“Depends on what you have planned, really,” Solomon sputtered, shoving an elbow back and into Phantom’s stomach. He could feel the man’s grip loosen, but he was afraid it wouldn’t be enough. Sure, Solo was decently strong, but he’d never been fit for close combat. Just the same, he hadn’t even brought a weapon with him. He figured the case he was on was way too minuscule to notice. Unfortunately, he had been wrong. Very much so.
“Now I will ask you kindly,” Solo growled. “Let go of me before I make you.”
Valentine grunted as he was elbowed, forcing himself to keep holding on. "Just let me have the win this time." His voice was a little hoarse from the pain and his grip was definitely starting to slip despite his best efforts. There was something soft in his voice as he started talking again, something pleading. "We both know you'll be back on the streets before the day's over, it's not like it's any loss for you. And this isn't exactly a hot lead anyways, who cares if you leave it behind?"
Solomon coughed again, his rapid breathing fogging up the inside of his helmet. His blue eyes flashed around, looking the last lengths of the standard office before he let himself relax. Of course, he was still on his best guard, ready to disobey anything Phantom tested. The man’s softer voice had caught him by surprise, his own grip faltering as he let his shoulders dip. Carefully, he let go, letting his hands drop to his sides.
Without a second notice, Solomon kicked backward, in a futile attempt to knock Phantom’s legs out from under him. It was a clumsy shot at breaking the hold, but he knew he had made contact nonetheless.
“Don’t try sweet-talking me into submission, Phantom. And don’t make me get out of here myself,” he uttered.
At least Padlock was flagging as fast as Val was. It didn't seem to matter that his grip was slowly loosening, the villain would be down and out before he actually let go, and then Val could carry him back to the station easy peasy. And maybe he wouldn't have to choke him out. His grip went slack as Padlock relaxed, giving him enough room to breath as he seemed to relax. Of course, it didn't last long. The kick connected with enough force to send him toppling backwards, barely managing to clutch at the villain's shoulders with a tight enough grip to send him tumbling back too.
His head hit the ground hard enough to have him seeing stars, too dazed to do much more than grab Padlock's shoulders and hold tight. "It's not into submission," he protested weakly. "Just to a police car. You'll get out of jail in an hour tops, it's easy for you."
Padlock whipped around, shaking the hero’s hands from his shoulders violently and pinning him to the ground.
“That’s the point,” he muttered harshly. “It poses no challenge. I was bored with jail cells before I was even twelve. They get in the way of my work.”
It was true— Solomon had seen many cells in his time. But that was before he had started his habit of embedding small trinkets within him— a small slit to the left side of his chest held something just fractions larger than a needle. It was a weak spot of his, but it had helped him break many locks. In addition, no one could pat him down for it, considering it wasn’t on his person, but in his person. It was painful, but he got by.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go. Or, perhaps I take you with me. Are we done here?” he asked, annoyance flooding his words.
Valentine whined quietly as he was pinned, squirming a bit but not really putting any effort into escaping. Padlock could get out of jail about as easily as he could, and… he should probably get out of this, shouldn't he?
"As much as I'd like that," he pushed away the pain and discomfort as he spoke, doing his best to center the focus inward, "I think it's a bit early for you to take me home, isn't it?" He started to fade and soon he was gone, which meant he had no problem standing up and brushing himself off. There was a little pool of blood on the floor where he'd been lying but he kept his voice soft upbeat as he spoke. "I mean, we haven't even been on a proper date yet, but if this is your way of asking I'd be more than happy to say yes! I'm sure you're quite handsome beneath the helmet."
Suddenly, Padlock dropped to the floor, his hands gripping at nothing, and no one to cushion the cold cobalt ground.
He didn’t move, though, just kept himself on his knees and closed his eyes, taking a sigh as Phantom talked. It was odd how casually the man spoke, but Padlock was no stranger to it. It had been a short while since the last time they crossed paths.
“While I’m thankful for your ignorance, I’d rather keep the relationship between us on a strict arch-nemesis basis. How does that sound?” he muttered, latching his senses onto wherever he heard the voice coming from. He still had his eyes closed, just listening to find out wherever the man was.
Phantom wandered in a slow circle around him, watching at Padlock settled on his hands and knees. The small glimmers that signaled where his body was, if you could even call it a body in this state, were almost completely hidden in the darkness. "Disappointing." He wandered behind Padlock as he spoke, trying not to seem too cheerful as he watched the villain. It probably wasn't smart to play with his food, as it were, but he couldn't help himself. "You've already had your hands all over me, you can't tell me there's not something between us."
Solomon almost choked, even though the hold was long gone. He hadn’t remembered Phantom being this much of a sweet-talker. It almost made his heart jump. Almost.
