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[womanofwords]

Reblog if you think a woman can be complete without children

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[womanofwords]

Shared Victory

Villain and Supervillain laughed as Hero squirmed in her restraints. "You're not escaping us now, Hero! Finally, you will be defeated!" Villain laughed.

"This will be as sweet as strawberries!" Superhero laughed.

Hero stood still, looking between the two evildoers. "Yes," she eventually said. "You're right. I will be defeated by the two of you."

"Absolutely!" Villain said.

"What a wonderful shared victory for you both," Hero said, smiling serenely.

The words 'shared victory' hung in the air like a bad smell. "Well, I wouldn't use those words," Villain said, laughing nervously.

"I concur. I did most of the work anyway," Supervillain said.

"You did most of the work?!" Villain snapped. "Oh, that is rich!"

Villain and Supervillain argued, which turned into a shoving match, which in turn transformed into a full-blown brawl. During their brawl, Hero slipped out of her restraints and left.

"Knew they wouldn't be able to keep it together," Hero muttered.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 7)

I went to my local skate park and skated. I had to take a break from Sandalwood and everything that reminded me of Patton.

But Patton had reached there too.

Someone had made a shrine for Patton at the skate park he and I went to. The skate park I introduced him to that, even though I'd been going there for years, never remembered me.

The shrine was haphazard, yet somehow more loving. The one at Sandalwood may have been more clean-cut, but at the same time it was cold in a way that I could not place. "Hey," said a boy with green stripes in his hair that I had never seen before. "Just so you know, no messing with the tribute space. Saw the news and made one."

"You knew him?" I asked.

"Yeah. Skated with him a few times. He came up with the awesomest tricks." He smiled for a second before looking me up and down. "Did you know him or something?"

"I thought I did," I said.

:-)

This time, Sally decided to meet me at the library instead of Sandalwood Institute. "Ernest always gets nominated for something science-related, but his performance is awful," I said. "Maybe someone else is making his entries and submitting them under his name. And maybe it gets hidden inside of the school, or the person is in the school. Up for a little trip?"

She shook her head. "No dice. People are recognising you now. If you're going to go into Sandalwood again, you'll need a disguise," she told me.

"How? I could wear different clothes," I offered.

Sally scoffed and shook her head. "You'll need a spare of one of our uniforms," she said.

That was a bridge too far. I knew what Sandalwood Institute uniforms looked like. Patton talked about the swear words his aunt used while paying for it, so it certainly wasn't cheap. Large black blazers with gold trimming on the lapels with checked black and gold trousers or skirts to match, a white shirt, and hideous black leather shoes. They didn't deserve to be called shoes; they were leather bricks with laces and foot holes. The tie was fully gold. "Where will we get that?"

"There's a spare uniform in the lost property cupboard," Sally said. "I'll sneak it out for you."

I sighed and mentally prepared to look like even more of a dork than usual. "OK. Let's do this."

:-)

We met up again at the library, this time with Sally holding up a bag of clothes. "It was the last one available," she said. "Good luck."

I took it into a toilet stall and got changed. My old clothes went into the bag and I wore the Sandalwood uniform.

None of it fit.

The shirt billowed around my waist while its sleeves swallowed my arms. The trousers collected at my feet in a puddle of fabric. I felt like I was a little kid wearing my dad's suits. Hoisting the trousers up above my waist and sucking my stomach in, I waddled out of the toilet stall and confronted Sally.

"What the hell?" I stated.

"I . . . think the one you got you is too big," Sally said, covering her hand with her hand.

"You think?!" I snapped. Hysterical laughter bellowed out of Sally, and I couldn't stop staring.

Even when she laughed at me, Sally Kinley was still beautiful. No wonder Patton had a crush on her.

And now I had one, too.

:-)

Once we were inside the school, we got a lot less looks than before. Sally was right about the uniform. "Science block is here," she said, pulling me into a school laboratory. "Now, let's see what, or rather who, is really doing the work for Ernest."

"What did he submit for the last science convictions?" I asked.

"Last year, he submitted an invention that would successfully keep stickers sticky after they had lost their adhesive quality. It failed in a horrifying way once it stuck him to a table."

"Yeesh. What about the other times?"

"The year before that, he made something that would flip pancakes for you. It gave him a black eye. That year, Patton won something in the art category for his moving animation about his time as a cancer patient, which just made Ernest hate him even more."

"Oh." Unconsciously, Sally and I split up; I went towards a bookshelf, and Sally went towards a cupboard. As I looked through the dusty tomes on the shelf (that were probably there as decoration) I noticed a small notebook. Instead of it being sandwiched between two other books, it was behind them, the old books acting as a barrier.

The pages were written in a cursive handwriting that was large and looping in elaborate ways. Oddly enough, it was written in red ink.

Name of invention: Sticker adhesive appliance Inventor: Collette Prabhakar Ernest DuBois Name of invention: Pancake flipper Inventor: Darrell Jones Ernest DuBois

"I think I found something!" I said.

"Vincent, where did you get that?" Sally asked, coming over to me.

"Someone put it behind the other books. It's got Ernest's name in there," I said. I continued to read, seeing entries for artworks, literature, and sports. "This must be every category this school has for awards, I think."

She read through the notes with me, muttering under her breath as she did so. Once she was done, she shared a look of horror. "Someone has been entering other people's work under Ernest's name. Maybe Ernest poisoned Patton for not helping him with this. Or maybe Ernest poisoned Patton to thin out the competition so his fraudulent entry would win."

"Or maybe it wasn't Ernest at all," I said. "You said yourself that he wasn't a very good student. Maybe he wasn't smart at all. Maybe he really was a jealous little pinhead and someone else framed him. Someone who knows how to get a hold of cyanide and how to put it into the water bottle given to Patton."

"Like Ernest's parents. They're Sandalwood alumni, and they have a bunch of awards for stuff they did when they were here. Maybe Ernest's failure was embarrassing."

"But their son is in jail for murder, and everybody thinks he did it. If I was them, I'd think that was way more embarrassing than him failing at everything."

"Yeah, you're right." The possibilities concerning who could have possibly poisoned my best friend were narrowing down. The poison could be found in the science cupboard and was later found inside of Ernest's locker, which was definitely planted. "We'd need someone who has access to the poisonous substances and knows how to open up someone else's school locker."

