[Archived Short Story] A Friend, A Villain

The sound of a single pair of hooves echoes through a hallway made of black stone. Well, it is painted to look like black stone. There hadn’t been any locally available that matched the desired quality and so the owner had made do.

Also, that pair of hooves isn’t the only sound, however their sharp clickity clack does cut through the noise of shoes and quiet conversation. Of course, the guy making the noise should have technically been wearing shoes as well. They were a part of the uniform, after all.

Though exceptions had been made. It isn’t like people who awake to power have a choice if that power warps their form as well. And so the guy who looks astonishingly similar to the classic mythical beast, the satyr, makes his hurried way towards the center of the compound.

Of course, for security reasons, this isn’t a straight shot, and despite his unique look he also gets stopped at a number of security checkpoints. Not that they expect such things to catch every infiltration attempt. Shape shifters and mind control being just the easiest methods towards defeating such things. No, security was more built on the idea of multiple overlapping systems, instead of one powerful point of defense.

Still, despite the delay, the man eventually reaches the center where the boss of the entire operation resides. With a slight bit of trepidation, he enters. “Uh, boss, Mr. Ain, sir.”

In the center of the room, surrounded by beings both living and artifice, magic and machine, sits the boss. His chair, a strange techno fusion of a throne and a command center. The figure raises his hand and a number of magic based holograms pause.

Whether this figure is still human or otherwise is a secret as his suit of black armor covers him completely. He turns to face the man interrupting him, revealing a smooth faceplate made of something blacker than black. A deep voice fills the room, “Satyr, your hurried arrival speaks volumes for how your mission went.“

Satyr shifted side to side, “Sir, the uh, the heros. They showed! Not just the street level types either! There was a. That guy! The three-star rated hero, Flightstar! While his flight isn’t much to write home about, he got his rating for his strength.

“There was no way I could handle someone a hundred times stronger than a peak human. So, uh, Master Ain, uh, I did what you said to do and retreated. I did the right thing, right?”

The figure’s throne turns to face him. “Satyr, how many times do I have to tell you?! Unless there is a hero around, don’t bother with the formal names. Call me Vill.“

Satyr nods, “Uh, sure Mr., I I mean, Vill.”

Vill nods, “There we go! Now, don’t blame yourself too much. You’re only a two-star super. As each star represents a magnitude and since you aren’t a wildcard power, there was no chance you could beat that firefly. Though you wouldn’t get so worked up over just that. Tell me, what happened?“

Satyr’s hands make some vague motions. “Well sir.”, *Snort*, “Uh, I mean Vill. That super hero of course, ran his mouth a bit.”

Vill sighs, “They always do. Which means it is nothing new and so it was the contents thereof that bothered you.“

Satyr nods, “Yes! Vill, that nasty Flightstar, he said we weren’t friends. That only heros had the power of friendship! That, um, I am your friend, right? I mean, we are evil and such.”

Vill, “The bug really knows how to run his mouth. Though I don’t necessarily blame him for his view. The side of good has it easy! They aren’t all friends, but in theory they could be. In fact, should be.

“If not for the fact that many of them aren’t actually all that good. They point at us as the ultimate enemy of good? They should instead turn their fingers on those who are neutral!

“Evil has always been the ultimate grindstone for good. Our presence galvanizes and sharpens their resolve! It is the neutrals who hide among them that sap them of power. There is a reason that in religion a martyr draws in more followers while the priest who doesn’t follow their own rules pushes them away.“

Satyr rapidly nods their head. “Yep yep! My Ma was the religious type until the old pastor was replaced with a new guy. The fellow was more glutenous than a pig and spent his spare money on gambling. Not everyone left, but those who stayed tended to not be the types who actually believed like my Ma did. Though, uh, what does this have to do with friendship?”

Vill gesture to a gathering of dark priests. “Well, for starters, just like religion, friendship isn’t only for the good and neutral. While we are selective about which deities, demons, and devils we call upon. My group has some of the most devout faithful in the world.

“On top of that, we aren’t just evil. If I had to break things down into recognizable terms, I would say we are neutral evil, which is important. The two extremes of lawful and chaotic evil make it basically impossible to actually have friends. Though few ever are truly that far gone.“

Vill shakes his head, “Just a second. This helmet is getting stuffy.“ Then he takes off the helmet, revealing a very average-looking guy. Except he looks too average. In fact, everyone who can see him, sees him as their idea of average.

After a couple of deep breaths, Vill continues to speak. Except his voice sounds completely different and completely average. In fact, to each person he sounds as if he was speaking in their native language using their native accent. And unlike his appearance, which always looks human, his voice even covers the languages of the various non-humans in the area. Whether they are aliens, outsiders, or the uplifted.

