Forging Hephaestus (Villains' Code, #1)

by Drew Hayes

Curiosity was her fatal flaw, one that had resulted in her gaining her fire powers several years prior.

At this point, there are two ways we can regard you: as an asset or a threat. Assets are tempered, trained, and cultivated. Threats are eliminated.”

Do you really like playing games that much?” “It just helps me relax, reset my head. I don’t want to cause trouble, but this is sort of like my equivalent to a smoke break,”

Wade’s device would stop all forms of technological eavesdropping they’d discovered, not to mention distort the movements of their lips to prevent reading, and Ivan had wards all over his property that halted scrying, but none of that would stop people from noticing if they suddenly hunched over and acted secretive. The best way to do nefarious things was right out in the open, as if you had nothing to hide.

Standard training isn’t working for her, so I thought she might benefit from the old way we learned: master and apprentice.”

Does she just have the fire-shifting or did she get anything else?” “She heals at a rapid rate, even more so when given time to shift between phases. Her body is tougher than a human’s, though nothing approaching your level, and her basic speed and strength are augmented as well. What really shines through, however, is her intellect. The clothes she was wearing when the exercise started, the ones that phased with her? She made those herself. Invented a process all on her own with no funds or facility to speak of. The woman has a strong education, a bright mind, and a, forgive the phrase, burning ambition.”

I want more in our ranks like her: concerned with freedom over violence, someone who embraces this life because they refuse to bow down instead of wanting to cut others to their knees.”

These eyes were almost entirely black, aside from a series of runes burning from the center of each eye. Though the eyes didn’t belong to Ivan the manager, they did belong to another identity of Ivan’s, one he hadn’t used for many years.

“The code is the slang term for the Villain’s Code of Conduct, a document put together by the guild founders at its creation. It serves the purpose of keeping the capes from getting too aggravated by or interested in our activities, making sure that we never escalate to an all-out war with the superheroes of the world.”

The lesson here, my young apprentice, is that if you take on a person with powers and leave them with nothing to lose, you have just stuck yourself in a whole wet mess of shit.

his early career had started a few decades after the scientist who would become Professor Quantum accidently introduced new elements to the world and changed the fundamental laws of the universe.

“Orion was a threat to the entire world, but he wasn’t the last one. Usually, there’s a real risk of Armageddon once a decade or so. When those come, the Orion Protocol gets activated. Not every criminal gets the offer: those who revel in slaughter or death are kept rightly where they should be. But the ones who were just greedy, or dumb, or got in over their heads, they get a second chance. Die fighting or live as a civilian.

“We’re actually registered as a non-profit. And honestly, a lot of that is true. We do help other villains get back on their feet, and if they want out of the life, then it’s our job to help them stay clean. However, for those who can never content themselves with trudging about like a normal person while knowing that they could soar among the skies, we offer different services. Our people work smart, work safe, and keep from getting busted. You’d be surprised how much of what we do is technically legal, assuming you have good lawyers and a loose sense of morality.”

The capes get to be adored and loved by the entire world, sign sponsorship deals and pull kittens from trees; meanwhile, we make sure the really terrible villains never see the light of day. We’re on top, and we’re not nice about how we stay there.”

“We are not the good guys. No matter how structured or careful our code may be, never forget that we are an organization of criminals and potential killers.

After all, a genius may have invented the wheel, but someone with practicality thought of the axle.

We still choose our leaders, though, once every six years. Every meta-human gets to vote based on their classification, in order to be sure that each group has an equal voice at the table.”

“Not tried, succeeded,” Ivan replied, his tone neutral and unapologetic. “Kristoph is probably amongst the most powerful meta-humans alive, villain or cape. I’ve dealt with a lot of heavy hitters, and he could give a run to even the most legendary of the lot. If he decided to kill you, then no one could have stopped him, and none of us would have tried.”

“So, it’s basically the cape and villain version of NFL draft day, only with just two sides and you have to be really on top of scouting,” Tori said. “Plus, if you fuck up, someone might level a building.”

Not that it always did, of course. The multiverse was sprawling, technically infinite, though after a certain point, the worlds were so far removed from his that they were essentially alien and therefore uninteresting. Still, in the core worlds he visited, this storm almost always happened. The causes changed, and with them the effects, but in some form or fashion, this storm would soak Ridge City.

After all, this world had not one but two wholly unique people in it, unseen anywhere else in the multiverse. Nexus was quite anxious to see how they would play these new cards being dealt to them. Perhaps good would triumph; more likely it would be evil, but no matter how things went, he would be entertained.

“Professor Quantum might be the only living person I’ve ever met who is as smart as Doctor Mechaniacal, and the accident gave him physical powers that put him on par with me. I can’t imagine any situation where a man like that doesn’t turn into some form of asshole.”

Good luck down there, and remember: don’t start anything, but don’t take people’s crap either. Grudges run deep, as do memories of weakness.”

“Thuggernaut thinks my intuition is to access the power reactively. First time, I was scared and in pain, so I turned into a big green dragon that’s made to give and take punishment. Second time, they were making me fight a bunch of targets that kept pinning me and then fading back, which pissed me off. I got so mad I ended up turning into my red dragon-form and blasting them with fire breath. This time, I didn’t want your death on my conscience, and lo and behold, I sprout some wings for arms. Pretty sure that form had white scales, though I don’t always get the cleanest view.”