"The second one is pretty easy to do," Sally said. "The locks are pretty easy to open, and anybody could put basically anything in anyone else's locker provided that nobody sees them."

"That's dumb," I blurted out, like an idiot.

"We have a trust-based system and the cameras got broken two weeks ago." Sally rolled her eyes. "But the cyanide is more difficult. Only the teachers and student teachers are allowed to use the keys that open the doors to those dangerous chemicals."

"And where is the key kept?"

Sally gulped and played with a coil of hair. "Dr Jacobs' office."

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 6)

Olympus Medical Centre had a lot going on. When I arrived there, I got into a long line of people waiting to be seen by the front desk. "You're a little young to be here," a middle-aged woman said.

"I'm visiting my friend," I said. "Am I not in the right queue?"

"No," she said, suddenly looking at the floor. "You're in the right place."

"Good." I looked at the line of people that were in front of me. "Wonderful."

:-)

Patton's room was full of flowers and cards. Not like he could read them, anyway. He was still on life support, thanks to Ernest.

Possibly Ernest.

This was proving to be more difficult to solve than I thought. I figured that when Patton named him just before he passed out, he'd basically solved his own murder. Knowing what I know now about the rivalry between him and Patton, it made sense. Scores of people would be able to talk about times when Ernest had insulted Patton in public; even the headmaster had seen it. And his own parents.

After further thought, maybe Patton wasn't the intended target. Perhaps the true poisoner was someone that hated Ernest so much that they would do anything to get rid of him, including poisoning Patton to frame him for it. Sally said herself that if she had to write down everyone that actually liked Ernest could fit onto a sticky note that was cut in half.

"Patton, everyone misses you so much," I said. I read somewhere that coma patients could still hear what was going on around them, so I did my best to talk without crying. "I hope that we can go skateboarding together once you're awake again. Also, Ernest DuBois got arrested for poisoning you. His mugshot's everywhere now."

The only response I got was the beeping of medical machines. Patton's eyes were closed, but his chest was still rising and falling. That was good. He'd live to see his real poisoner get arrested.

And as his best friend, I had to find out who that was.

:-)

Afterwards, I messaged Sally again regarding Ernest's reputation.

Did Ernest just hate Patton or did he do that stuff to other people?

There were other times, too. Rumour has it the reason he hadn't been suspended before that is because his parents pay for a lot of stuff the school has and they can't afford to lose that funding.

If Ernest is such a terrible student, how is he always being nominated for the scientific awards?

I have no idea.

"Vincent, how was Patton in the hospital? Did he wake up yet?" Umma asked me.

"No, Umma. He's still in a coma," I said.

"I hope Patton doesn't die," James said. "He's the only cool thing about Vincent."

"What?" I spluttered.

"James, be nice to your brother," Appa said.

"I'm just saying. I mean, we all see it. Patton's incredible and Vincent's the most average teenage boy in the world," James said.

Ouch. Painfully true, but ouch.

"James! Apologise to your brother!" Umma yelled.

"His best friend is dying and you're insulting him!" Appa said. "Damn rude. Your brother is hurting."

"Fine. Sorry, Vincent," James said, as insincere as ever.

"Sure, James," I said, going up to our room. I took my helmet off from where I kept it and held it. It was weird, but it was what Patton gave me for my birthday.

"Green suits you, Vincent!" he said, giggling as he put it onto my head.

I never had a favourite colour before Patton arrived into my life. I always thought that favourite colours were stupid.

But now it was green.

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

P.S. Hi @emilynotfound! Heard you'd be following this series along. How are you finding things?

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 5)

I woke up to James shoving a phone in my face first thing. "Your friend's on the news," he sang, in the stupid way he always did.

"What?" I asked, rubbing the blurriness out of my eyes. "Did he die? Oh, god, this should not be the way that I find that he's dead!"

"He's not dead, they got the guy who poisoned him!" James laughed. "Look at his freaky little mugshot, man! He looks like an insect with those massive bug eyes!" He scrolled down to a picture of a mugshot of the boy from the awards ceremony.

The blond hair I'd recognised from earlier now looked stuck to his head. One side of his face was already bruised, a wine-red colour comparing to the Greek yoghurt hue the rest of his face was. That had to be from Sally tackling him to the floor.

I took the phone from James and started reading it aloud. "Ernest DuBois carried out the murder attempt on Patton Reynolds by spiking a water bottle with a toxic substance and placing it in a convenient place for the announcer to get to if Patton were to need something for his throat. Upon searching the school for the source of the poison, a supply was found in the accused killer's school locker. In the meantime, Ernest DuBois proclaims his innocence and has the support of his family."

"Good thing you don't go to one of those fancy schools," James laughed. "Those rich kids are . . ." He twirled his index finger next to his temple and sniggered as he left the room. Rich kids might be crazy, but was Ernest DuBois really a rich kid? Maybe he was a scholarship kid with a fancy name.

A quick Google search confirmed that Ernest DuBois actually was rich. From several generations of oil money, no less. Apparently, it all started when his great-grandfather, Sylvestre DuBois, who had bought land previously assumed to be worthless and endeavoured to build a house on it. Somehow, this culminated in him tripping over his own feel and falling on a soft path of earth that erupted into an oil geyser. Ridiculous, but true.

That didn't mean the rest of the family was resting on their ancestors' morals. Multiple family members had gone on to be doctors, lawyers, business owners, and other impressive job titles. And then there was Ernest, the family criminal. Mommy and Daddy must be so proud.

I texted Sally a link to the news article. Not the best way to start a conversation with your best friend's possible crush who was now helping you solve his poisoning, but I had to start somewhere. Underneath the link, I had a question.

What was Ernest like with Patton in school?

She answered back in ten minutes.

When Patton arrived, Ernest immediately hated him. He kept snarking about how Patton was nothing special and got himself a pity scholarship because of the false leg. Clearly projecting.

Did Ernest do anything to Patton?

Verbal bullying, stealing his stuff, putting thumbtacks onto his chair. One time, he was caught sabotaging Patton's goggles by Dr Jacobs, the headmaster, and his own parents.

That was weird. People's parents don't typically wander around their school, unless they're helicopter parents.

Why were his parents in the school?

Ernest's parents were rich and paid for new science equipment. The headmaster was bringing the school's investors on a guided tour around the school to show them what their money paid for and they all got a front row seat to their precious baby stabbing another student's safety goggles with scissors. It was a big scandal.

