doctor or– something?" He didn't stick around enough at crime scenes to know how long it took for ambulances and medical personnel to arrive.
(Can we just appreciate the fact that Zeke cared?! This soft boi actually cared!)
”No, no, I’m fine. It’s not so bad, the medical team should be here soo—“ her eyes widened at the alleyway’s opening, creating a concrete wall by quickly absorbing the gray color of her hoodie.
Even with the wall, a red metallic spear managed to pierced the thick wall.
”Impressive!” a young male voice came from behind the wall as the spear was pulled away.
Evelyn lowered the wall back into the ground only to be met with another villain; one she had never seen before.
”Greetings dear lady and gentleman, I am here to entertain~~” the villain spoke before laughing maniacally. The villain was in a knight’s armor, blue and golden in color with a helm that completely covered their head.
Truthfully, Lynn wasn’t fazed with the man’s first ability. She just wasn’t prepared for it… however… after the laugh from the man, she was terrified. Not at the laugh, but at what followed. A wall of metallic spears appeared behind the man which was fired at the two without a single warning.
( He is a very soft boi but shhh don't tell him that or he will be angy )
Zeke didn't have much time to think anything through. Everything happened so quickly–
The only thought that occurred to him during that moment was one that he would be thoroughly unwilling to admit if asked about later: Protect Evelyn.
Zeke, of course, had no desire to die or get injured, but in the unfortunate event that only one of them could walk out of here alive today– well, he decided it would not be him.
Evelyn was a better person than he was. She deserved to live more than Zeke did. She had more things to live for than he did, too.
So if someone died, he hoped to God it wouldn't be her.
That's why in that split second of time he had to react without thought, he grabbed Evelyn, threw himself between her and the arrow-firing psychopath. His reflex was to teleport, but he could only teleport to places he could see– and, they were pretty much cornered in an alley. Zeke didn't have anywhere safe to go.
His alternative was to avoid the arrows by getting down on the ground– some subconscious plan to position himself overtop of Evelyn in order to shield her body with his– but there was a problem.
He wasn't quite fast enough.
He ended up unintentionally shoving Evelyn down and falling on top of her, because an arrow had tore through the back of his right shoulder. It had lodged itself there, and though very little blood had yet to present itself, there would undoubtedly be quite a bit when the weapon was dislodged.
His eyes were wide, his face blanched, but his adrenaline temporarily protected him from the full extent of the pain, and the first words out of his mouth to Evelyn were, "Are you okay?"
He needed to get her out of there. That was the current objective. The only objective. Using whatever means necessary.
(Question, what color is Zeke’s shirt right now?)
(Oh, hm. I hadn't thought much about it but I imagined like dark blue)
Evelyn’s response to the spear piercing Zeke’s shoulder was… quite cruel. She gently lifted Zeke up from herself, absorbing the color of his shirt while she was at it and created some dark blue marbles.
”Eh…? What are those supposed to do?!” the villain laughed at the seemingly harmless marbles before Evelyn threw them at the man, creating a smoke cloud that was a darkened blue and blinding. The smoke was too thick to even see through… at least, for the villain and Zeke that is.
Evelyn, being the one who created the smoke, saw through everything just fine.
She absorbed the color of her hoodie, the light grayish color, and created a kitchen knife before walking into the smoke cloud.
What came from the smoke cloud was the sound of metal clanking.
”Eh, eh?!” the villain’s voice managed to slip from the cloud, followed by the sound of something stabbing into flesh and a pained scream from the villain. This made the villain retreat immediately, leaving behind a trail of blood that came from the knife stabbed deep into his neck.
Evelyn then went ahead and absorbed the white from a nearby marbled brick, creating a gauze to help the bleeding Zeke was enduring.
She knelt down to him without a word said.
As she used the gauze to slow down the bleeding, drops of tears came from her eyes.
”…I- I’m sorry…” she spoke with much regret that she had been fearful at first, making Zeke take the hit.