“And you’ve never even seen my face,” he purred, meeting Phantom’s words with a sultry tone of his own. He sat back on his feet, adjusting his helmet. “And you can tell me there’s something between us?”
With the last sentence, his words bit harder, more mocking than anything else.
Valentine could've jumped for joy as Padlock started to reciprocate, voice noticeably perkier as he responded. "Well we can fix that little hiccup right away, you know. Just strip off the helmet and let me see that pretty face of yours." His voice was closer now, right up against Padlock's ear. Or… where he guessed Padlock's ear might be beneath the helmet. "You're such a charmer anyways, your touch is enough to melt the coldest of hearts." He didn't seemed perturbed by the edge in Padlock's voice, like he hadn't noticed it at all. "Any boy could be forgiven for falling for you."
Solo gave a large grin, not even bothering to hide it. After all, the helmet worked wonders.
He kept stable as he heard the voice from a multitude of areas, even keeping his heart at bay when it drifted up just beside his ear.
“I’d call you a hypocrite,” he cooed, voice laced with charm. “Considering I can’t even see you as it is, whether you wear a helmet or not.”
His smile growing wider, Solomon clicked a small button on the side of his helmet. Stealing army grade infrared goggles had its perks. After learning about Phantom’s power just a bit more, he had taken nightvision goggles and replaced the visor with a certain similar material. It let him know where anyone was, due to the body heat they gave off. Useful, he found it now. Even though he couldn’t touch Phantom, at least he knew where the man was.
(Technically, would infrared goggles even work for seeing Val? Just making sure. I can change it up if they wouldn’t work on him)
(to be honest I haven't really considered it, but I expect that they would. It probably wouldn't show like… a distinct outline of a person, more of a vaguely Val sized blob, but they'd still give you a good idea of where he was)
"You see me often enough as it is." He settled beside Padlock, content to hover here for a few minutes. The guy had an uncanny knack for figuring out where he was these days, which was annoying but not as bad as it could be. At least he was still untouchable. "It's not like I'm invisible all the time, we've tangled face to face before. Or… face to mask, as it were." There was something distinctly pouty in his voice.
If he were less amorphous, he'd have draped an arm across Padlocks shoulders, maybe pushed up on the bottom of his mask. He really was curious about what the man looked like. Voices were nice, but they didn't give him half of what he wanted to know. "C'mon, just give me one little peak. It won't hurt anything, I'm dreadfully absentminded."
(alright, gotcha. Sounds good)
Solo’s eyes followed Phantom’s base figure, his eyes never resting on the other man’s eyes. They were extremely hard to distinguish, considering the heat signature was about as accurate as a firing squad of blind men.
“And, hopefully, due to that absent mind,” Solo began, leaning forward in Phantom’s direction. “You’ll quickly get over the fact that you’ll never see me.”
In truth, Solo couldn’t care less what Phantom saw of him. For all the public knew, Solomon Moss had been dead for a long time, and he doubted the hero could describe him that well. Still, he enjoyed being considerably stubborn.
Valentine leaned in as Padlock did, sighing quietly when he didn't get the answer he wanted. He was warm against the villain's side. Human he was dreadfully cold, but like this he was hot as a California summer. Part of why heat seeking tech didn't work as well as it did for most people. "C'mon! You're just teasing me now, tell me what I can do to get just one little peek." His voice was distinctly pouty.
He slowly started flickering into view as he spoke, wandering behind Padlock and letting himself go solid again. Hopefully the flirting would be distracting enough to give him the upper and and if it wasn't, well… it wasn't so terrible to let the villain pin him.
As Phantom flickered back into view, Padlock clicked the button back off so the visor was normal again. He didn’t want to burn it out faster than he needed to.
Although he didn’t follow the man with his eyes, Solo kept his senses greatly attuned to Phantom. Even still, the flirting was barely catching him off guard. Since when had Phantom actually earned a reaction? Granted, Solo was used to this by now. He just hoped… well, he just hoped tonight wouldn’t be any different.
He blamed the nerves of the situation for his fast-beating heart, certainly not because of the man behind him. That would be ridiculous.
“What you can do? You’re putting yourself at my bidding so you can see my face?” Padlock whispered, his voice enticing. “How interesting. “
Padlock was bigger than him and even though he wasn't the strongest person Val had ever dealt with, he was strong enough to make a struggle difficult. Maybe he could grab a pipe or something? His gaze skimmed the office, coming back with very little. Could you bludgeon someone with a stapler?