So Ernest had been bullying Patton at school. He'd clearly told his aunt and uncle, but he'd never told me. He did mention that Ernest didn't like to be upstaged, so maybe that was important somehow.

Was Ernest anywhere near as smart as Patton?

No. He was an awful student and didn't understand a lot of the stuff in class, despite being in the advanced classes. Mommy's money indeed.

That was an interesting thought. Ernest wasn't as smart as Patton, and hated him for it. That could be proof that he just wasn't smart enough to poison Patton the way he was. But we'd need to find someone who would be able to tell us exactly how Ernest could have poisoned the water Patton drank.

Is there anybody that could tell us more information?

Dr Jacobs. He's the head of science and wrote literal books about poison. He's a safe bet.

:-)

The next time I walked into Sandalwood Institute, I didn't feel as lost. Sally was with me this time. "I've already gotten us an appointment with him. When I say everyone loved Patton, I mean everyone loved Patton," Sally said.

"How much are we talking?" I asked. Sally pointed to a shrine with flowers laid at the bottom. Patton's picture was affixed to the wall, a soft smile gracing his face. It had to be a school photo. "Whoa."

"See what I mean?" Sally looked at it with a mixture of shock and sadness, which changed to a small, smug, smile. "Ernest DuBois wishes he had this kind of love and loyalty."

We went up some stairs to the science block and I knocked on a door the read Dr Jacobs. "Come in," he said.

Dr Jacobs' office smelled like books, mainly because it was full of them. I saw some were written by him, Dr Oliver Jacobs. "Miss Kinley, Mr Song. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We're trying to figure out what Patton was given," Sally said. "On the night of the awards ceremony."

Dr Jacobs looked at Sally and I with sadness. "Oh, Miss Kinley. You're not trying to use Patton's hospitalisation to play at being a detective, are you? Because there are much better ways of working through grief."

"First of all, Patton Reynolds is not dead yet," I pointed out. "People keep forgetting that fact. Second of all, we're trying to figure out if . . . maybe Ernest gave him something that looked worse than it actually was."

His features softened, and the teacher adjusted his glasses before he spoke. "Apologies."

"How did he do it, though? The poisoning, of course. I know Patton was poisoned with the water, but what poison?" I asked.

"Cyanide," Dr Jacobs said, straightening up. "Found in plants such as apples, peaches, and cherries, specifically the seeds and pits. Suffocates the body from the inside out by interfering with the normal course of oxygen in the body."

Sally and I took a step back. "How do you know this stuff?" I asked.

"I used to be a head toxicologist before I decided to slow down and give back to the community," Dr Jacobs explained. He shook his head slowly. "Never thought my previous line of work would overlap with this nasty business."

"Where would Ernest even get cyanide?" Sally asked. I wish I'd been the one to ask questions like that. "That must have taken a lot of effort. How many peaches or cherries or whatever would he have needed for such a task?"

"We have some cyanide in powdered form in the science cupboard. I keep it under lock and key, but Ernest must have gotten it somehow. Oh, it's all my fault." The teacher put his head in his hands and moaned like a dying animal. "I should have had tighter security measures so Ernest would never have been able to break in."

"Don't blame yourself, sir," I said, feeling awkward.

"No, no, I should have expected something like this." He began to cry, fat wet tears leaking from the gaps in his fingers. "Ernest was always so cruel to poor Patton. If I had just cracked down on it more at the time and had been more of a disciplinarian than a mediator, maybe Patton would be going to school as normal and we'd all be going on with our lives."

"Thank you for all your help, sir," Sally said, dragging me out.

"That was awkward," I said, once we were definitely far away enough that Dr Jacobs couldn't hear us.

"Awkward, but useful. It explains how the poisoner was able to get a hold of toxic substances so easily."

"And I guess Ernest was in the science labs a lot if he was got nominated for an award in scientific advancements," I said, a sleepy memory of that night pushing and shoving its way to the front of my brain.

"Hmm." Sally looked up at the ceiling, then at me. "Vincent, where did the news report say the poison was found?"

"In Ernest's locker. Why; is that useful?"

"Absolutely. He never normally used his locker. He just walked around with all his books in his bag at once. People used to call him The Turtle because of how much slouching he did underneath all that weight."

"So it could have been planted there by someone who hates Ernest and Patton!" I gasped. "Or maybe just Ernest. Patton doesn't seem to have any enemies other than Ernest anyway. But who in this school could have hated Ernest?"

Sally laughed. "Why don't we make a list of people who like him? It's a shorter list."

"How short?"

"We could use a sticky note. That was ripped in half."

"Oh."

:-)

"Vincent, what's wrong? You haven't eaten your bulgogi," Umma said.

"I've been thinking about Patton," I said. "He could die in the hospital because of some evil person."

Umma got quiet. "Of course. You should still eat, though."

"Who's Patton? Appa asked.

"Long hair boy with fake leg," Umma told him.

"Ah."

Dinner was quiet until I went upstairs to the room that James and I shared. In reality, James' stuff crept into what was supposed to be my space like fungus on bread. The only sign of it being my room was the bright green skateboarding helmet that I kept hanging off the headboard on my bed.

The one Patton got me for my birthday.

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

Dance Party

Villain cackled maniacally as Hero stood before their latest giant robot. "I finally have you right where I want you!" Villain roared.

"Why is this where you want me? It's so bland here," Hero said. "The place you really wanted me to be in is a barren field? Ew."

Villain tsked and rolled their eyes. "Your smart remarks will not save you now, do-gooder. None of your taunts can pierce the cold metal of my greatest creation yet." They gestured to the giant monster that towered over them. "ATTACK HERO!" Villain yelled.

The robot looked to be around nine feet tall and had its eyes (if they could call them eyes) trained onto Hero. It lumbered over and swung clumsily.

Hero ducked and ran as the robot chased them through the barren field. This place wasn't just lame; it was the site of their death. And the last thing they would ever hear would be Villain's laughter.

Hero weighed out their options. One the one hand, this thing could and would kill them. On the other hand, it was very clumsy and Hero had a pretty good chance of outmanoeuvring it.

Hero turned on their heel and ran towards the robot before the robot had time to react. Like a spider, they crawled up the robot's leg and made their way to its head. Hopefully, Villain had put their brain in there.

