Chapter 2
Past the upturned wardrobe, a figure sat slumped in front of a old metal radiator, his arms restrained behind his back.
Blood dripped down his face from somewhere in his hair line and he seemed to be struggling to hold himself upright.
A white belt, a white belt that Talon recognised, had been buckled tightly around his mouth, gagging him and keeping him from talking.
His head fell forward and his blue eyes were glassy and distant.
Talon raised his eyebrows.
"Oh someone does not like you" Talon said softly walking over and crouching next to Vex, "I guess being a big bad villain does have its downsides, huh?" Talon looked over the man's shoulder, Vex was handcuffed to the cold metal rail of the radiator with, what appeared to be, gift-suppression hand cuffs.
"Oh!" He breathed a short laugh "someone really does not like you!" Vex made a low angry noise through the gag.
Talon held up hands in mock surrender, "Ok, ok no need for that" he reached around the back of his head and untied the belt, pulling it slowly out of his mouth, Vex's head rolled and a glob of blood and saliva dribbled from his lips onto the floor.
"Vex?" Talon knelt in front of him, lifted the man's chin with one hand, wiped the blood from Vex's forehead and looked him in the eyes, Vex's pupils were blown wide.
"Get me out of here fucking now...
I need... before they come back" Vex slurred, pulling weakly at the handcuffs.
Talon looked him over slowly, assessing the man's injuries, "before who come back?
What... happened here?
Who did this to you?" He paused, "Was it the Syndicate?
Did the Syndicate do this?" That would be bad, Talon's only point of contact with the group beaten and abandoned in a random apartment building.
Although if Vex had left the Syndicate perhaps he could be persuaded to give vital information on-
"No it wasn't the fucking Syndicate." Vex said with some difficulty "Get me out of here."
"But-" Talon pressed, "if it wasn't the Syndicate... why the hell did you text me and not them to come pick your scrawny ass up?"
Vex opened his mouth and then closed it again and then opened it and then closed it again.
Talon had never seen the man look so expressive.
He cocked his head and flourished a hand dramatically at his chest "I'm touched Vex truly, I didn't know you felt this way about me, but I guess the heart wants what the heart wants."
"Let me out and I'll tell you" Vex snarled.
Vex was usually very good at snarling, despite Talon's teasing the guy was actually pretty damn intimidating, his cold stoicism concealing a fiery rage that burned everything it touched.
But this snarl?
It was rubbish!
Vex was sitting very awkwardly, leant heavily into Talon's hands and avoiding putting weight on his right side.
Purple and blue bruising covered the pale skin he could see, staples were ripped out and patches of his skin grafts were open and bleeding.
His eyes blinked hard and fresh blood was dribbling down his temple.
Talon got the impression that if he were to stop holding the villain up at that moment, Vex would have fallen flat on his face... or at least fallen as far as the handcuffs would allow.
Talon looked at him, seeing the usually deadpan and dangerous villain so out of his depth like this was... something, but Vex really did look like he was in bad way.
He needed medical attention fast- but something about the dazed look in his eyes... and his decision not to involve the rest of Syndicate, piqued Talon's interest.
"How about you tell me and I'll let you out?" Talon asked manoeuvring Vex into what was probably a more comfortable position against the radiator.
Vex grit his teeth as he was moved but didn't... or most likely couldn't... resist.
"...fine."
"You know I can't do that Vex" Mercer drawled down the phone.
Vex rolled his eyes, he pictured the man in his fancy fucking office twirling a glass of whiskey in his free hand.
"Why fucking not?" Vex itched at his arm.
His eyes shifting to the calendar hanging on the far wall.
At the red circle surrounding todays date.
"You know why man, bosses orders-"
"Just!" Vex exclaimed "I need it Mercer please, just this once, just for today I'll- I'll pay double!"
"We both know you don't have that kind of money."
"I could get it I-"
"It's not about that Vex," Mercer sighed "look, I'm not going to tell the Syndicate about this little conversation of ours but the answer is still no. You should listen to them, they're trying to help you." He hung up.
Vex threw his phone at the wall.
