Chapter Two: The Daily Events in the Life of a Supervillain

I was late again. The moment I set foot in Mr. Brendan’s chemistry class, I knew it. He gave me a look that said everything, and I knew I would be seeing him after class. Again. Oh well, the four thousand dollars I’d gotten from Mortmier city bank was worth it. Layla hadn’t even been around.

“You’re finally here, Alastair. Pop quiz everyone!”
I sighed with the rest of the class. At least it wasn’t math. Math was definitely my worst subject. I sat in a random chair and got a glare from some of the popular kids because that was “their seats” but I had way bigger problems, and besides who’s popular in college anyway?

“First question! Which has more calories: table sugar or aspartame?”

Someone’s had shot up in the corner of my vision and I turned to look, because I had no idea what the answer was and it was probably a good idea to pen it on my skin or something. My heart skipped a beat. What the hell was Layla doing in my chemistry class? She hadn’t been there yesterday? Oh, right, I missed class yesterday. Stupid Mondays.

“Yes, Miss Chairman?”

“Unlike other artificial sweeteners, aspartame is metabolized in the body, so aspartame is higher in calories. But aspartame is 180 times sweeter than sugar, so it can be used in small quantities and, as a result, does not generate as many calories as sucrose.”

“Well done!” Mr. Brendan said, his eyebrows raised. I fought a snort. I bet if you googled that question that would be exactly what came up. Layla was that kind of person. But if she was going to be in all my classes, that was going to be a problem. I bet she switched on purpose.

After class, I tried to hide under the tide of kids flowing out the door, but Layla was standing in front of it by the time I got there.

“Oh!” I said, muttering a curse under my breath. “Hi! I don’t think we’ve met, but I really have to go-” Giving her a pointed glare I tried to duck under her arm, but she just stood to one side and grinned at me. God, she had sharp teeth.

“Alastair, right?! I’ve heard so much about you!”

I could see Mr. Brendan moving towards us. “I’m sure you have! Now I really have to go-“ I tried to push past her again, but I saw her eyes glow red just in time. I backed up right before half her sleeve melted off. Fortunately, Mr. Brendan had tripped over a desk and was distracted.

“What are you so busy to do?” She asked me brightly.

“Actually,” Mr. Brendan said, untangling himself from the desk. “I need to talk to Mr. Prince for a few minutes. Would you mind… is it Layla?”

Layla smiled in that way that made all the adults love her. “Of course, Mr. Brendan. I would never stay in the way of a teacher. Not one so smart, anyhow.”

He looked slightly disoriented for a minute before pushing up his glasses and muttering, “Yes, I suppose so… thank you…”
She gave another bright smile and disappeared out the door.

“Strange girl.” He said. “Brilliant, but strange.” Than he turned to me with a frown. “Alastair, we need to discuss some things.”

“I know! I won’t be late again, I promise!” I tried to slip out the door again. 
“Oh, no Alastair, its not that…”

“What is it then?”

“You see, I hate to be the one to tell you this, Alastair, but… you see… oh dear.”

I don’t like the way he keeps saying my name.

“Well, you’re failing all your classes, currently.”
“What?!” I knew I’d been getting to classes late, but hadn’t even thought about the possibility of failing them.

“You see, not only are you late to class, but you’re constantly distracted, and you’re have more sick days then you do healthy ones. Mrs. Erica wanted me to tell you you got three F’s in a row on your last calculus tests. The school is even considering… oh dear… kicking you out.”

There was no way I’d worked my tail off for three and a half years only to be kicked out six months away from finishing college. With a degree I might even be able to get a decent job and make money without the constant being kicked around.

“I’ll work harder, I promise!” I said a little bit desperately. “I won’t be late anymore! And I’ll get better grades! Look, I’m six months away from graduating with my degree, can’t the school just hold off for half a year?!”

“That’s the thing, Alastair. The school and it’s teachers don’t feel good about giving you a degree in something you failed in. I’m sorry. I fought for you Alastair. I really did. But they are giving you two months to get your grades up, but after that… I’m sorry Alastair. It was the best I could do.”

He walks past me, but pauses on his way out the door. “You could be a brilliant person, if you only worked at.” He said.

If I only had time for it. I thought.

Walking home after school, I thought about what Mr. Brendan had said. Was it possible for me to lose three and a half years of hard work and my degree in such a short time. Well, I knew what I was going to do when I got home. No more supervillain-ing for a while. I needed to study. Or not. Someone slammed into me from behind. I went sprawling face first into the pavement.