"It's fine," Zeke managed, though beads of sweat were starting to form along his brow as the adrenaline began to wear off and the pain set in. His free hand clutched at the shoulder, though the spear had yet to be dislodged and Zeke wasn't sure he was ready to pull it out just yet. That was the problem with weapons like spears and arrows. They don't just slide out. They tear out. And he wasn't sure if the one currently stabbed through him was stuck in muscle or bone or what– but he did know that, whatever the case was, it was going to be a bit before he got any use out of that arm. Which really sucked, considering he was right-hand dominant. "I'm fine," he insisted, though his breath hitched and it was hard to be convincing when one literally had a spear in them and was sweating and pale as heck. He might've even been struggled to fight back some involuntary tears, but it was hard to tell. "Are– are you okay?"
”Yeah… yeah I’m fine…” she wiped her tears a bit, turning when she heard the rapid footsteps of…
”Keep your eyes out for survivors!” a voice ordered as a team of medical officers rushed around the Plaza. The voice was from Wisteria, the woman who Evelyn was supposed to meet later and a well-known medic-based hero. She noticed the two that were in the alleyway and came quickly to them.
Evelyn, realizing this, tried her best to cover her face with her hood.
”Oh dear…” she gasped a bit when she saw the spear that had passed through Zeke. That wasn’t pretty in the slightest. However, she’d seen worse. She knelt down and activated her power while slowly removing the weapon.
Her powers were quite simple, it gave an impossible boost to the target’s self healing properties and while being preformed the target will not feel any pain.
When the spear was removed, she would utilize her powers to the maximum limit, giving the man Nightmare, the infamous villain a shoulder that wouldn’t feel as bad as it was.
She turned to one of her officers.
”Any more survivors in need of critical first-aid?” she asked, her voice strict and serious. Her purplish long hair swayed gracefully as she left the alleyway, leaving Zeke in an almost fully-healed state… well, the hole that was once there seemed to have healed already so that was a plus.
One thing to note about Wisteria’s powers was her ability’s limit. She cannot heal people suffering from microscopic diseases like those caused from bacteria, viruses, parasites, and such. She can only heal what can be seen.
Zeke growled– almost screamed– when she pulled the weapon out of his shoulder, but once she had got it out, the worst part was over. The pain receded almost altogether as she healed him, and the only thing left to imply that he'd been injured to begin with was the blood-stained hole in his shirt and the aggravating soreness that still remained. Once it was out, he drew in a breath of relief, though he was still sort of a mess, all things considered. He'd been stabbed through with a spear, so he had a pretty good excuse.
He wouldn't look Wisteria in the eye. Even though she'd never recognize him, he always felt either hatred or guilt when in the presence of most heroes– and for this one, it was the latter. He wasn't sure why. Maybe because she saved people and he killed people. Granted, he killed bad people, but… still.
Zeke managed to get to his knees and sit back on his ankles. He carefully grabbed onto Evelyn's sleeve, whispering so that only she could hear him, "Your burn. Have her heal your arm."
Evelyn nearly lost her cool when Zeke whispered to her. Perhaps it was the distance that got her so… surprised.
”R-Right…” she stood up and followed the hero.
”Uh-uhm… miss Wisteria—“ she spoke as the hero turned to her. Lynn quickly showed the healer her burn and was surprised when the hero smiled. She gently grabbed onto Evelyn’s arm while her other hand activated her power.
”You think I wouldn’t recognize you Lynn?” she spoke silently, only Pastel would hear her.
”Yeah… you’re right…” Evelyn laughed a bit, more on the nervous side than the comfortable side.
”Our meeting, I wanna cancel that because one, I have a lot of clean up to do here and two…” Wisteria gave the man in the alleyway a look ”—it seems like you have someone to take care of” she spoke with a small teasing smile as Evelyn was left with a blush on her face.
”See you around dear” the medical hero waved goodbye as she went with the rest of her officers, looking for more people to help.
Evelyn soon returned to the alleyway. She sat down next to Zeke, her head to her knees.
”Hey… Zeke…” she started weakly ”… do you think I’ll ever be brave enough…” she took a pause ”…to betray someone who trusts me…?”
Zeke was rubbing his tender shoulder when she returned, though his eyes widened at her question. "… Why?" To him, that was an odd, terrifying question– and he didn't know who she was referring to when she said someone. He swallowed hard. He'd personally been betrayed so many times in his life that he'd lost count, and he wasn't about to recommend that anyone else get betrayed. Though, it also depended on the scenario– on who was in the right and who was not– but her question evoked nothing but worry inside of him. Suddenly, he was uncomfortable, and it had nothing to do with his previous injury.
