Broken Hero

Chapter 3

The morning sun streams through the window, shining on Eclipse's face and waking her up. She slips out of bed, leaving behind a naked Vinyl still peacefully asleep under the warm blankets. Going into her closet, she grabs her dress shirt and black pants and quickly gets dressed. She leaves the top three buttons undone, revealing her flat chest. To say she had breasts would be giving her too much credit, as her chest looked more like a man’s pectorals.

She walks back to the bed and gently sits down again to put on her boots, wincing as she hears Vinyl start to stir.

"Good morning, handsome!" Vinyl's sickly sweet voice whispers into her ear as the woman drapes her still naked body over her back. "Come back to bed, baby, and we can go for round five."

Vinyl's lips danced across Eclipse's neck, eliciting a groan from the woman's mouth. Her hand slides down her chest to her pants, but is stopped by Eclipse’s firm grip.

"Again, what did I say about the pet names?" Eclipse asks sternly.

Vinyl whines, pouting. “Oh, come on, Blackout. I know it’s our deal, but...”

Eclipse interrupts her, pinning her to the bed with one hand on her neck. “No! No buts, I've been very clear about what I want from you. There is no us, there never has been, and there never will be. Is that clear?”

Vinyl nods her head, gasping for air as Eclipse lets go. She doesn’t say anything more as she scrambles for her clothes and darts out the door. Eclipse listens for a moment before hearing the front door close, signaling Vinyl’s departure. She knows that Vinyl won't stop until she has her affection, but she doesn't care. As long as Vinyl keeps fulfilling her part of the bargain, then she’ll ignore the woman's advances, tiresome as they may be. She holds out a hand, and shadows pull up from the ground to place a small USB device in her palm. Eclipse smirks as she moves it between her fingers, satisfied that everything went smoothly as usual. Slipping this away while the b***h is screaming her name always left a sense of pride with the woman.

Too bad Vinyl's buyers won't be getting exactly what they wanted, but that wasn't her problem. Though they won’t realize until it’s too late, considering the fake looked almost identical. Standing up, she makes her way to her office and sticks the device into her computer, typing away as she sends a message to her client. A knock on the door pulls her from her work as she looks at the time.

She frowned in confusion; the maid wouldn't be here for another couple of hours, and she wasn’t expecting any visitors.

"Come in!" She yells to the door, and a young man with black curly hair pops his head in. "What is it, Shawn?"

"You have a guest, ma'am." The kid stutters nervously.

Eclipse frowns. Vinyl usually just waltzes in like she owns the place, although she didn’t expect her back for a few days after what had happened that morning since she normally went home to pout for a while after being rejected.

"Send them in." She finally decides as she presses a button to pop out the USB device, placing it in a drawer before closing everything down.

The door opens once more, and the person walking in causes Eclipse's curiosity to spike. She smirks as she leans back with her hand on her chin, thoughtfully looking at the young hero standing in her doorway.

"Now this is a surprise. Don't you know it's dangerous to cross the river alone, princess?" Her smirk widens as Volt's face turns bright red for a second.

Volt takes several breaths, seemingly calming herself down before she speaks. "I came to apologize." She visibly gulps as Eclipse stares at her, waiting for her to continue, "What you said yesterday?. You were right. I let my anger get the best of me and attacked you without any thought to what would happen to the surrounding area."

Eclipse rolls her eyes and plays with her tongue ring thoughtfully before replying, "I commend you on the apology. However, you'd be stupid if you thought it'd be a good idea to approach a villain in their lair just to apologize. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She waves a hand at the girl in a dismissive gesture, "I'll let you off this time, but don't expect me to do so again."

She expected the young hero to take the warning and leave quickly. Even other villains, aside from Vinyl, tried to stay away from her as much as possible. However, Volt surprised her by sitting across from her instead, with a cheeky grin. Eclipse masks her surprise with a look of annoyance, which just makes the young woman grin even wider.

“Was there something else you needed?” Eclipse finally asks after the woman stayed seated.

“I noticed something interesting about our fight.” Volt ignores the irritation in her voice and stands to approach the front of the desk. "I attacked you with enough electricity to damage the surrounding buildings, and you dodged every single one. However, when I went back to that area, there wasn't even a scorch mark on any of the buildings."

She pauses, and Eclipse can see the curious glint in her eyes.

After giving her no reaction, Volt continued. "I thought maybe it had been fixed, but when I asked around, nobody knew anything about it. So, I looked at the city's records." She leans forward onto the desk, "You showed up two years ago and caused quite a ruckus, but each time left no damage, not even a broken awning. Nobody has ever been harmed by you, and you never throw the first punch. The worst you seem to do is make jabs at Gold Claw until she gets mad, and then you leave.”

"And?" Eclipse interrupts her in annoyance.

"I find it interesting that in the two years you've been a villain, you never do any real villain work." The girl falls back onto the chair with a grin.

Eclipse taps the desk for a minute before standing up and stepping in front of her, hovering over her as the smile falters from the young woman's lips. "Just because it's not recorded doesn't mean I don’t do anything, princess. My work is in the shadows. You would do well to remember that."

Eclipse grins as she takes the hero's chin between her fingers and tilts her head to meet her gaze. " I do as I please and when I please, plain and simple."

She lets her go and moves back to her desk. "I'm not interested in furthering this conversation. If you don't want to leave, then stay quiet. There are plenty of books to keep you busy until you get bored enough to get out of my hair."

Eclipse drops onto her chair and pulls up an eBook on her computer to make herself look busy. It also helped her ignore the loud thumping in her chest. Volt stays seated for a moment before standing up. Watching the woman move around as she looks at the books on the shelf, Eclipse wonders what it was that drew her towards the young woman. She looks away as Volt grabs a book and sits back down to flip through it. Eclipse looks up a few seconds later when the hero's breathing suddenly deepens. She was slumped in the chair with the book lying across her chest, fast asleep. Eclipse blinks a couple of times in surprise before getting up and going over to the young hero, gently picking her up. She carries her into the master bedroom, gently laying her down on the newly cleaned sheets and pulling the blanket up to her chin.

Standing back up, she gazes down at the young woman. Her thoughts suddenly focused on how cute she looks when she's not trying to be intimidating. Eclipse shakes her head to clear her thoughts, grabbing a book from the side table. Two hours pass before the rustling of the sheets alerts her to the young hero waking up.

"Sleep well, princess?" She asks, earning an annoyed grumble in return. "Come... I'll walk you back to the river."

Eclipse helps her up before leading her out the bedroom door, down the corridor, and outside. Both walk quietly, lost in thought as they follow a hidden path through the woods until they reach the river.

"I don't suggest coming back, however, if you insist on returning... use the wooden path.” Eclipse twists around and walks away quickly, not giving the hero any time to respond.