Supervillain Girlfriend: Anomaly 2 (rough draft)

Ben’s next visit is a few days later. He wears that mask of bravado and joy that easily slips away once he’s in the room alone with me. I stand there looking at him, waiting for him to complain I’m not wearing the outfit he bought for me.

“I thought for once you’d wear it.” He picks up the box, which I never even opened. “C’mon, for me, just this once?”

“That’s your favorite thing to say, isn’t it? Just this once.” I stride over towards him. “Just this once, Anna, let me take credit for this. Just this once, Anna, pretend you’re a villain. Just this once, Anna, just go to prison.”

He sets the box down. “You’re angrier than usual this afternoon. Should I prepare myself for a pegging?” He jokes.

I smirk and cannot help but laugh. That is one way to put it. My shadows crawl out from under the table and seize his ankles. “My mom told me Oddity was sick.”

“Your horse?” He then yelps as I pull him down upon his knees. My shadows cover his legs, making it appear as if he is sinking down into the floor. “Easy now!” He froths angrily.

I stand before him, arms crossed, gaze sharpened. “I want to go see her.”

“Hell wants ice water. What do you expect me to do about it?” He falls over and tries to gain balance, but my shadows seize his hands as well. He looks like an ottoman, so I sit down upon his back.

“Sunny is willing to come forward about her story now.” I look at my nails. “Oh, did you get my nailpolish?”

He grunts, but he’s enjoying it. “They’re in the box with-wait, what was that first part?”

I reach for the box on the table, opening it up and pulling out a box inside filled with all the shades of polish I asked for. “Our little sister wants to come forward with her story.” I take out the eggplant shade of my dreams and start painting my nails.

“She can’t!” Ben nearly screams.

“And why can’t she, Ben?” I hold my nails up, smiling happily at the dark purple color that matched my aesthetic so well. It even matched the orange jumper I was forced to wear day in day out.

“Because it could ruin me!”

I grab his hair with a shadow, pulling it hard. “You got the point!”

He struggles, trying to pull himself from the ground. “You fucking crazy bitch. You’re not trying to blackmail me for a horse! You could have done this anytime? Why now?”

“Because I want it now,” I hiss at him. “Oddity meant the world to me. I want to see her before she has to die and if that means both Sunny and I spilling our guts about you and your father, then so be it.”

“You’re serious.” he tries to wrench himself from the ground. “You too?”

“I’ll tell them you’re the one that made me, that I took the fall for your failure. I only came here and stay here willingly because I wanted to see you struggle out there without me.” I lick his cheek and he shivers. “So what will it be? My horse or your name?”

Ben looks me dead in the eye. “I didn’t make you.”

I slap him then quickly check to make sure I didn’t ruin my nail polish. “You know what you did, Ben. You know what and who you are, that’s why you hide. That’s why you still come to me. You need me. You can’t be yourself with anybody else.”

“Anna, please-” He sputters.

“I am sick of you begging me.” I walk away from him and sit down on the bed. “Why should I pity you anymore?”

“I got fired!” He screams.

I stare at him. “Oh my god, is that what the meeting was about? They fired you from the school board?” I could almost cackle. “What did you do?”

“Those fucking kids!” He tries to wrench himself from the floor. “They made their report and the board-”

I narrow my eyes at him and laugh. “Stop it, Ben. I’m not going to feel sorry for you. This is your bed, lie in it.”

“But those two little gay shits-”

I thrust a shadow so far into his mouth I’m sure he could swallow it. “You stop right there, you shitty little pig. How dare you? You say that about those young men when you-” I throw out my arms and laugh. “When you are here with me to get your rocks off? Sunstone and Spite are not the problem here. It’s fucking you.”

There’s fear in his eyes, but I can tell it’s a put on, a cover up for his rage.

“You know that now is the perfect time for our sister and I to kick you while you’re down. Don’t cry for me, I’m not buying those tears.” I kneel down before him and grin. “I want my horse, that’s all I am asking for, Ben.”