They had.

"NOOOOOO! What are you doing?" Villain wailed, as Hero did some maverick rewiring.

"Testing a theory, if you don't mind," Hero said, sliding down from the now pacified destroyer robot. Villain watched with bated breath as Hero sidestepped to the left . . . and the robot copied them.

"Wait, what?" Hero sidestepped to the right, and the robot mimicked their actions again. "Whoa, it's copying me! Isn't that so cool?"

"No, it isn't. You ruined my robot!" Villain said.

"He's a dance robot! Look!" Hero began (badly) doing the macarena. Villain's jaw dropped.

"Stop defiling my robot!"

"That's not what defiling means!"

"Just turn it back to normal!"

"I can't! It would kill me!"

"I know!"

Antihero, Superhero, and Supervillain watched from home on a camera that was livestreaming the ridiculousness into their home. "This is better than cable," Antihero remarked.

"Pass the popcorn," Superhero said.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 4)

After school, I went to Sandalwood Institute. I stuck out being the only one not wearing the Sandalwood uniform, but that didn't matter. I was looking for someone.

"Excuse me, have you seen Sally Kinley? I need to talk to her," I said, grabbing a scared looking boy and shaking him.

"Young man, you seem lost," someone said. A kind looking man approached me, hands behind his back as he walked. He walked like my grandpa used to, even though there was no way that he was older than forty. He also dressed like an old man, with a sweater and tweed slacks. Aviator glasses fresh from the seventies rested on the bridge of his nose. "And I'm fairly certain that you are not a student here."

I sighed and decided to be honest before he thought that I was a stalker. "I'm looking for Sally Kinley. She was friends with my best friend, Patton Reynolds, and I would like to talk to her."

A sad look took over his face. "Oh, goodness. By any chance, were you the boy sitting him up while he was on the floor?"

"You saw that?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, no, I wasn't there. I couldn't make it last minute. I heard about everything from my wife on the local news."

I felt the world tilt. "It's . . . on the news?"

"Yes. The media can be such vultures, you know." Words kept coming out of his mouth, but I couldn't hear them. I was just going

down

down

down

stop.

:-)

I woke up in a white room with the man and Sally waiting for me. "Did I go to hospital too?" I asked, sitting up on my elbows.

Sally laughed. It was melodious, sweet. "No, you're in the nurse's office. You fainted."

"My fault, really," the man said. "Hello, Vincent. I'm Dr Jacobs. We were talking about Patton and the news coverage when you fainted."

Everything came back to me. Patton being poisoned was on the news.

"I've seen Ernest's face all over the internet in the past few hours. More than he deserves," Sally said, toying with the sleeve of her school blazer like a cat toying with a mouse.

"Why is his face on the internet?" I asked.

"He got arrested, Vincent. The picture of him is his mugshot," Dr Jacobs said.

"I hope he suffers for what he did to Patton." Sally's voice was deeper with anger, syllables being growled out. "It's obvious why he did it. Patton was naturally incredible and charming and sweet, and all he had to impress people with was his parents' money."

"Miss Kinley!" Dr Jacobs gasped.

"Everybody knows it! Well, except Vincent here, of course, but he knows now."

"Miss Kinley, there is a time and a place for this kind of talk," the nurse said. I'd honestly forgotten she was there. "If you and your friend really want to talk about recent events, then you can do so somewhere else. Anywhere else, really. Patton was a sweet soul."

I always heard people say stuff like that about Patton. He made a place better. He was so smart. He was the sweetest young man. He was the sort of kid you wanted your kid to be like.

I already knew what people said about me. It used to be the same word every time from different mouths, getting progressively worse every time.

"Who?"

James was meaner about it. "Dude, you're the lamest teenage boy in the world. And I've met some pretty lame ones."

"I'll escort Vincent out of the school once he's ready to leave," Sally said, snapping me back to reality. "Why did you come here, exactly?"

All eyes were on me. "Just . . . wanted to talk about the events that happened with someone who knew Patton in school. Sally's was the only name he mentioned."

"Of course. Do whatever you need to cope with this horrible situation," Dr Jacobs said. "Lots of students have been to counselling over this event. Patton had a wide and strong impact over everyone."

"He's not dead, you know!" I yelled. Everyone stared at me. "He's in a medically induced coma, but he's not dead! He could live!"

"Vincent's right. We shouldn't treat Patton like he's already died," Sally agreed. "Come on. This isn't exactly a nice place to be."

She took my wrist like I was a little kid and dragged me out of the school, people whispering off to the sides as they stared at us. She kept dragging me until we got to a convenience store. "Thanks for getting me out of here," I said, once we were out of sight.

Sally looked at me with a hardened expression on her face. "Why did you really come here?"

"What?"

"Why did you really come here?" she repeated. "I know that you didn't really come here for Patton, no matter what you told Dr Jacobs. Spoiler alert: you look away when you lie. Why are you really here?"

"I wanted to look for you. You know all these people and you've definitely met this Ernest guy already. Also . . . also . . ." My words failed me.

"Spit it out!" Sally grabbed my neck and squeezed for a cruel, hard second. This must be what Patton felt when the poison began to take effect.

"I don't think Ernest did it!" I blurted out. Sally let go of me in surprise. "It's stupid, but it got cleared up so easily! I keep thinking about it!"

Sally stood still. She was giving me a weird look. Then she smiled.

"You know something, Vincent?" she asked, smiling at me. "I was thinking the exact same thing."

:-)

A few minutes later, we had exchanged Instagram details and phone numbers, and I was walking to the bus stop to get home. Something was off about what happened to Patton. Ernest seemed like a prick, but he wasn't a murderer. Maybe he was just an idiot who hated Patton and wasn't very personable. But that just left so many questions.

If Ernest didn't do it, who did? Why would they frame Ernest? And why would they hurt Patton?

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

Reblog so everyone can hear what they need.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 3)

The hospital smelled like cleaning fluid and was serenaded by the sound of chaos. I sat in the waiting room with Purple Pantsuit Girl, waiting for him to wake up. His aunt and uncle rushed in and grabbed me.

"Vincent, what happened?" Patton's Aunt Indigo asked me. His Uncle Malcolm was wiping tears from his face with a tissue that had become damp a long time ago.

"Patton collapsed after drinking out of a water bottle. It was probably poisoned. He said Ernest DuBois did it," I said.

