Heroes Wear Capes

“But if you look at history the great men and women of the world have always been defined by their enemies.”

~ Lex Luthor

“Sir, Lacey Carlton is here.”

Trevor sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. Of course she was. Lacey Carlton did not want to leave him alone.

“Let her in.”

The door opened and Lacey Carlton strutted through with an air like she owned the place, her hair in an impeccable bun and her face perfectly done up. She couldn’t even feign sadness at his father’s passing with darkened eyes or a slight frown. It probably made her even happier that the prospective murderer was the person who destroyed all of the serum his father was trying to buy. Instead of his father getting the serum, the corporate spy gained superpowers and killed Paul Rossi for it.

“Trevor, I’m only here because you ignored my business calls.”

He scoffed. “Don’t you think there was a reason I ignored your calls?”

Lacey bit her lip, a bad habit. Trevor was as stubborn as they came, and he was in grief. Nothing Lacey Carlton said would change Trevor’s mind.

She stiffened even more (if it was even possible) and stared him down, “Trevor, I was trying to help your father. If you assume I was in anyway responsible for his death-”

“I don’t have to assume because I know.”

She sighed. “Despite your beliefs, the death of Rossi Corp’s CEO doesn’t make either of our boards willing to consider a merger. Your father’s death doesn’t only pain me emotionally, but also corporately.”

Trevor laughed deeply. “I bet you rejoiced, am I right?”

“I have worked with your father for years, Trevor,” Lacey argued her point, “and even though we may be on separate sides of this business world, I never hated him. He did what he thought was right and I did what I thought was right. We were both trying to make the world a better place.”

“Yeah, but at least my father earned his position.”

Lacey looked at him like Trevor had taken the last straw. “Look, I am only here to offer my condolences and convince you that we’re on the same side here. I don’t want you falling into your grief like I once did. My dad-”

“Your dad the super villain, you mean?” Trevor asked, knowing he had hit a cord.

Back during the Blue Archer’s first appearance to the world (during a period of time where The Marvel had gone underground and no one was left to protect his patron city, Empire City) he fought a dangerous group of villains known as the Terror Trio. Their leader, Venom, threatened to kill the mayor of Empire City if he didn’t hand over something very important. He refused and was then murdered by the villains. It turned out they were working for a bigger fish called Nemesis who wanted it revealed to the world that the mayor used to be the most dangerous villain of all time, Smith.

Smith didn’t seem like someone who would induce fear into anyone with a common name like that, but that’s exactly how he did induce his fear. He could’ve been anyone, even the man who would one day run for mayor. He was presumed dead after his fight with his arch nemesis, The Avenger, but really he had just hung up his cape to live a normal life.

Lacey Carlton and her twin brother, Archer, were both descendants of the worst super villain to ever grace the earth, but people seemed to forget that when they remembered that Archer was a superhero (Tornado) and Lacey was married to a shining vigilante (Blue Archer). It sickened Trevor how those two could be so quick to dismiss villains as heartless when they were raised by one.

“His death is still a weight on my heart, Trevor. I miss him every day.”

Trevor scoffed. “Please, you probably relished in his death too once you found out his true identity. Admit it!”

Trevor wasn’t right in the head at the moment and they both knew it. He couldn’t function without his father. He was only running on his vengeance for his father, and considering Lacey was one of his suspects for a conspirator, he couldn’t hold his emotions around her.

Lacey lowered her eyes and gave him a hard stare, “Trevor, I hope you know what you’re doing with this company. Remember who was there to lend a helping hand.”

And then she was gone. Trevor growled and threw a glass cup at the wall. She probably knew the spy who had sabotaged the shipment of PF-08-2. She probably even ordered him personally to do it in a fashion where his father would be hurt and left defenseless in a hospital so that he could have some hope before she forcefully took it from his hands.

“You’re spiraling.”

Trevor looked up and immediately calmed down. It was one of his father’s advisors, a redhead who was barely younger than Trevor himself. He got the job because of his connections in Washington DC.

“I’m not spiraling.” Trevor argued, calmly grabbing the edge of the table.

He scoffed. “Yeah, then how do you explain the glint in your eyes? Trevor, I know you better than you know yourself.”

Trevor sighed. He was right. He was letting the rage and anger take him over. His dad would’ve wanted him to be a good leader at his helm, even if there was a murderer to be caught. Even if Paul Rossi needed to be avenged due to the actions of his rival.

“Thanks, Ian.”

Ian smiled. He had been hired six months ago by Rossi Corp to be an advisor on supers. After all, when he was in high school he was even once saved by Delinquent (a DC resident teleporting heroine). His school was even attacked by a super villain. Hell, his twin sister was kidnapped by that same villain and then released before she went on an off the grid trip to Africa in the middle of her junior year. All this superhero activity in his life had to do with the fact that he was the son of the current Secretary of State and he had gone to a high school full of the important children of DC’s finest. It was even theorized that one of the city’s heroes went there, seeing as they had a good population of kids to protect from villains.

But even with all of that, Ian Thompson had been hired by his father because of his knack for piecing together small bits of information and finding the big picture. He was the one who had found out about the shipment of PF-08-2 that Paul had been searching for so long for and he was the one who first theorized, at least to Trevor, that Carlton Laboratories may try for a merger.

Some may call him a renowned conspiracy theorist, but he preferred to be called an investigative journalist without a column.

Trevor even remembered the first day he met Ian. He had been interviewing with his father about getting the position and Trevor had walked in on them. Paul had not been happy.

“Trevor! What did I tell you about going through my assistant?”

Trevor had looked down at his feet, “That I should only get information to you through her.”

“Exactly!” Paul had exclaimed, huffing in his chair. He turned to the redhead and sighed at his son’s antics. “Can you believe him? And he’s supposed to be the heir to this place one day.”