He’s drooling and slobbering around the shadow in his mouth. He really does look like a roasted pig with that lame ass tan of his. I remove the shadow from his mouth and he chokes, coughing before he stares me in the eyes.

“I’ll find a way for you to see your horse. But you’re going to have to promise me something too. Once you see that horse, you’re signing a non disclosure agreement so that this never happens again. Just keep your whore mouth shut-” I shove the shadow back into his mouth.

“Good boy.” I stand up. “Now, shall we play like usual?”

He struggles against my shadows and his voice is muffled by the one in his mouth. I grin down at him. “Good.” I pull him up, stretching his arms far above his head. I open up his suit, exposing his erect cock. “God, you’re pathetic,” I laugh. “But that’s what I like about you.”

Like myself, my mother knew the power of charm and persuasion that the Miraculous men held. My mother fell for it and went to bed with Mr. Miraculous not long after we became neighbors. It wasn’t until she overheard a conversation between Ben and I that she caught wind of what this family was capable of. And this was before she even realized she was pregnant. She tried to stop me once from following along with Ben. I wish now I had listened to her, maybe my life wouldn’t have gone this way if I had. Lesson learned, listen to your mother.

“I don’t think he’s looking out for your best interest.” I now realize she could have been talking to herself as well back then. She’d been secretly with Mr. Miraculous for years now, and only did this occur to her now.

“Mom, we’re a team! You know I can protect myself. You know what I can do. Why are you so worried now instead of all the other times?” I was deflecting. I just wanted to earn Ben’s praise and gratitude, I would have done anything for him then.

“Just stay home tonight. Just one night. It won’t hurt you, it won’t hurt him.” She tried to coax me to sitting on the couch.

“He needs me,” I said.

“Exactly.” She was almost breathless from those words. “He needs you but you don’t need him.”

How prophetic my mother’s words were, but I paid them no heed. I left that night, thinking a future with Ben was what I was heading towards. A team, a partnership, two heroes fighting for the people of this world. But no. Ben only fought for himself.

Years went by, and always I remained in the shadows. Which, I mean, is technically where I belonged and worked best. But this is the metaphorical shadows that he kept me in. He hid me away, his secret weapon, fighting for him, making him look like the powerful hero, just like his dad. One evening, though, things went sour and Ben killed the wrong target. I remember it vividly. The body was splayed out on the concrete, half in the street and half on the sidewalk. He was carrying a bag from a nearby bodega and Ben had mistook him for one of the Ghoul Gurls. Milk was pooled around him and tendrils of red reached through the pure white.

“What do we do?” I cried.

He just stared. Ben didn’t move, barely blinked. His hand twitched and he looked at me. I could hear sirens coming fast. He needed to do something. He had to tell me what to do. I turned to see the sirens on the horizon and he grabbed me. I thought Ben was holding me because he was scared, but his grip turned harsh, he tugged me down and struck me at the back of the head. Everything was going dark but I heard him still.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I got the culprit! She’s part of the Ghoul Gurls!” He shouted triumphantly.

I was arrested and tried for the murder of the man Ben killed. I was broken out of jail before I went to court. The Ghoul Gurls did it, inviting me to join them as they had seen what Ben had done to me. Ben hadn’t spoken to me since then. He hadn’t visited me, he hadn’t even tried to help me. He just vanished.

I don’t know what strings Ben pulled now, but he got me out of prison to see Oddity. I was taken into an armored car filled with red lights with Ben sitting guard. He glared at me the entire time and I just smiled proudly.

“Do you know what I had to do to get you out of there?” He snarls at me.

I smile. “I certainly don’t know and I absolutely don’t care.” I sigh. “I wish there were windows!”

“Dammit!” He stands up, hits his head then continues a long stream of profanity under his breath.

I roll my eyes at his theatrics. “What now?”

He punches down upon the seat, denting the metal and bending it into a deep V shape. “Pinched me.”

I smirk to myself. “That’s what you get for being mean to a lady.”

“You’re no lady,” he grumbles as he takes the seat beside me.