Gold-cored robots were powerful enough that they could, and had, killed full members of the guild before. If an apprentice went against one unprepared, the class might just get a little bit smaller.

The goal was not to teach his son not to lie, but that lies were tools best used for purposes that suited them. Keeping a young girl from worrying over the loss of yet another cord, for example, was an excellent use of a well-timed lie.

“That Mexican gal sure does drink a lot of coffee,” Back Seat noted as they watched Tori head in and greet Chloe with a wave. “Pretty sure the term is Hispanic,” Driver corrected, barely looking up from his container of noodles and pork. “Actually, I believe in recent years the more acceptable phrase has shifted to Latino or Latina, depending on the person’s gender,” Passenger pointed out. “Though Dirk would actually be in the right with Mexican, assuming he had knowledge that she was from Mexico.”

Beverly found it strangely amusing that in this hive of scum and villainy, the biggest issue of the night was getting beaten in a video game.

A debt had been incurred, and Ivan would see it paid in blood before the day was done. He might be nothing more than a lowly dog of the guild, but he was at least a guard dog.

“I don’t totally understand it myself, but when I use really old, cliché advice or sayings, they sort of... come true.

“Good eye, and yes, it is,” Donald confirmed. “I was affected by the storm too, only I got the power to pull digital stuff into the real world.” “Holy fuck,” Tori said, her eyes going involuntarily wide. “You can bring out dragons and monsters and shit?” “Well, no. It’s only items. I can’t bring out anything with an AI,” Donald admitted. “But the things I bring out function just like they do in the games, which means I now have a way to harmlessly freeze these guys in place.”

Gathered in the break room were four people with the potential to change the world before them astronomically. Here, in this encounter, many possibilities would be destroyed while a myriad of others would be created. How this fight went often determined the paths of all four of them, though one’s path would be far shorter than the others.

This universe was always unpredictable; it had been from the moment it created Quorum instead of a hole in the ground like literally every other iteration had. It surprised him, intrigued him, always kept him guessing. In a way this was Nexus’s favorite piece of the multiverse, though it was also the one he hated the most, for the same reasons.

“We’ve got more than just physical aftermath covered; several of our guild members have either the magic or the abilities to cloud the mind. Obscuring whole memories would be tricky and temporary; however, nudging the details a bit is so subtle only the most self-aware of people notice it.”

What we just looked at was a red job, meaning it was illegal and came with serious risk for all those involved. That’s not the only way to apply our talents, though, which is why there are other colors.”

“Yellow jobs, as seen in the middle column, are jobs that, while often criminal adjacent, pose a low risk of arrest. We often get requests to arrange transportation for people that wish to move about unseen by law enforcement, to provide a bodyguard for an unstable and illegal situation, or to obscure unscrupulous bank transactions. Those requests are received by our people tasked with such work, and those we accept go in the yellow column.”

Green jobs are ones that occur within the guild itself. Maybe someone needs help getting rid of some scrapped robots or a councilor wants a new assistant. These are done for a fair wage, which is specified in the listing. Since this is a guild of villainy, there is always the chance that taking a green job will result in light criminal activity, but it should never be anything too extreme.”

My powers come from a magical source—which is no surprise—that I encountered in my youth. While the exact relationship I have with that source has altered tremendously since the beginning, I’d say things have been constant for the last several decades. Explaining that relationship though... how shall I phrase this?” Ivan drummed his fingers, took a drink from his tea, and finally found the right combination of words that suited his needs. “To put it as simply as possible: I ate a god.”

The guild of villains has far better lawyers than they do. Like watches over like, as the saying goes.”

The lone Stacey to become Stasis. Nexus was fascinated with all the singulars he encountered. Singulars were beyond rare, and this world hosted two of them. Nexus often wondered if Quorum’s existence was part of why Stasis had survived her accident, though he’d never been able to find a tangible string of events to tie the two together.

Beyond his responsibility to keep them safe, he also had to make them feel safe, even if he was lying out of his ass. That was part of what it meant to be a superhero.

“But I think you’ve forgotten something pretty important here: we’re not the good guys. We don’t jump in whenever people are in danger. We take care of ourselves and our own. End of story. If you wanted to run around playing hero, you should have signed up with the AHC.”

My grandpa went by there after learning how to use his powers, wanted to join up and make the world a better place. Their response was that they didn’t have a spot for him on the main roster, but they were working on a ‘Colored Division’ to do some lesser jobs and they thought he’d be a great fit.”

“You know you’re talking about the same organization that has a member who flies around in a robotic Klansman’s outfit, right?” “We all know they tried to kick out Whitest Knight,”

Well, when they built it, they installed fresh copies of all the games. Which means all I can access are the default, unleveled versions of the items. If I’d had a fully fleshed out blaster and armor last night, I could have lit that monster up before it even managed to climb the wall.” “Your items have levels?” Ren stared at the screen, then at Donald, then at the wrist computer that sat on the floor, wires connecting it to the television screen. “I do not get you video game guys.”

“The most important rules for tonight are to stay silent, stay focused, and above all else, stay out of my way.

‘All that is needed for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing,’

Our code names are, in many ways, relics of the life we used to have or the paths we were kept from going down.

The others might have been taught how to become better criminals, but Ivan had educated her on the art of surviving in a villain’s world.

Are you Fornax, the nothing, or the new one yet?” Nexus scratched his head, flakes of what appeared to be ash tumbling down to Ivan’s nice clean carpet. “It’s been a crazy week, and I’m trying to get my bearings.”