The prospect shrugged, “Maybe he was trying to get a good look at the person who may be your next advisor. Through the business view he’s just watching out to see who will one day work for him.”

Paul had smiled. “That’s exactly the kind of outlook on my ventures I need. Mr. Thompson, you may have just won yourself the job.”

Ian had smirked back, “I tend to win at most things, Mr. Rossi.”

“Well, then maybe you can teach my son a thing or two about that. He seems to be quite the underachiever.”

Trevor frowned. His father had no reason to be putting him down in front of this possible new advisor. But he was doing it for Trevor’s own good. If he didn’t learn now how to take insults, he’d be crushed in the business world. This was his father’s way of showing love.

Ian had stood up and shook Paul Rossi’s hand, “I have found in my experience that I am a pretty good teacher when it comes to troublesome people.”

“I hope you are,” Paul stated, leading both parties out the door, “and I’ll contact you within the week if you get the job, though it’s looking quite like you’re a ripe candidate for it.”

“Thank you Mr. Rossi.”

The door closed and the two were left alone in the hallway.

“Thank you for kind of defending me in there.” Trevor spoke aloud to Ian.

Ian grinned. “Hey, it’s no problem. I don’t believe in bringing other people down for no reason. It’s when you get on my bad side that you have to watch out. I once put a teacher’s car on the roof because she wouldn’t grade my test fairly. Don’t ask me how I did it, because I barely know myself.”

Trevor laughed. This guy looked to be around his age, just out of high school. He wasn’t in his mid-thirties like all of the other applicants, and from what he heard, Ian had way better connections too. He had wondered what you had to do to get high up connections in Washington DC at his age.

“If it’s any consolation, I hope you get the job,” Trevor said.

Ian smirked and winked back, “Me too.”

And that had been the start. Of course Paul had hired Ian, and Ian had been on their payroll ever since. Despite technically being one of his father’s most valuable players, Ian spent a lot more time hanging out with Trevor than actually working. He could be considered Trevor’s second real friend, but that depended on how you used the word ‘friend’.

“Hey, what else am I here for?” Ian laughed lightheartedly, a bright glint in his eye. “Without me, you’d be doomed.”

Trevor chuckled too. Ian always lifted his mood.

“Without you I’d still be the reigning champion in Skyrim.”

Ian shook his head. “It’s not my fault that I happen to be better than you at video games. I used to be able to beat my best friend in any game. It was fun to watch him fry the console every time he lost.”

“How did he fry the console?” Trevor asked, “Did he have a pumped up cattle prod on hand or something?”

Ian flinched and then laughed it off. “Oh, you know, he’d just throw it at the wall and it’d stop working. It’s the same thing as frying it, really.”

Trevor didn’t know much about Ian’s past, but that’s how it was with most of the people who worked with his father. They weren’t usually exactly people who want you to know their past.

But reminding himself of his father was a bad idea. It got him on a tangent of swirling doubts and ideas in his head. All he wanted was to squeeze the life out of the person who murdered his father, the person who came back to finish the job after not fully succeeding in sabotaging the pickup of his delivery. His father’s business ventures had hurt some people, but that was just plain old business, not anything personal. His father had not deserved to fall like he did.

“Trev, stop torturing yourself with those thoughts.”

He couldn’t take it any longer. The pretending that everything was fine and normal. Everything would never be normal again.

“How can I not think about it?!” He roared, pushing the entire tray of glass cups into the wall. A shattering noise extremely violent followed. Trevor thought it was fitting that on cup defiantly didn’t break after his tantrum. His father was right. He couldn’t even do a temper tantrum right. He was a complete failure. “My father was murdered while I sat idly by only yards away. That speedster messed with my father’s medications and killed him in cold blood without regard for who my father would be leaving behind. I can’t do nothing while his killer is out there, free to walk out and about while my father will never be able to have freedom again.”

Ian calmly walked around Trevor’s desk and took his hands in his. He never raised his voice once. “Yes, his killer is out there, but you aren’t doing nothing. You have scores of people looking for this guy, including a super villain. He isn’t getting away. Everything will work out in the end.”

Trevor looked down, surprised to find tears on his face. His father would call him weak if he was alive. “But I just miss him so much.”

Ian sighed and squeezed his hand. “I know I’ve never lost anyone close to me, but I have seen someone I love so distraught by their own hatred and misguided anger that they destroyed what humanity they had left. They were so blind to what was right that they forgot who they’d tear down along the way to their vengeance. Now they’re just a husk of their former self, barely able to register what’s a part of the shadows and what’s real. I don’t want you to lose yourself too, Trev.”

Trevor did it unconsciously. He hadn’t meant to kiss Ian right there, anyone could walk in and see, but he couldn’t help himself. Ian always knew the right words to say to bring him back from the brink.

Ian pulled away after a while and smiled. “There’s a reason why I love you, Trevor Rossi.”

Trevor didn’t deserve someone like Ian in his life, and he knew it. He didn’t deserve this love that Ian gave. Ian was worth more than he could ask for.

But it would always be a secret. At first it was because Paul would react horribly to his son being involved with an advisor of his, but then the two just got used to hiding it from everyone. Even Xander, Trevor’s only real friend, didn’t know about Ian. In fact, they hadn’t hung out in so long that he doubted Xander would even notice the difference in his behavior.

It wasn’t that Trevor was ashamed of his relationship or anything, it wasn’t like it made him a social pariah like it would’ve a century ago. If anything, making the relationship public would be nothing but good publicity for Rossi Corp, making them appealing to the younger generation. It was just that letting other people in on it would make it seem more real. And real thing could get broken and hurt easily. At least now it was only between them, a secret that no one else could ruin.