“Your twelve o’clock is here now, Stocklord.” Twee said through the door to Stocklord, who was currently relaxing in his office, looking into his pocket mirror.

“Who is it again?” he replied, looking up from his reflection.

“You’ll figure it out.” the demonette rolled her eyes, letting a burly man through the door.

“Jonah Glord!” he exclaimed, Stocklord smiled as he put down his pocket mirror, it was rare to have a meeting with perhaps only the man as successful as him. Or at least the only successful person that would chat with him these days.

“Mr. Ariola!” Stocklord smiled, shaking his hand. He was used to the lack of pulse and skin by now. “Just was in the area and decided to book a visit with ya!”

“Haven’t seen you in forever, old friend! How’s business?” he chuckled, sitting down.

“It is booming, my friend. Although, my ‘business’ isn’t as impressive as yours, Fred.”

“What? Naaah, just because you’re a cheatsy stockbroker doesn’t make you any less of a hard worker.” he replied heartily.

Frederick Ariola was a strong man with a big build to boot, he had exceptionally shiny teeth that glistened like a bag of pearls, and his head was beginning to copy the shininess of his teeth as it balded. He was probably able to crush anything to dust with his super strength. Although, his strength had a catch that would make it useless in combat. He couldn’t kill. He was a pacifist his whole life, although he would often use his strength on other things that weren’t throwing bullet train speed fists. Like warm hugs, and hearty handshakes, truly a charming fellow.

“How’s my son? Doing well?” Stocklord asked seriously.

“He still hates your guts. He’s… not very stable to be honest. Not holding it together well.” Fred said in a more forlorn tone. His smile turned to a frown.

“Is he still with Bluejay?”

“Yeah, they are still seeing each other. I wouldn’t be against it if she weren’t in TUHF.” Fred replied to his dismay. “But I can do my best to keep them apart.”

“Just make sure his girl doesn’t find out about my operation.” Stocklord just prayed she didn’t already know.

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It had been around an hour of listening to Sal and Gale laughing it up and chatting. I'd been drowning it out by now, I was just thinking about what the heck Stocklord meant by ‘sidekick’... Was I now Sal’s lackey?

My sister relaxed against my shoulder as we drove. We were cute together, and I say that because that’s why TUHF chose us. We were cute, and they paraded us around like a diamond necklace or a cute puppy on social media. What a terrible world we live in.

“Why are you here, Quincy?” Sal asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Alive, or with Stocklord?” I replied, leaning in, forgetting Sis was on my shoulder. She fell over and snapped back to reality.

“Quincy…” she muttered, sitting up.

“I dunno man, but if you are gonna work for me as my sidekick, I need to know more about how you got here. What was it like after I… got you kicked out?”

“I’ve worked here for almost two years now and suddenly the boss decides to make the new kid into my superior.” I replied snarkily. You know, I feel I never act like a dick, but when Sal entered my life again just now I feel like I’m acting differently.

“Yeah, because he’s a villain, and you are too.” Sal said snarkily as well. I suppose this means it is war.

“Well there’s nothing wrong with that…” I replied. Villains got a bad rap. Okay yeah, I guess some of them blew up buildings, killed people, stole money, eccetera. Heck, ours ruined a small economy. He’s a mysterious man for how full of himself he is. He says his skeletal appearance is due to his powers, but we can’t really know for sure. We don’t even know his original identity.

So I suppose I can just say Sal’s distaste for villainy is justified. But I still think he’s overdoing it a bit. As I said, we’re like a family. And I don’t mean that in an Italian crime family way. We’re like a Canadian crime family, much nicer and less… I’ll stop the unintentional racism now...

“You are one too now, so don’t get too comfy with that attitude.” I continued.

“Yeah, it takes one to know one. Just get over yourself. I know what you’re in this for, the money. I believe morals are the core of this and you don’t seem to have them anymore, did you trade them in for bravery?” the ex-hero taunted, grinning smugly.

“Listen here, Sal-” I was cut off.

“Please could you… uh… just calm down. I don’t like your tones.” my sister said.

“Sorry, it’s my fault.” I apologized to Selene, patting her on the back.

We turned off the road from the main highway into the snow capped forest. We drove along the path that was now covered deep in the white stuff, our treads keeping us moving, following the tire tracks. The woods were especially dark, even at midday. There were several shafts of light peeping through the holes in the trees, but they were mostly capped in snow.

Through the thick trees in the distance though, the lodge came into sight. It was quite bustling indeed, it wasn’t normally like this though…

“What even is this place?” Sal asked as we pulled into a parking spot.

“Short answer, secret cult hideout disguised as a quaint ski lodge.” I explained passively, letting myself out the door, Selene following.

As I said, I’d not been out of Avernus for a long while. It was colder out here, my skin under my jacket getting nipped at. Selene seemed to be irked too. I stared at Sal in jealousy of his fire powers, he was probably like a pig in a blanket, toasty and warm.

“I’ll just stay in here with the heat on, darlings!” Gale said, receiving a quick smile from me as I closed the car door. Working for Stocklord meant affording a heated car with efficient mileage was a splash in the pan. Man, I loved being rich.

I mean I also had to do the bills, which sucked, and Stocklord was probably the most corrupt boss I knew when it came to personal spending, but hey, my paycheck was nice and the workplace was nicer, so I couldn’t complain.

Sal walked around to us, struggling in the snow. “You deal with this shit all the time?” he sneered in annoyance and embarrassment.

“Yes… you lived in Washington D.C. and never learnt to walk in snow?” I replied, chuckling with Selene.

“I melted it dummy. Going undercover without my powers sucks ass, let’s hurry this along.” he said, sneezing. Probably had caught a cold already to be honest. Although, at least he knew not to whip out his powers in our Covert Supervillain Mission (Patent Pending).

We went up to the door. A couple people holding skis and snowboards walked out of the lodge as we entered. The moment the door opened the cozy warm air of a hearth hit us, and the warm lodge lighting from a stag-antler chandelier gave the room an inviting feeling, like just for that moment, everything was right with the world.

Of course, nothing stays right forever.

“Is that THE Lethal Inferno?!” a man shouted, and soon, dozens joined in, crowding us and asking for autographs.

“I fucking hope he fires you for this.” I whispered maliciously into Sal’s ear. This would be a looong Covert Supervillain Mission (Patent Pending).