Page 20 of Villainous Intent

My best friend was dating a League member and she didn’t even know.

I’d recognized Menace the moment I saw him. He wasn’t exactly a household name, but he was on the Alliance watch list. And I’d said nothing. I just sat there sipping my wine while my best friend gave doe-eyes to a League member.

She was going to murder me when she found out I knew and even if she didn’t, she would be friendship-ending levels of pissed. I was in an impossible situation because there are strict rules governing that sort of thing. My entire career would be in jeopardy if I ratted Menace out to Dawn.

But the more I thought about it, maybe it wasn’t so bad. Menace wasn’t exactly Super Villain levels of Villain. He was barely hanging onto his Archfiend status, and rumor had it he’d failed his last two advancement evaluations. His powers were limited at best, something about sensing fear and some minor shadow manipulation. Nothing particularly threatening.

Every notable score on his record came from team-ups with Cipher. Solo, he was practically a non-entity in the Villain world.

Maybe it wasn’t that serious. Dawn never stayed with a guy more than a few weeks. The last guy had been too clingy. The one before that had talked too much about his mother. And the one before that had an annoying laugh. Dawn’s dating history was a revolving door of brief encounters and quick exits.

She’d dump Menace before it became an issue and if not, well, I’d cross that bridge when we got there.

Then you better bleed enough to make it worth my time. My words had been repeating on a loop ever since I’d left the restaurant. What had gotten into me?

Most men would have recoiled, laughed it off, or looked at me with concern if I’d held a knife to them. Cipher had looked at the knife like it was an invitation.

When his eyes had darkened, pupils expanding until the silver was swallowed by an endless, hungry black, I had wanted to kneel for him. I’d wanted to beg him to ruin me.

I gripped the edge of the sink until my knuckles turned white. Fuck. Had he seen it? The rot beneath my mask? The part of me that was exhausted from holding myself together? He must have. He saw me holding the knife, and looked at me like he knew exactly how desperate I was to let someone else take the handle. To let someone else decide where the cut would go.

My phone buzzed and I almost dropped it trying to read the screen. Another message from Havoc:

Meeting starting soon. Where are you?

“Shit!” I ran for Havoc’s office and cringed as I took in my outfit. My boobs were on display with the neckline of my dress, but I hadn’t expected to be called back in to work tonight. It wasn’t the most professional attire, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

I stepped into Havoc’s office as the Aegis messenger was leaving. He was a tall, lean man in a gray suit with no distinguishing features beyond the silver pin on his lapel denoting him as an Aegis messenger.

I nodded as we passed each other, but his eyes slid over me as if I weren’t there. Typical. Most people treated Keepers like glorified secretaries, necessary but beneath notice.

“Charming as always,” I muttered under my breath as the door closed behind him.

Havoc was standing at the windows behind his desk.

“Annie, I’m sorry for interrupting your evening,” he said, gesturing for me to join him at the window. “I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything important.”

“It’s fine,” I blurted. “Is everything okay?”

His gaze was guarded as he looked out at the city. “Today’s fight between Dread and Obsidian served as cover. During the chaos after the match, the Archives under the League’s headquarters were breached. An artifact, the Tinkerer’s Hammer, was stolen.”

I didn’t know much about the former Villain known as the Tinkerer. He’d retired when I was in middle school and passed away a few years after that. He was best known for his wild inventions and his Hammer had been his signature piece.

“Soooo,” I drew out the word, thinking through what I might be missing. “Are they mobilizing you to recover it or…” I trailed off. If that had been the case, he would have said it outright.

“No, not exactly. According to the Aegis, it’s impossible for someone who is a Super by serum to break into the archives. Their powers would be nullified by the power dampeners in place.”

“So a Trueborn Super did it. Okay. What does that have to do with you?”

Havoc looked exhausted. “All current Trueborns are accounted for at the time of the crime. They’re looking for a rogue.”

A chill passed over me. “What?”

I turned and started pacing the length of the office, needing to move, to do something. Trueborn Supers were rare enough, and their power signatures were unmistakable. The only rogues the League and Alliance had problems with were the ones that received the serum illegally. Even then, they were caught quickly.

“How could they—” hide what they were is what I was going to say, but cut myself off. We both knew one answer to that particular question.

There had only been one rogue Trueborn hiding what they were in recent history.