﹙ TAKE A BITE ★ ﹚

CHERRY HAD FINALLY COME TO A CONCLUSION!

She and Aria had cross-checked the Madden family's time of arrival according to property documents they'd rifled through with the last whereabouts of the villain family.

It was as if they wanted to be wrong but they knew they weren't. Irrefutable proof had been placed before them.

After getting hurt, Colby had claimed that he'd gotten sick in two hours and canceled their plans to work on the assignment, unaware that she'd seen the truth.

"We were right." Aria said, swiveling in her chair.

"We were." Cherry confirmed. "But I don't think we should tell anyone."

"They're villains. It's kind of our job to do that."

"They were villains."

"You saw them today. You know they still have it inside them. I know you don't think they're doing anything wrong, but that doesn't mean they can't."

"They want to change, even if it's because they have to. We can't take that from them."

Aria spun in her seat as she pondered the other girl's words. With a sigh, she wiped their searches from the database so nobody else could make that connection.

"Still," Aria began, standing up from her seat. "We should tell them we know."

"Wouldn't that just send them into hiding again?" Cherry questioned, as she flicked the lights off.

"It took us two days to find out their secret. Maybe they'll be encouraged to keep it a little better."

"I guess so. It probably doesn't help that they're using their powers in public, either."

Aria pressed her keycard to the scanner beside the door. It locked behind them. Just as both girls were about to return to their regular forms and leave the headquarters, Cherry's bracelet flickered with a red shine again.

"Another disturbance." She complained, reading over the coordinates.

"Maybe the next time we sneak in here you shouldn't be in costume. The system thinks you're patrolling." Aria returned to her normal clothing.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Cherry waved goodbye to her friend as she slipped her mask on.

She took to the streets, once more following the path towards the cause of warning. She wondered what it was this time. Red disturbances weren't ranked very high. Usually a couple of shitty villains or one decent villain.

She stumbled upon the area and almost immediately let out a sigh.

"Oh my god. It's you again." Aurora commented, crossing her arms.

"Hi!" The Michael Myers mask-wearing villain greeted as if they were excited to get caught.

"I honestly can't tell if you're a teenage girl or a twelve-year-old boy."

"Dude! I'm sixteen, thank you very much."

"Wow. Not a lot of teenage girls as villains. Good for you."

"I'm a boy! I mean, I'm a man!"

Aurora rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with his lack of everything.

Colby, beneath the mask, was just as annoyed as her. This was not the way he'd expected his villain experience to go.

Day two and he already had a nemesis! Well, would-be nemesis. She didn't seem to take him very seriously, not even after his theft.

He was a villain! A petty one, but still. She planned to just let him off the hook, even after he'd broken a window in.

He knew he wasn't making much of an impact with his activities but it was all he knew how to do. He didn't have a mentor and he definitely couldn't go to his parents.

He was breaking the rules with his late-night inconveniences.

He was going against his parent's wishes and she wasn't even so much as intimidated by him. Part of him wanted to believe it was because he was new, but he knew it was just because he wasn't impressive.

"What do you even want? Or are you just fucking around for attention?" She gestured to the shattered window of the restaurant. "You didn't even take anything!"

"Yeah, I did." He held up a wad of cash he'd taken, presumably from the register.

"I hate you."

"I love you too."

She sighed and he copied her, slouching to mimic her disapproval. She rolled her eyes but didn't make any real moves to stop him.

He straightened up. "Aren't you gonna do something? I don't know, tackle me? Handcuff me? Take me to jail?"

"No. You're not a threat," Aurora looked him over, frowning with distaste at the sight of the bland costume. "Yet."

"Should I be offended or flattered?"

"You should go home."

"That's no fun."

"Seriously, what do you want?"

"Nothing you can give me."

Clearly, the kid on the other side of the mask was just lashing out, for whatever reason. As stupid as it was, she tried not to take minors to jail unless it was something serious.

"Return the money." She gestured to the window.

"No. You can't make me." He said, clutching onto the wad of cash.

Suddenly, a criminal came crashing through the nearby alleyway as if he were searching for something. He held up a gun with shaking hands, demanding money.

Colby scoffed, the sound audible beneath his stupid mask. He waved the wad in front of the guy's face which resulted in a blow to the head with the side of the gun.

Aurora solidified the criminal's feet into the concrete beneath him, causing him to squirm and jump out of his shoes.

She latched onto Colby's arm and flew to the top of the building without warning. He yelped. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Aurora glanced at his hand that was squeezing her arm. "Not actively."

"But passively?" He accused.

Aurora watched as the sock-footed criminal scooped up the money Colby had dropped and scurried into the darkness with it.

She dragged her hands down her face from frustration and then started giggling from pure shock.

Colby shot her a glare. "Are you laughing at me? I thought you liked me!"

Aurora took a deep breath to collect herself after the laughing fit. "What gave you that idea?"

She looked off into the shadows the criminal had run in. Just how much money would she be spending on this kid's accidents?

She was tempted to yank off his stupid mask and see who he really was, just so she could tell his parents to chip him.

That wasn't worth her time. She had to go get that money back.

"If you wanna be a villain so bad, you should take tips from that iCarly kid." She advised, finally pulling herself away from him. "You suck at this."

"The iCarly kid?" Colby narrowed his eyes. "Nevel?"

"Goodluck. Do your research. Better yet, stop playing dress-up. You'll get hurt."

"I don't get hurt."

"But you get mugged by idiots with plastic guns."

Colby scowled as seriously as he could manage until he remembered she couldn't see him. He probably looked pretty stupid standing there with his fists bunched up.

"Take me seriously." He demanded, but she just laughed again.

"You don't even have a name." She reminded. "Michael?"

Colby thought for a moment. He searched for any random, evil-sounding word, but it all sounded corny or like he was trying way too hard.

"Azrael." He decided, which made her scoff.

"Right." She hummed, leaping off the side of the building. "Shit name, but your choice, I guess."

Azrael, like the angel of death. Please. The worst crime he could possibly commit was wasting her time.

"It's better than Aurora!" Colby, now Azrael, called out after her, his voice slightly muffled from the distance and the mask.

"It's way past your bedtime. Goodnight." She waved, sarcasm lacing her tone.

"Night, Rory!" He called, earning a visible gag from her.

He laughed to himself until he remembered he was standing on the top of a building with no way done. He sighed as he stared at the side of the brick wall.