Aunt Indigo snorted. "Well, that's hardly a surprise. That Ernest boy has had it out for our Patton from the moment he started at Sandalwood. So much bullying from him."

"We'll be pressing charges on that twisted little boy, mark my words," Uncle Malcolm said. "Only just got Patton and we could have lost him so easily just because one-" He burst into tears at the thought of it, his shoulders shaking with sobs. Aunt Indigo led her husband away.

"Let's go find a doctor, dear," she said, walking away and leaving me alone.

Or so I thought.

"How did you meet Patton?" Purple Pantsuit Girl asked me. It was sudden and made me jump. She laughed at me. "It's OK. I don't bite."

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"Sally Kinley. You must be Vincent."

"Yeah," I admitted. Looking at Sally now, it made sense why Patton liked her. She just had this allure about her, something that made people want to be around her. Just thinking about the way that she'd tackled Ernest to the ground was incredible to witness.

"Patton talks about you a lot," Sally said. "How did you meet him?"

"Skate park," I admitted.

Sally looked at me with interest. "So you skate too?"

"Yes. Taught Patton a few things when he was starting out. But then he surpassed me. Like it was nothing."

Sally laughed. "Patton does that a lot. He just learns so fast. And he just has so many interests!"

"I know," I said.

Patton was someone who surrounded himself in hobbies like a security blanket: baking, writing, animating, crocheting, skateboarding, gardening, cosplaying. He just loved learning everything about anything that he could get his hands on. "I don't know how people aren't overwhelmed by all the options they see," he once said, when I said something about the number of books he'd borrowed from the library. "I just want to learn so much stuff."

He made everything look easy.

And now he was in a medically induced coma. Fifteen years old and poisoned by a student that resented his amazingness. "Patton talked about you, Sally. He said that if it wasn't him, he'd want it to be you that won."

Sally sat up and sniffled. "That sounds like Patton. Oh, I could just kill Ernest."

There were things I wanted to say here. Mainly that Patton wasn't technically dead yet, and if he was, killing Ernest wouldn't bring him back. But then my phone rang. The word Umma imposed itself across my cracked screen. "It's my mother. I was supposed to be back hours ago. Sorry." I rushed to a slightly quiet corner and picked up the phone. "Yes?"

"Where are you? You're supposed to be home now!" my mother yelled.

"Sorry, Umma. I went to the hospital." That was the wrong thing to say.

"HOSPITAL?!" Mom yelled. "WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I didn't do anything, Umma!" Whenever something went wrong, Mom always thought I had done something to mess everything up. "Patton got poisoned! I went with him to the hospital!" The line went quiet. "Umma? Mom?"

"Which hospital?" Mom asked. Her voice was quieter, sombre. "Your brother can pick you up."

"Olympus Medical Centre."

"Good. Stay where you are. James will get you." She hung up, and I was left alone with my own thoughts.

I hate my thoughts.

:-)

James walked me out of the hospital to the car, talking a mile a minute as he tried to pump me for details. "Patton got murdered and you were there for it? No way, man! Tell me everything!" he laughed.

"He didn't technically get murdered, James. He's in a coma in the hospital," I corrected. As usual, James didn't listen to me.

"But you saw everything, right? Please don't tell me that you fell asleep right when all the action was happening." He grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me. "Tell me everything! Little bro, this is golden!"

Patton's face as he vomited up brown chunks of chocolate cake loomed into my mind's eyes. His voice as he croaked the words "Ernest DuBois did it". "It's not golden!" I yelled. "My best friend might die and you're thinking about gossip!"

"Vincent, calm down," James said.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I shoved him away from me. "I hate you and I want to go home! Let's just go home, please! I want to change out of this badly-fitting suit that's got my best friend's vomit on it after I sat him up for the Heimlich!"

James dragged me out of the hospital, shoving me into the backseat of the car. "Have you lost your mind?" he hissed at me.

"Have you lost yours? My best friend, my only friend, could die and I saw it happen." I stared out of the window as raindrops fell and raced each other down the window.

"You don't get to yell at me like that," James said, as he turned left and we ended up on roads that I was actually familiar with.

"You say all sorts of stuff to me. And you didn't care who saw." I let the conversation die there, as the car slowed to a stop in front of our house.

Mom opened the door for us. "Vincent, are you OK?" she asked me. She never normally asked me if I was OK. Even when Patton called her from my phone and told her that I had broken my arm trying out a new skateboarding skill.

"I'm fine. I just want to sleep," I said.

"Son, did you eat anything there?" Dad asked.

"No, I feel OK." I went upstairs and changed out of the soiled suit before the smell stuck to me. Everything about this was so sudden. One minute, Patton was getting up to receive the award he deserved. The next minute, he was collapsing to the floor while gasping out the words "Ernest DuBois did it". This whole thing was concluding itself quickly and easily.

Or was it?

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 2)

The awards ceremony was glittering. The theme for the decorations was stars and constellations. It suddenly made a lot of sense why Patton was wearing this custom-made suit, but it also made me feel even plainer.

"Your tickets," the bouncer droned, giving us a dead-eyed stare.

"Here," Patton said, handing over our tickets. "I was told that I would be allowed to bring a plus one."

"Yep, looks good. In you go," the bouncer grunted, opening the gate for us. We walked into a room decorated to look like the Milky Way galaxy. Planets were projected onto the ceiling. I recognised the planets, but the constellations escaped me. So did Patton.

He was surrounded by other people who all looked better than me. "Patton, you look incredible! Who are you wearing?" someone giggled.

"This is a little something that I made a while ago," Patton giggled, as he played with a button of his. The compliments stampeded over each other like a crowd running in one direction. Patton was incredible. A child genius overlooked and later abandoned by his biological parents, later adopted by his aunt and uncle who took care of him and allowed his intelligence to thrive in a place where it was encouraged.

And here I was, someone who had to study relentlessly just to get a C, the dumbest person in this room by a country mile.

"And this is my best friend, Vincent!" Patton said. "Vincent, come here!"

Everyone was looking at me. I walked over, trying to look presentable. I probably didn't. "Hi," I said, waving at them. "I've . . . never gone to one of these before."

"It's usually more for connecting than anything," said a guy with a forest green suit and a bowl cut parted in the middle. "We're all waiting for the awards, personally."