His train of thought was rather rudely interrupted when the villain started talking again and his voice was all low and warm. "You're so dramatic, not everything had to be about biddings and arch nemeses and all that junk." He tutted his tongue, forgetting for the moment that he wasn't invisible or intangible because he was too busy fighting back the urge to plaster himself up against Padlock's back like a needy boyfriend. "It's just a favor from one guy to another, now won't you tell me what I need to do? And don't say let you go! You already know that's off the table."
Solomon let out a laugh. It was deeper and huskier than one would imagine, but his normal raspy voice held it well. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, still having Phantom at his back.
He took a few slow steps forward, making it clear that he wasn’t running away, jut that he was readjusting himself.
Suddenly, he looked back, grinning as he did so.
“I’ve learned, Phantom,” Solo almost drawled the name, clasping his hands behind his back. “That simply letting me go is not an option. I don’t want you to, in fact.”
He then cocked his head, eyes nearly glowing beneath the visor with a sort of fiery gaze.
“It wouldn’t be the… challenge I desire. Would it, now?”
Val jolted for a second but the surprise left him quickly enough. He stepped forward, cocking his head to the side to match Padlock. There was a smile on his face, wide and interested. Something about the way Padlock said his name piqued his interest, left him hanging on every word. "A challenge, huh?" He bit his lip, trying to stifle the smile a bit. Trying not to seem quite so invested in what he was saying. "What kind of challenge are you looking for, then? I can get you a bigger cell if you want, but I'm sure that's not quite your speed either."
Well, standing here and talking to Phantom without outwardly screaming was already a challenge in and of itself, unfortunately for Pad.
The man crossed his arms over his chest. “The cell doesn’t matter. I won’t be needing one.”
He adjusted the helmet, shifting his weight from foot to foot, then began walking forward. He stopped merely inches away from Phantom, his own hand still intertwined behind his back.
“In case you haven’t noticed,” he purred, voice slightly muffled by the helmet, “neither of us are real fighters. Now, my proposal, is that you leave, although I don’t see you doing so. That would be too easy. The only other option is to chase me… because I don’t plan on sticking around here any longer. That is the challenge I set on the table.
“It’s your move, hero.”
Phantom hummed quietly and in his head he was saying yes, yes, yes but he'd learned that sometimes it was best to pretend like you didn't want something so the other person would sweeten the pot. "And here I thought you were going to offer something a little more fun." He reached forward, wrapping his arms around Padlock's neck. They were pressed together now, chest to chest, and he was sure the other man could feel the way he was practically trembling with anticipation. "Shouldn't you be offering to kidnap me and whisk me away? Wine and dine and try to seduce me to your side?" He ran a hand down the villain's side, smirking.
Padlock had to attentively focus to keep himself from shivering, although he let his heart go completely. He could hear its thrumming beats in his ears, almost drowning out Phantom’s words. A flash of heat washed over him and he stayed as still as he could, the other man’s hand leaving a tingling trail as it moved.
Still, Padlock had the urge to scoff, narrowing his eyes.
“It’s a fool’s notion to believe I have any sort of information on me,” Pad murmured, completely ignoring Phantom’s remark. “Assuming that’s what you’re looking for.”
Val set his head on Padlock's shoulder, letting his head rest against the hard plastic of his helmet. "Well here's to hoping." He slid his hands up, noting the scars he could feel beneath the thin fabric of Padlock's shirt. Poor thing. His lips dropped into a pout. "I can't exactly take you at your word, you know." Both his hands slid beneath the jacket, shucking it off Padlock's shoulders. "And anyways, I don't want you having any advantage on our little chase."
It was probably too much to slid his hands beneath Padlock's shirt so he didn't, just kept running his hands up and down the man's sides. "Are you going to take your helmet off now, or do I only get to see that pretty face once I catch you?"
Padlock’s heart raced too fast for his own good, and in a futile attempt to keep it at bay, he looked out past Phantom, to the window behind. The only light came from the moon, the window pane casting a shadow on the two.
Pad bit his lip, taking a deep shaky breath as he resisted his body’s pleas to lean into the man’s hands. He kept himself still again, locking his jaw.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to catch me,” he breathed, letting his words linger before he stepped even farther forward and to the side, leaning on Phantom slightly as he passed, not breaking his gaze.
“And… after you do that?” he asked, opening the window. “Then we’ll see, won’t we?”
With that, he slung his legs over the side of the building, glancing from Phantom to the busy street about four stories below.
He gave one last look back, flicking up only a slim portion of his vizor, so the man was only able to see his piercing blue eyes. They shone with playfulness as Padlock grinned.
And then he jumped.
Val sighed quietly as Padlock pulled away, following him over to the window. "You're a real tease, you know that?" He leaned up against the wall, watching. Something anxious stirred in his belly as he watched Padlock settled but he pushed it down. Padlock was smart. He didn't act irrationally. He didn't make bad decisions.