“That’s because of you.” I glare at him, watching his handsome profile. His brow is furrowed deep, and in the red light his usual blond locks look dark. His eyes look hollow and empty. Too bad we couldn’t switch places, he’d make a much better Anomaly than me.

“You’re the one who joined up with those Ghoul Gurls.” Of course he won’t accept his fault in the matter.

“I joined them because you abandoned me. You framed me. And even after that, you used me to advance your career. It’s my fault I kept fucking you through it.” His expression doesn’t change. “We’re both addicted to certain things, Ben. We just happen to satisfy that certain poison in each other.”

He’s silent.

“But fame will always be more important to you than I am. And I have accepted that.”

He smiles. “Didn’t used to be that way.”

“I really don’t fucking care about the past anymore.” I rub my temples. “Can we just keep quiet until I get home and see my horse?”

“Fine, suit yourself.” He leans back against the wall of the van. “Got a few hours, though, maybe we could-”

“Can’t use my shadows,” I say bluntly.

“Right, right,” he sniffs.

We arrive at my mother’s home where she is keeping Oddity. The guards escort me off the van, keeping red lights pointed at me at all time. My mother comes out, looking me over than at Ben. For the briefest flash, I thought she sneered at him.

“The stable is this way.” She leads the guards back to the stable, which she had built once Oddity was put in her possession. Almost as if she could sense me, Oddity was already whining and stomping her hooves from within.

I went inside, followed close by Ben and the guards. There she was, a little more wizened since I last saw her, but still as majestic and beautiful as ever. “There’s my angel,” I whisper. I approach her and she places her head upon my shoulder. “I’ve missed you so much.” I raise my chained hands, touching her face and stroking down her neck. “I’m so sorry this will be the last time I see you, girl.” I have never been able to control tears. They flow so freely from me. My soul aches at the thought that I will soon exist in a world without her. I will only have fond memories to look back on rather than hope that one day I will be free and see her again.

“Come on.” Ben’s voice is stern. “That’s enough now.”

“Back off!” I shout at him. “This is the last time I will ever see her. I may be a villain to you, but I still deserve to tell her goodbye!”

I think, in some twisted way, Ben was jealous of my love for Oddity. He wanted me to love him in that way, to still be devoted to him. And while there is a brotherly love for Ben, as much as I hate it, he will never come close to Oddity, or my mother and sister. Hell, he doesn’t even love Sunny.

I kiss Oddity’s snout lovingly and look into those soulful brown eyes. “I’ll see you soon, one way or another.” The tears come again. “Watch over me, wherever you go. Perhaps the Underneath will call to you. Just let go when you’re tired, okay? Don’t try to be like me. I don’t want you in pain.”

Ben pulls on the tether holding my arms. “That’s enough. You don’t have much time, you know?”

“Miraculous, come on,” one of the guards whispers.

“Don’t try and talk to him,” I warn them. “He’s made up his mind. He certainly doesn’t owe me anything,” I say pointedly to his face.

My mother, waiting outside the barn, walks beside me as they take me back to the armored van. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

“Just promise me you’ll put her somewhere she’d like, okay?” More tears, which I hate that he gets to see.

“Can I hug her?” My mother asks.

The guard from before tries to give an okay, but Ben talks over him. “Ma’am, she’s a prisoner.”

“She’s still my baby.”

Ben rolls his eyes. Had the guards not been there, he would have pulled me away. Instead he let my mother hug me, but not long enough for what I needed. He put me back into the back of the van.

“In a hurry?” I wipe at my eyes, sick and tired of him seeing me cry.

“I am. Once we’re back at the prison, you’re signing that non disclosure agreement.” He grumbles at me. “Your sister too.”

I could punch him in the stomach right now. “That’s not what you said.”

“I need to make sure you have no more leverage in there. You sign and then you tell your sister she has to sign one too.” He sits back down beside me.

I shake my head and have to scoff. “This was a really bad day for me, you know?”

“Was it bad for you? Because it was absolutely fucking worse for me,” he snaps. “You may not give a shit what I had to do so you could tell that fucking animal to stay gold or whatever bullshit.” He flops back and shakes his head. “Do you even care about me anymore?”