"Patton truly deserves the award for best invention," another dude said. "He's been working so hard."

The group fell into a cacophonous sound of praise. Everyone loved Patton here. He said he was friends with a few people, but I should have known he was playing it down.

Patton steered me to a table and sat us down just before the main speaker, a woman in a gold dress, began to talk. "Welcome, everyone, wonderful turnout this year," she said, smiling widely at us all. "It's great to see you all. This year, the competition has been stiff, and it has been so difficult to choose who the winners of each category should be."

"Does this part take long?" I whispered to Patton.

"Usually," he whispered back.

"For the first category, we have the arts program. Nominated for the award of best artwork . . ."

"Let me know when your part comes up," I muttered, leaning against Patton's shoulder.

:-)

I must have fallen asleep, because Patton was shaking me awake and wiping drool off my face. "It's my one, Vince! Wake up!" he hissed.

"And now for the category of scientific advancement, we start with nominees," the announcer said. "Addison Raymond, Sally Kinley, and Ernest DuBois."

There was a smattering of polite applause, along with some muttering. Patton rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Ernest will not be taking this well," Patton muttered.

"Why?" I asked him.

"He . . . has some very high standards for himself. And he doesn't like being upstaged by anybody or anything." Patton lowered his voice even more. "He and I have never gotten along. In fact, we clashed a few days before this. He didn't think my prosthetic leg submission was very impressive."

This made me sit up a bit. Drama in a place like Sandalwood? Finally, something interesting. "So he's on some sort of warpath or something?"

"He has a grudge against me. I just hope he doesn't do anything crazy."

"And the winner for the category for scientific advancement is Patton Reynolds!" the speaker announced, to wild cheers. Patton downed his drink and got up to accept his award, stumbling from the number of people slapping him on the back with appreciation.

"Well, Patton, is there anything you'd like to say?" the announcer asked, handing the microphone over to my best friend.

"Only how grateful I am to everyone that's helped me get this far," Patton said. "My aunt and uncle, who couldn't make it, my teachers, who were so patient with me and assured me that I belonged here just as much as anybody else. The friends I -." Patton was interrupted by a coughing fit.

"Some water, Patton?" the announcer offered, shoving a bottle of water into Patton's face.

"Thank you," Patton said, downing half of the bottle and continuing on with his speech once it was put onto the podium. "Anywhere, where was I? Ah, yes, thanking people. I would like to give a special thank you to the friends I made that welcomed me into this fine institute and showed me the ropes." He paused again and clutched his head. "Goodness, my head hurts."

And then Patton fell to the floor.

People gasped and screamed as Patton Reynolds collapsed to the floor with a thud, the microphone screeching into our ears with feedback when it hit the floor.

"Someone call an ambulance!" the announcer said, as people screamed. Some ran away as I rushed to Patton's side. I might not be as smart as everyone else in this room, but I did know that Patton needed to be sat upright so he didn't potentially choke on his own vomit. From there, I did the Heimlich manoeuvre, and chunks of brown puke spluttered out of him like a clogged pipe. No prizes for guessing that it came from the chocolate cake he'd left half-finished when he went up to receive the award.

"I'll keep him upright so he doesn't choke to death on his own puke," I said, propping Patton up. Patton grabbed at me with one arm while drawing laboured, ragged breath into his lungs.

"Ernest DuBois did it," Patton groaned, just before he passed out and just as the terrified announcer had the microphone near his mouth. Gasps and whispers rippled through the audience like a Mexican wave.

"I did not do it to you, you lying little freak!" Ernest yelled, standing up to project his voice. He was rather short, with a tuft of thin blond hair that stuck in the air like old-timey TV antennae. "I don't need to listen to this slander!" He got up and attempted to leave, only to be tackled to the floor by a girl in a dark purple pantsuit.

"That's for poisoning Patton, you jealous little psychopath!" she yelled, as the blond struggled underneath her. More people grabbed at Ernest to hold him for the police, while I waited for the ambulance to arrive for Patton.

"You're doing great," I told Patton, my eyes stinging with tears as I looked at him twitching in my arms and calls were made to poison control. "You're really doing great, Patton."

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Chapter 1)

My suit didn't fit. The suit was originally my older brother James', who was bigger than me, but I really expected it to at least kind of fit by the time the awards ceremony at Patton's fancy school came around. "I knew I should have gotten a rental," I muttered.

"You look great, Vince," Patton said, tying his tie into his preferred Windsor knot. He knew other ways of tying a tie, but this was his favourite. Because of course my friend had categorised his favourite ways to tie a tie. "I didn't notice myself until you pointed it out."

"Easy for you to say. You made yours from scratch, tailored it to your proportions, and decorated it with stars and planets!" I bit the inside of my mouth as I looked at his blazer compared to my drab charcoal hand-me-down. It looked like a masterpiece. A shimmering navy blue colour with gold trimming and embroidered constellations and silver buttons, and matching trousers.

Matching.

Trousers.

Patton laughed as he braided his hair. It had gotten longer and somehow even more red than before. "I suppose not everyone can be as incredible as I am."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." I looked at the clock and winced. "Shouldn't we have left by now?"

"Oh, shoot!" The conversation ended there and we rushed to get out of the house. Greatness awaited.

:-)

In the taxi, I started asking Patton questions. Awards ceremonies were not places where I normally ended up, and Patton's school had one at the end of every single year. "Do you know many other people there?" I asked.

"A few people. There's this girl, Sally, who's always so nice to me. I've worked with her a few times," Patton said.

"Who do you think will end up winning the category for inventions? If it's not you, of course."

"If it's not me, it should be Sally. She's worked so hard. You'll like her."

I looked at the smile blooming across my best friend's face. "I think you already do."

"What?" Patton snapped out of it and became serious. "No, no, we're friends. Just friends."

"OK." The rest of the taxi ride was silent, Patton looking out of the window, while I smirked at his reddening face.

He so had a crush on this Sally girl.

If you want to read the other chapters, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

The Poisoned Prodigy (Characters)

As a preview of the characters from my story before I drop the first chapter onto you.

Vincent Song

Our narrator and teenage detective

Struggling with a lot of insecurity and confidence issues

Best friends with Patton Reynolds (met him while skateboarding)

Fun fact: Vincent was supposed to be a girl named Vanessa because the sonogram was read wrong. His older brother, James, delights in showing people the photos of him (Vincent) as a baby wearing a dress because there were no boy clothes for him during his early years. Vincent, naturally, finds this incredibly embarrassing.