Of course, that didn't keep him from yelping as the man hurled himself down onto the street below. He pushed his head out the window, searching for any sign that he'd actually hit the ground. Was anyone screaming? Was there blood? It was too hard to tell so he faded, barely mustering the concentration he needed to sink through the floors. He got stuck in one for a few minutes, too panicky to get through until he forced himself to recenter.
This wasn't Sherlock. Nobody was going to hurl themself off a building willy nilly, Padlock had to have a plan.
And, a plan was exactly what Padlock had. The only issue was that he had to time it right.
As he launched himself from the window, he snapped his head to his left, immediately reaching out a hand and biting down on the collar of his jacket to brace for the whiplash.
It had been the same tactic he used to get into the building in the first place. A small rope tied to one of the rungs on the fire escape. He latched onto it with both hands, his shoulders buckling as the sudden weight sent him swinging. His hands slid down, rope burning holes into his palms. Although, due to the sheer amount of adrenaline, the pain was numbed.
As the swinging slowed, Padlock descended, not even bothering to go about it carefully. About ten feet from the ground, he dropped completely, kicking up dust as he hit the pavement running. He continued to weave throughout the back alleys of the city, but a nagging thought kept him from going as fast as he could.
It wasn’t that he wanted to be caught. Right?
Val hit the ground running but he was too shaky to be very effective. Padlock wouldn't just… jump. He wasn't dumb, he had a goal. That was the mantra he repeated as he tore through the crowd, searching desperately for any sign of that stupid white helmet. He wasn't stupid. He wasn't stupid. The sun hit something, round and white and close enough to make his heart pause in his chest, just for a second, as he tore off behind it.
He faded eventually, bolting straight through buildings until he caught sight of the same shirt, slacks, helmet combo that Padlock always wore and he went dizzy with relief. His attention had never narrowed like this before, never thinned to a single desperate point, but he was thanking god for it as he followed the person who had to be padlock.
"You're too slow, darling!" His voice was breathless, but he needed to say it. Needed to get the reaction that would prove his idiot of a nemesis hadn't just hurled himself into oblivion.
“Says the man behind me!” Padlock called back, a smile flickering across his face. So Phantom wasn’t as big of an idiot as he thought.
Padlock continued to weave through the streets, going further and further away from the main road in the city. Although it was relatively busy at this time of night, Padlock knew his way very well around the back roads and alleys.
Suddenly, he slipped out of view, down a different path. As quickly as he could, Pad dropped to the ground, unlatching a grate and slipping below the streets. He fiddled with the grate, sliding it back above him, then running the lengths of the tunnel.
Valentine had no clue where they were going, this wasn't exactly one of his usual haunts, but he figured he had the definite advantage. He didn't need to worry about obstructions, about running around buildings, about ducking through the crowds of people. Still, the playing field was more even than he'd like it to be. Padlock probably had the advantage if he was being honest with himself. He knew this place too well for Valentine to really catch up.
He groaned when the man ducked out of view again, leaving him with no leads and nowhere to go. He sprinted forward a little ways, paused, looked around, nothing. Nothing, and he'd been this close. He kicked at one of the grates on the ground, quickly unfading, but he grinned when it moved. "Gotcha!"
In no time he was underground, invisible, and back on Padlock's trail, unable to keep the giddy smile off his face.
Solomon quickened his pace to its full potential, smiling himself. It wasn’t long before he reached his place in question.
It was a small room just veering off the side of the tunnel. A door that lead to an old abandoned maintenance room. It had a few extremely old-looking monitors and wires across the ceiling, a certain cyberpunk aesthetic that Pad hadn’t even tried to achieve, but succeeded nonetheless. It was extremely small, with a makeshift bed in one corner, and a desk filled with computers and papers in the other. Although, none of it was important. Padlock made sure of it. All of his valuables were elsewhere.
He quickly moved a box aside from beneath the desk, opening an extremely small latch beneath it and descending yet again. He pulled the box back over the shut grate, smirking to himself, considering from the other side it looked untouched.
He began down another ladder, the tunnel growing extremely dark and cold.
Val paused as he dashed into the room, momentarily stricken by the sight. It was so cool, he had to look around. Just for a few seconds, then he could keep chasing. He picked through the desk first, lost interest, started messing with the monitors. It wasn't what he'd expected Padlock's secret lair to look like, but then again it wasn't like there was anything useful in here.
"Real cool place you've got!" he called out, before he remembered that Padlock was probably long gone. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Stupid. Now he'd never figured out what the guy looked like because he's gone and gotten his attention snagged on a place that wasn't even a real lair. "Didn't think you'd go in for the whole cyberpunk thing, but that's pretty cool. It… um… it fits you, I guess."