Here we go. He wants me to feel bad for him, feel sorry for him. He always wants the spotlight even if I am the only person there. “Unfortunately for me, Ben, I do care about you. Just not the way you want me to.”

“We used to be friends,” he huffs. “We used to do everything together.”

“Oh my god, just shut up!” I have had enough of him for today. “I fuck you, that’s our relationship now. I’m in jail because you put me there. And yet you still won’t leave me alone! What do you want from me, Ben? You already have gotten everything good from me. What fucking else is there?” I wonder what the sob story will be. What will he do to turn the pages on me so that I will think I’m the hysterical one?

“You’re the only one who sees me,” he whispers. “That’s why I need you. And I am the only one who sees you.”

I smirk. “If you tell me I need you, I will laugh. The only thing good about you is your dick.”

He glares me down and laughs haughtily. “I’m telling you the truth here! I know you, Anna! Try and say I don’t.”

“You don’t. You know what you want to know about me, that’s it.” I look away from him just to annoy him more.

Ben comes close to my face. I can feel his hot breath on my neck, his nose to my ear. “I could kill you right now,” he tells me through clenched teeth. “And no one would care or notice.”

I cut my eyes at him. “Careful now, Ben,” I say, equally as threatening. “I might have to take you seriously.”

“I think the world would be grateful if I took you down actually.”

“Thinking about that fame again,” I sneer. “I told you, nothing matters more to you than fame.”

He sniffs and sits erect again. “That’s why I won’t let anyone take it from me. Not you. Not your mother. Not even those bastards on the school board.”

I put my hand on his thigh, digging in my pretty, painted nails. “What are you going to do? Are you fucking stupid? Every hero in the world has ties to that school. You do something there then you really will be the evil son of a bitch you made me into.”

He grabs my hand and yanks it back. “My hands will not touch anyone there. But the Beast just might.”

Now I was getting mad. “What did you do to her?”

His smug smile makes me want to shove his face in shit. “Not her, but her sister.” He chuckles. “Found out about that when I worked with Spite.”

I grip tighter onto his thigh. “You’re foul!”

Ben cackles, throwing his head back like he’s triumphantly figured it all out. “Then try and stop me, Anna. You have no power in this red light!”

A shadow wraps around his throat. “Guess again.” I slam him into the wall and the van brakes to a sudden stop. I keep Ben gagging on the ground as the backdoor is opened. Two shadows leap out and raise the guards into the sky while they shoot down, trying to hit them.

I lift Ben back up and grin at him. “You don’t know shit about me anymore.”

“The red light,” he wheezes. “How?”

“I grew out of it.” I throw him from the van and, using the puppetry, pose him as if he’s going to fight me. “You don’t know anything about me, Ben. You only know what benefits you.” I grin at him. “And I used that.”

“Stop this, Anna!” He roars, struggling against my influence. “Please! I don’t want to hurt you.” He’s so good at putting on the act. Exactly what I wanted.

“I know you don’t want me to, Ben,” I taunt him. “I know you want this. You want me wild. You need me out here as your nemesis. Because let’s face it, without me you’re just another pretty boy in tights!” I hop out of the van and pull him towards me like he’s ready to attack.

He’s so angry, I can see it in his eyes. But as long as the two guards are above us and he’s held in my grasp, he can’t do anything about it. “Why hide it all this time? You could have escaped at any time!”

“But I didn’t want to.” I smile brightly and make exaggerated jazz hands. “It was so much more fun watching you flounder around out there. Without me you had nothing that made you special. So you teamed up, you embarrassed yourself for clout. And that was so much more satisfying than me being free could ever possibly be! And you still begged me to fuck you!”

Here come the puppy dog eyes. “Anna, I thought-”

I just shake my head. “You don’t think at all.” I take him, fly up and take hold of the two guards. “Good thinking. I’ll just see myself out.” I phase into the shadows, dripping into them like they were water. The guards and Ben were free, but they had no way of knowing where I was or the ability to chase me.  I hid the brunt of my powers from him all this time, just for a moment like this.