Patton Reynolds

Vincent's best friend and victim of poisoning

Man of many talents (has 'inspirational' written all over him)

Disabled character (is an amputee and mostly uses a below-the-knee prosthetic leg)

Fun fact: Patton's birth name is not Patton. He had it legally changed when he was 10 with permission from his aunt and uncle. He does not like to talk about his previous name.

Ernest DuBois

Patton's enemy and academic rival

"They say there is a line between genius and crazy. Ernest DuBois uses this line as a skipping rope for fun."

Just before being taken away by EMTs, Patton accused Ernest of having poisoned him because of an argument that took place between then days before the award ceremony

Fun fact: Ernest Dubois's family comes from money as a result of his great-grandfather having tripped, fallen, and landed on an oil geyser. Literally.

Sally Kinley

Friend of Patton Reynolds from school (and possible crush)

Suspect in Patton's poisoning

Helps Vincent investigate Patton's poisoning

Patton's aunt and uncle

Patton's legal guardians

Saved his life (Rescued Patton from foster care and nursed him to health after being diagnosed with cancer)

Noticed that Patton was gifted and took him to be tested, which was when he ended up going to Sandalwood Institute

[womanofwords]

STEM Kids Shenanigans (Chapter 40)

Chapter 40: A Proper Conclusion

Angelo came to school wearing a pink shirt and with a pink and green charm bracelet, courtesy of Mirella Riva. His exhausted parents couldn't be bothered to tell him to remove it, and Mirella told him that he was pretty. Angelo liked it because it was a symbol of rebellion against the prefects of the school in general, and against Melanie Sainsbury specifically.

"Still carrying on the tradition, huh?" Dante teased, tying his hair back with a pink scrunchie. "Same here, man! Good to see it!" The boys shared a laugh.

Melanie sat in her accustomed seat, staring at the floor. Just a few more days before she could leave this dump for good. No apology she ever gave would be accepted by anybody. Sonia would be fine, but she was doomed.

"I hope Melanie does a better job at her next school than she did at this one," Dante muttered. "Otherwise she won't last long."

"I hope they're getting rid of Stephan too, while they're at it," Layla said. "Can't stand him."

"So smarmy," Yujin shuddered.

Melanie, overhearing everything they were saying about her, did her best not to look back at them. They were right about Stephan, and they were right about her, too. She should have taken a leaf out of her mother's book instead of her father's about people that weren't like her.

Maybe this mess wouldn't have happened.

(PAUSE)

Melanie had to hide during break. Everybody knew her and none of it was good. She had to apologise to the STEM club eventually, but she would be torn to shreds if seen. Yujin said that admitting what you did wrong was one of the most important parts of an apology, so Melanie made a list of what she'd done.

Repeatedly barged into STEM club meetings

Sent Stephan to spy on them

Accused them of breaking rules and trying to get them expelled

Not listening to their instructions when handling the slime they were making

Being rude while enforcing rules

Name-calling (calling them delinquents)

Repeatedly trying to disband the STEM club

Searching Layla and Yujin when she had no authority to do so

Looking at the list made Melanie nauseous. She'd really done a lot of stuff.

And now she was going to apologise for that stuff.

(PAUSE)

Clutching the list she'd made, she waited for the STEM club to be alone. The cafeteria was a no-go, and so was registration. So she found them in the corridors and approached shyly. "Hello again. It's . . . me," she said.

"We know who you are," Angelo said. Yujin was already behind him. Dante and Layla were more overt with their anger, glaring at her. "Do you have something to say?"

"Yes, I do, actually," Melanie said. "I'm apologising to you."

"Oh, here we go," Dante groaned.

"No! I actually want to apologise!" Melanie insisted. "I'm sorry for calling you delinquents. I'm sorry for barging into your meetings, for trying to get you expelled, for sending Stephan to spy on you-"

"That was you?!" Angelo spluttered.

Melanie's eyes opened wide. "Oh. You didn't know that."

"You sent Stephan to get that photo of me that ended up on the front of the school newspaper?" Angelo asked.

The former prefect looked at her shoes. "Yes."

"Gotta say, that was a cool photo," Angelo murmured.

"ANGELO!" Layla, Dante, and Yujin yelled.

The little inventor looked at his friends with confusion. "What? It was!"

"It was wrong of her to send that sneaky little snake to follow us around!" Dante smacked Angelo around the head.

"That's why I'm apologising. I targeted you because you got into the STEM club and I was jealous about how you got in and I didn't."

The four looked at Melanie with jaws agape. "Really?" Yujin asked. "But that's so small and petty."

Melanie looked at her shoes. "I know."

Angelo was the first to speak. "I can't speak for anybody other than myself, but I will be able to forgive you. I won't be able to forget what you did, and the whole sending Stephan to spy on us is creepy as hell. All I can hope for is that you never do any of this to another person ever again. You might just make some real friends that way."

"I won't. I promise."

"Good," Angelo said. "And for the record, we would have just let you in if you'd only asked."

The brunette bully's hands went slack. "What?" she spluttered.

"Yes. We all thought that rule was dumb too," Dante said, the remaining three members muttering in the affirmative. "We just wanted to talk about science stuff. No world domination, no bullying, no nothing."

"Oh," Melanie said.

"So, now this is all explained, just know that I forgive you and I hope you live a good life somewhere away from here," Angelo said.

"Me too," Layla said. "Pick your friends wisely."

"I will," Melanie said, smiling a small smile. She scurried away quickly, still rather skittish.

"I hope she actually learns something from the experience," Yujin said.

"I think she will," Angelo said.

(PAUSE)

Next Monday, when registration rolled around and people noticed that Snitch Sainsbury was gone, many celebrated and joked about it. The STEM club, however, did not acknowledge it. They went on with their lives and conducted more experiments.

Yujin finally got to show off her rocket designs.

Dante told people more facts about the brain.

Layla's plant-based hair care business was thriving.

And Angelo had many more tests to conduct on his flying skateboard.

To read the other parts of this fic, see Masterlist.