“What the-“ I jumped up and backed up immediately, but no one was there. I made sure my back was to the wall so no one could sneak up on me. The night was eerily quiet. I started to go for the gun hidden in my coat pocket when something landed in front of me. The streetlight above me fizzled on, and I could see it a girl, heavily costumed in a tight pink pantsuit standing in front of me.

“Layla? What the hell are you doing?”

“Baroness!” She snarled. “And I might ask the same of you, Gravestone!” 
“Look,” I said, wiping the blood off my face. “I’m not Gravestone right now! You can’t bother me when I’m just a normal person! I’m not doing anything bad right now, okay? You need to leave me alone!”

“Says who?” She said, her lips curling into a smirk. “Maybe you haven’t realized, Alastair, but I’m the good guy here. Nobody will care if you just…disappear.”

“Just because you’re the good guy doesn’t mean you’re a good person.”

“Spouting poetry now? I save all these people daily. How is that not being a good person?”

“It’s not like you actually care about them.”


“And you do? Then how come you’re robbing their banks and killing their families?”

“I’m not killing anyone!”

She snorted. “Sensitive subject?"

“I’m not killing anyone on purpose! And I don’t care about them anymore than you do! The difference is, I admit it.”

Layla laughed. “I don’t need to care about these people to be famous.”

“Exactly. You just want the popularity.”

“And what do you want, Alastair?” She walked closer to me. God, I hoped she wasn’t flirting with me.

“I want to make money and be left alone.”


She snorts again. “Get a job!”

“A job isn’t going to pay for rent and college tuition. Just because your daddy is a millionaire doesn’t mean you have to rub it in my face.”

“This is pointless.” She says. “I don’t want to talk. I want to run a city without problems.” She takes another step towards me. “Problems like you Alastair. I’ll give you one last chance. Be the good guy and help us out, or don’t be anyone anymore.”


“Are you…”

“Threatening you? Yes.”

“I was actually going to ask if you were flirting with me.”

“Flirting?” She spluttered. “What are you- oh, I see. Nice try.”

“What exactly are you threatening me with?”

“I think you have a good idea.”

She wasn’t really going to try and kill me. The Layla who’d talked to me at the bar yesterday had been frustrated and annoyed. I’d never seen this side of her: bloodthirsty and plain evil. Wasn’t I supposed to be the bad guy?

“You’re out of luck.” I told her.

“Just as well.” Bam! She slams both her legs into the wall, barely missing my head.

“Woah.” I said. I didn’t have the chance to move again when she swings her legs underneath me knocks me off my feet. I know how to fall so I don’t hurt myself, but I was caught off guard. My arm slams into the pavement below, and my vision suddenly blurs, my focus harping on the searing pain. It fades after a moment or two, which is good, because I se Layla coming at me again. I fumble to get my gun out and point at her head. She freezes in mid air before gently floating to the ground. She tilts her head at me in a teasing way.

“What was that you were saying about not killing people, Alastair?”

“If you’d been paying attention, I was saying I don’t kill innocent civilians. You just tried to kill me. Twice.” I fire the gun at her head before she can jump away, but she pulls her head back just in time and the bullet barely grazes her ear.

“And you can’t even kill me. Some supervillain.”


“I didn’t mean to miss.” I say tightly. Her eyes barely widen with a hint of suprise, but she covers it with her trademark smirk.

“What about your mom?” She asks me. I freeze, the gun still pointed at her head. “She’s still in prison, isn’t she? Following in her foot steps?”

My grip on the gun has tightened, and my fingers aren’t shaking anymore. I will shoot her if she says one more thing.

“That’s right. Mommy gave you all her problems.”

Bang! I fire at her, but she’s expecting it this time. She shoots into the air and hovers there, just to the point where I’m not sure if hit her if I fire. I do it anyway. I hear a screech of pain and know I’ve hit my mark. I hold back the thudding of my heart as I near where she’s fallen. This will the first kill I’ve made up close like this. The logical, sane part of me doesn’t want to do it, but her comments about my mom are going to be what killed her. I step forward to find her huddled on the ground. So she’s not dead or even fatally wounded. The bullet just grazed her leg, but she can’t stand very well and I’m right in front of her now.

“So this is it?” She says, her voice hoarse. “You’re just going to kill me?”
I can feel the sane part of me start to push back. I point at her head anyway. She looks up at me and I can see fear etched on her face for the first time.

I don’t kill people! What am I doing?

I cock it. My fingers are itching to pull the trigger. I aim it at her and… throw it behind my head.

“Bitch.” I say.

She stands shakily and laughs. “You can’t even kill me.”

“I’m out of bullets.” I say. I leave her there in the street and head home. I don’t even bother taking shower before climbing into bed.

Even if I wasn’t bleeding in multiple places, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep that night. There were three bullets left in that gun.