Ben didn’t use me as the scapegoat just once. He did it more and more as the rivalry between us grew. The Ghoul Gurls took me in as one of their own and, as time went on, I grew in ranks amongst them. I became their mother figure, their leader. It wasn’t my intention to play a villain, I never even considered myself that. What I wanted to do was make girls strong, to give them a purpose for their mage and malice. Ben always sought me out or called upon me. Our sexual chemistry made it difficult to stay away, and I blame myself for that mistake. I let him continue to use me, to build me up as some super monster he always conquered.

But that last time I was arrested, I let it happen. I let my Ghoul Gurls go and told them not to try and rescue me again. I was placed into Heimlich and, just like I wanted, Ben returned to me to continue our games. I know I was the fool before, but inside those walls, I was the queen and I made him dance for my amusement.

My father’s notebook revealed to me what I had assumed about myself all along. My origin was not of this world, it wasn’t even demonic. My father’s cult worshipped and studied a dimension existing in and between the layers of our own. It was a placed called the Underneath and I was just an attempt to bridge a connection between the two plains. They thought that, with access to the Underneath they could go to multiple worlds, different realities. In the Underneath they believed there were powerful beasts much more frightening and mighty than the demons we knew.

I knew not where to find the Beast to tell her the truth, but I knew someone else I could find. Someone much easier to track. I found the candy cane creature still on campus at the school. He was waiting outside in the dark. I appeared beside him and he still didn’t notice me. Although, his hoodie moved strangely.

“Oh good, a creepy woman, exactly what I wanted,” a raspy little voice jabbed at me.

The boy turned, looking much younger than I assumed and with a mop of wild brown hair. He looked at me, clutching onto his strange hoodie.

“As cliche as it sounds, I mean you no harm. You are the hero Spite, right?

“Ye-yes,” he says shakily.

“Who the fuck are you?” A face appears on the hoodie that stretches out and moves towards me, looking like a skinned cat.

I might like him. “You told Miraculous that Beast had a sister. That was a bad idea. That girl is in danger and she’ll be used as a pawn to control Beast. I suggest you find a way to protect her, or alert the powers at this school.”

“Miraculous was fired,” the boy says breathlessly. “I thought-”

“Be wary of him, don’t team up with him anymore. Keep your distance.”

“Is that a threat?” The hoodie cackles.

“If it has to be, yes.”

The boy swallows. “Who are you?”

I smile at him, seeing a sweetness and innocence in him that I once thought Ben had. I hope he stays this way for his own safety. “Miraculous’ worst enemy.” I fall back into the shadows, or perhaps, this is the Underneath.

I then go to Ben’s home, a mostly empty mansion where each room looks like a picture from a catalog. I go to his favorite room, one filled with framed photos of all his accomplishments, city keys, trophies, and everything that he feels will stroke his ego. He’s there, drinking to himself while he stares out the window.

I coil a shadow around his neck and breathe into his ear. “Tell me again who needs who, Ben.”

“Why are you here?” I actually hear fear in his voice.

“Touch my sister, touch my mother, and I will do you one worse than death. Touch anyone at the school and the world will know you the way I know you.” He shudders in my hands, and I love the feeling. “You wanted me to the bed the bad guy, right? Well now you’ve got hell to reap.”

“Anna, please-” he chokes.

I start laughing, cackling loudly and screeching into his ear. I hoist him into the air, dragging him along the wall and scraping all his success unto the floor. I toss him down amongst the wreckage. All his honors, all his ego shattered upon the floor.

“Don’t you ever say that to me again, Ben,” I whisper. I then tap my finger into the center of my chest. “I know who I am now.”

He’s breathless and staring wide eyed at me. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Try,” I whisper. “For the first time in your life. Try.” My shadows knock the remaining photos and honors off the wall, leaving him in a trash heap. I return to my home, where I raised my Ghoul Gurls. The place is empty now, but it will be full again. I take in a deep breath and, when I exhale, I am free.