OK, folks, the buck ends here! This is an awful way to tell you, but this is the final installment of STEM Kids Shenanigans! (Except for maybe a few spinoff oneshots if you ask nicely in the asks section.) If you liked it, reblog and comment because they keep writers like me living! Coming up next will be The Poisoned Prodigy.

[womanofwords]

Focaccia

Hero looked over Villain's shoulder as they made decorative bread. "Didn't take you for being much of a baking dude," Hero said.

"Well, it helps me destress," Villain said. "This kind of bread is called focaccia."

"Are the flowers really necessary?"

"You hit me in the face during our weekly fight and I got launched through the building. Was that necessary?"

Hero put up their hands in defeat. "Fine! I asked for that."

"Yes, you did," Villain sniggered. Hero threw flour at Villain, and Villain threw it back at them.

A flour fight erupted, and the focaccia laid forgotten.

But they were happy regardless.

[womanofwords]

btw the thing she couldn’t ignore was someone calling her out for saying anti-depressants/hormone therapy are only perscribed by lazy doctors

[womanofwords]

STEM Kids Shenanigans (Chapter 39)

Chapter 39: Unwanted Appearances

Layla adjusted her hijab and went through her notes. The only thing going through her mind right now was what quotes to use in her English essay.

She certainly wasn't thinking about Stephan Marriot.

"Good morning, Ismail," Stephan snarled.

"Since when were we on a last-name basis?" Layla asked. "In fact, since when were we on a talking basis? Get away from me."

"No!" Stephan declared, causing passing students to look his way. "You ruined my life."

"You ruined your own life. Now leave me alone." Layla tried to leave, and Stephan blocked her.

"You haven't seen the last of me," he hissed, smirking at her before finally leaving.

I don't need to be a genius to know he's going to do something stupid, awful, or both, Layla thought, as students steered clear of him even now.

(PAUSE)

"So he's been acting weird towards you and said you hadn't seen the last of him?" Angelo asked, during their STEM club meeting.

"Pretty much," Layla said.

"I'll pour laxatives into his drink if you want me to," Yujin offered.

Dante choked on his water. "You have laxatives?"

"Yeah. Leave me near his drink and I'll put them in," Yujin said.

"But for that to work, you'll need a distraction. I'll deploy the flying bag trick," Angelo said, holding the backpack by the small upper handle and waving it for emphasis.

"I forgot you could do that," Layla mused.

"Yujin, you get the laxatives. I'll get the controls," Angelo said. The couple went to seek out Stephan Marriot while Dante got out a piece of paper, a pen, and tape.

"And what are you doing?" Layla asked.

"Making a much more rudimentary version of revenge," Dante said, writing the words 'KICK ME' on the piece of paper. Outside, they could hear screams of terror as Stephan was being chased around by a bright green flying backpack.

"THE BACKPACK'S ALIVE!" he screamed, as the backpack whirred towards him menacingly. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"Angelo got to him, didn't he?" Dante asked.

"Yep," Dante laughed.

(PAUSE)

Registration came, and the four members of the STEM club went in for registration with no issues. Melanie came in to a cold reception of angry students. And Stephan, who didn't even go here, arrived in a spectacularly messy fashion.

"This school is haunted!" he announced. His clothes were a mess, he had feathers in his hair, and when he turned around, there was a 'KICK ME' sign fixed to his back, swinging like a pendulum. "I saw a flying green winged monster in this school and it chased me!"

"What?" Mr Oluwatola blurted out, as students laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. "Is this why you look like you got dragged through a hedge backwards?"

"Yes," Stephan panted. "And it's because of the STEM club!"

"Why do people always blame us for things?" Yujin asked, staring at the water bottle she'd spiked.

"Honestly, it's ridiculous! First Melanie, and now you!" Dante complained.

"Can't we just . . . have a moment's peace?" Angelo whimpered.

"Stephan, the members of the STEM club have been through more than enough. Leave them alone," Mr Oluwatola ordered.

"They're haunting the school with their science and . . . stuff! You have to believe me!" Stephan wailed.

"No, we don't," Layla retorted, laughing along with everyone else. "We really don't."

Stephan growled and looked at Layla and the three other members of the STEM club with hatred before he flounced off. Layla grinned at him.

Checkmate, she thought to herself.

(PAUSE)

At the end of the day, a foul smell wafted through the hallways of Marbleton Secondary School. "Why does our school smell like sewage?" Dante groaned, as people held their noses. Other comments punctuated the air as students compared the stench in the air to that of a pigsty, while others settled for gagging and coughing.

"Someone please open a window before I faint," an unfortunate substitute teacher instructed, as students hastily complied.

"The laxatives I gave Stephan had a strong effect on him," Yujin whispered to Layla.

"This is all you?" Layla hissed back.

"Yep," Yujin smiled, holding her nose. "Nobody messes with our friend."

The smell appeared to pass next to their classroom as a boy hiding his face with shame held a plastic bag filled with clothes and tied tight. Clearly, the smell was coming from the bag of clothes, and the bag of clothes had not been tied tightly enough to keep the smell inside of it.

Yujin Moon was truly brutal.

To read the other parts of this fic, see Masterlist.

[womanofwords]

The Day The Superheroes Became Obsolete

Cameras flashed at Antihero, who shielded their eyes from the glare and rubbed at their temples. "Well, you've successfully rounded up every single supervillain in the city. How were you able to do what no superhero in the city was able to do?" Reporter asked.

"Spite," Antihero said.

Reporter laughed nervously. "I'm sorry?"

"You heard me. Spite. S-P-I-T-E, the cousin of malice. To make it a little easier for you to understand, the heroes annoyed me."

"And how did they annoy you?"

"They spent ages trying to get me to join them in their heroic group, and they wouldn't take no for an answer. Always pestering me about using my powers for good. Hypocrites. They used their powers to blow through buildings and beat up dudes dressed in animal onesies. Not buyin' it."

The other members of the press chuckled, but Reporter's jaw was set. "I fail to see how this is spiteful, Antihero. It seems like you're doing the community a great service."

"That's the part you haven't thought of. Now that the supervillains are gone, there is no need for superheroes. They are redundant. Their only job is gone. If they had left me alone, I would never have taken away their careers. If they had left me alone, I wouldn't have made them obsolete."

The room was silent. You could have heard a pin drop in there. "Does anybody else have any more questions?" Antihero asked, after an uncomfortably long pause. Everybody shook their heads and mumbled nos. "Good."