Vill, “Anyway, chaotic evil just means that any friends you have tend to be shallow relationships at best. They’re too willing to betray at the drop of the hat if it would be at all advantageous for them. The saying about how you don’t have to outrun a bear, just your friend is basically them to a T.

“On the other side is lawful evil. They have a lot of connections, but very few would be what I call friendship. To them, everything is about hierarchy, control, and the proper order of things. So in the end, they tend not to have actual friends. Instead, having followers, masters, and rivals.

“Now, I’m not going to say that neutral evil . magically makes us the best at having friends. In fact, it could be seen as the worst as it can exemplify the worst of the two extremes. However, at the same time, we can instead take the moderate stance on things.

“We can view a relationship as something fluid and chaotic while at the same time maintaining that relationship despite hard times. This is a lot harder than those who aren’t evil, though the neutral on that axis tend to be bad friends as well. Neutrals are the type to have parasitic friendships where they’re always asking for more from you and yet never giving back. At least you know where you stand with evil.”

Satyr, “So we are friends?”

Vill sighs, “Saty, we’ve been friends since before either of us went through awakening. Which is saying something! We’ve been around since super powers first began to manifest. I’m honestly glad that you received a fae type power that granted you certain protections based on who you follow. Be hard for me to send you out if you didn’t just pop back up besides me if you’re captured or about to die.”

Satyr laughs, “Be a bit hard if The Villain’s Voice was silenced!”

Vill lets out a long-suffering sigh. “You would think being one of humanity’s four seven-star supers would give me some freedom! But no, instead the three of us hide in our lairs, waiting to jump on whoever steps out first.”

Then Vill begins to smile. “Still, that isn’t a good enough reason for me to not help a friend! That neutral Nancy of a firefly should have stayed in his lane.”

Satyr frowns, “How do you know he’s neutral? He’s a bit new to the scene.”

Vill shrugs, “Most people are new to the scene compared to us. A couple hundred years of life will do that.”

Around the room, a handful of summoned devil’s make various sour faces at being considered new. After all, they personally had been around since the dawn of human history and devils as a whole since before the current universe. Though you don’t live that long without  at least a little situational awareness and so held their peace.

Vill, “As for how I know?”

Vill shrugs, “I don’t. At least, not for certain. However! Chances are that idiot is about as much of a hypocrite as most politicians were pre-apotheosis.

“That bug was out alone, picking on someone below his stars. What friendship! One of those goodie two shoes would have started a group to fight supervillains at the same star. That or join one of the defense forces focused on keeping invaders out.

“Though of course we will have to do a bit of checking, just in case. My sister Suzer would get annoyed with me if I messed with her people willy-nilly.”

A guy sitting next to Vill’s throne that looked like they were made of concrete shook his head. “I can’t believe one family managed to have half of humanity’s seven-stars. That kind of power isn’t genetic in the least, yet here we are!”

Satyr shrugs, “A unique bunch. Not that many of the general public knows of their relationship. Though if they did? It would finally explain the ‘mystery’ of why both the top villain and the head of the heroes managed to agree on not targeting or even revealing a mask’s family.”

Vill chuckles, “And don’t you ever call her Suzer, Suze, or Suzy to her face. It was sort of an accident how we ended up with our code names, but she really ran with it. I wonder what the world would think if they realized the first recognized superhero fight was actually a family tiff?”

Satyr rolls his eyes. “Anyone else says it? They’re liers or mind screwed. You say it? You’re trying to ruin the name of the brightest hero. She says it? Well, she’s just trying to downplay things and being humble.”

Vill shakes his head, “Probably true enough. Now let’s gather some information on a certain bug.”

With that, one of the world’s greatest spy networks rumbled into action. It only took them a week to break Flightstar’s mask. Then a couple weeks more to uncover some really nasty mud on him.

Not that they plan to use most of it directly. Though a certain sister did end up receiving the full packet. No, rather, what they did was to reveal a specific subset of dirt.

Because Vill hadn’t been wrong about the guy. The more someone like that shouts about something and pin it on others, the more it comes home to roost. So it was that only a month after Flightstar had gone off on Satyr about the power of friendship and how he had none of it, that the hero lost that very thing.

Story after report after confession was released, revealing how he had really treated those who he called “friends”. It wasn’t pretty. There was a reason no one three-star or higher stuck with him.

If they had the power to get away from him, they did. Those that stuck around? It generally wasn’t by choice or if it was, most courts would mandate them to be separated from him, anyway.

Now, this wasn’t the first time someone tried to smear a hero’s reputation. The problem was that this wasn’t the normal sort of smear campaign. All the information religiously kept the mask intact. Oh, and none of the hero backed organizations spoke out against it. There was only the lone voice of Flightstar.

“Lone voice” being a particularly damning bit because it represented all of his “friends” having left him. Either voluntarily or under the order of a certain sister.