He collapsed back down on his mattress, his body hurt it's usual dull and constant hurt that hit him in waves and was always worse on days like this.
Vex grit his teeth and studied the ceiling.
His bedroom in the latest of Syndicate bases was, by his standards, quite nice.
The mattress actually had a bed frame keeping it off the ground.
It even hadcurtainscovering the small window, although his were slightly singed, he hadn't had curtains since- for a long time.
He threw his arms over his face, his forehead was sticky with sweat from the heat of this body.
Steam hissed from the seams in his patchwork skin.
Fuck this, fuck the stupid fucking Syndicate, he thought bitterly, he looked at the door.
Well if Mercer is unavailable...
He pushed off from the bed, putting on his black hoodie and mask, flattening his hair down to cover as much of his face as possible, then lifted his mattress and grabbed the envelope he had stashed in the corner of the bed frame.
Collecting his now cracked phone from the floor, Vex walked to the door and tried the handle.
It was unlocked.
It had been unlocked for just over a month now.
He hesitated- then looked back at the dreaded date circled ominously on the calendar, he slammed the door behind him.
Although Wraith had long been arrested, Dravenfort had insisted each new base had a useable bar.
Their current bar was fairly small and without the teleporting bartender it had a lot less fun options for alcohol.
Vex was very pro-bar, in fact he considered it one of the few perks of the job... usually.
Right now the bar was the only thing standing between him and the exit of the base and unfortunately the bar was busy.
Nyx and Riff sat on one of the faded green couches, Nyx was painting Riff's face with bright red and pink makeup, giggling loudly.
Riff, who still had his mask on, waited patiently in front of her, letting her do as she pleased.
Mr. Specter and Grimm were having a drink on the stools by the bar talking about old films or cartoons or whatever and Dravenfort slouched in the corner of the room playing on a PocketGear console with 8 of his 10 fingers and muttering absentmindedly to himself.
As Vex stepped onto the floor of the bar he felt each pair of eyes glide over to him and then quickly past him.
"Where are you off to Vex?" Mr Specter asked aggressively casually.
"I'm going out for recruitment." Vex said as he walked, he was so close to the exit.
His arm itched.
"Stay... uh... safe." Mr Specter's eyes flicked over his outfit, over his fidgeting hands, over his face.
He raised an eyebrow.
Dravenfort huffed under his breath.
Not looking away from his game.
"Yeah." Vex opened the door and left the base.
It was cold, although Vex didn't feel it.
He started down the street away from the base, raising his hood further to cover as much of his face as he could, it wasn't likely he would run into any heroes, they were in one of the roughest parts of the city, far from as many annoying agencies as possible.
But Vex had made some... enemies... in his time recruiting for the Syndicate and he was really not in the mood for any wannabe villain to try something.
A seed of guilt had planted itself in his stomach, this surprised him, he had thought at this point guilt was not something he was even capable of feeling, that it had been burned out of his body like everything else had.
But there it was.
He remembered Mr. Specter's tone as he watched Vex leave.
Saw each of their eyes flick up to follow him as he passed them.
Their concern poorly concealed in each of their expressions.They had every right to be worried after what he had put them through, said the voice he thought he had buried.Shut the fuck up, he countered.
He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts.
"Cole!
Blast from the past!
It's been a while" came the voice from down the phone.
The man sounded like he was chewing "you've made quite a name for yourself... and that name is 'Vex'" He laughed.
"I have to say... didn't expect that." Vex rolled his eyes but the itching feeling was getting hard to ignore.
"The Villain thing not the name thing, never really believed 'Cole' was your real name...
What is your real na-?"
"Marcus." Vex interrupted "I errr...
I'm looking for you."
"You know where I am, You're the one that moved out." He said through a smile "bring cash and come alone...
I don't want no bullshit from your 'Syndicate of Rogues'."
"Fine." Vex monotoned and hung up.
His old apartment building was about as bad as he left it.
It had been almost 3 years since he'd met Mercer, joined the Syndicate and left the place but was surprised to find he remembered the code to the front door.
It was still 1234.
Security hadn't gotten any better.