Evelyn, without taking her head up from her knees, replied: ”Wisteria has been keeping this a secret for… I don’t know anymore. But she had been creating and sending out illegals drugs to the countryside and other countries for business purposes, as she puts it…” Evelyn was serious about the situation as her voice was strictly unshaken.
”However… thanks to andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), I was able to confirm that she’d been using kidnapped children and adults to test out new drugs and medicine, both legal and illegal ones. Her lair is near the harbor… though…” she took a deep breath ”…I’m not ready to confront her for two reasons. One, she is my friend, and two, she’s basically the greatest medical hero around this area and I’m not sure what would happen if we… you know, take care of her” she stated her point.
Zeke's expression went slack with surprise. "That's– messed up–" he managed. He didn't care if the woman just healed him or not. That was twisted. "If what you're saying is true, you can't cover this up for her. She can't– She can't kidnap people and experiment on them. That's sick." During his mini-rant, his brow had furrowed, his expression tightened. "It doesn't matter how much good the public sees her do if she's practically torturing innocent people in secret."
”You’re right in that sense…” Evelyn lifted her face from her knees, allowing her to breath normally now. She gave a sad and disappointed expression to what she had told Zeke.
”I was going to poison her this afternoon but she cancelled the plan so… we need another way to get rid of her… even if it means our city’s medical team will lose its strongest force…” the colorful rogue stated with a serious voice while also making sure that Zeke was the only who heard her… at least, that was what she had hoped.
A piece of golden string was beside Evelyn, too small for anyone to see…
(Other side of town)
”Is this… true?” the golden spider asked the police officer by him while holding a piece of string to his ear.
”Yeah, saw it myself” andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer) answered coldly, sipping a cup of hot coffee.
”Well, I guess that just adds someone unexpected to our hit list…” the hero mentioned, crawling down from the rooftop the two were on.
”So… I do have just one question—“ she leaned a bit closer to Zeke ”—if I were to continue on this ‘mission’, you will help me, right?” she asked, her voice a bit shaky.
(Let me just say that the Arachnid being able to listen through the thread since spiders are able to detect vibrations through their webbing is actually an interesting concept, and I like what you did there)
Zeke looked at her a moment before offering her a small nod. "Of course I will." He gave his shoulder another rub and decided that it was in good enough shape for fighting if need be. He'd won fights with far worse injuries in the past, so this wouldn't be much of a hindrance, if any. He looked at her for several more seconds, and he had to resist the urge to smirk a little– only because it would be so out of place.
But this girl was an odd one. So sweet and perky, yet she'd helped him kill Snowstorm and she flat out poisoned Inferno herself– not to mention possibly having just stabbed the other guy with the spears– and she didn't even bat an eye about either. She was incredibly colorful, but she was also a little darker than he'd given her credit for in the past.
A mixture of dark and light.
And he kind of liked it.
(Thank you for catching onto that :D)
Evelyn leaned on Zeke’s shoulder a bit, smiling ever so slightly.
She soon stood up, looking outside the alleyway and towards the Plaza.
”If we wanna start anywhere, the harbor where the captured are might be a good idea” she started, giving Zeke a hand possibly wanting him to take it and to stand up.
”She’s still inside so we have some time to locate where that warehouse might be. Since, you know, the harbor is known to be larger than it needs to be” she stated.
Zeke nodded, accepting her hand and pulling himself up to his feet. "Okay." He paused. "But I should probably stop by my place on the way. Just because– well, you know. I don't think it would be very good if anybody saw me breaking into an old like this." Nightmare on the other hand– well, they'd expect as much from him.
Evelyn nodded softly, holding onto his wrist.
”Please, lead the way” she said. As focused on the mission as she was, she couldn’t help but be a tad bit excited that she was going to Nightmare’s house. Truth be told, though, she had an image formed in her head already as to how the house might look like. Perhaps that was thanks to the stories she read before as well but whatever. She was excited nonetheless.
Fighting in a cat hoodie is not a good idea Lynn!!
