"ARE YOU CRAZY?"

A woman stepped in the middle of a fight between a hero and a villain. The two could divert their attacks when they noticed she stepped in, holding her hands up.

"Have you two EVER taken a look around during or even after your fights? Like REALLY looked around?" she shouted, a wild look of exasperation in her eyes.

The two powered men noticed that quite a few buildings and shops were broken, sizzling, some even destroyed. It was dim due to the street lights being knocked over and the power going out in parts of the area. Vehicle parts littered the street as the smell of gasoline, burnt rubber, and rubble muddied the crisp night air.

"Yeah, so?" the villain shrugged, "it happens— ouch! Hey!"

The woman started dragging the villain by the ear, grabbing the hero and doing the same.

"This is my shop," she indicated the Charleston Avenue Flower Shop, "It had been standing unchanged 60 years before my grandmother passed, and you two idiots have destroyed it so many times it doesn't even look like her shop anymore."

Some of the red brick shone through the singed first floor. The foundation and skeleton of the building were intact, and so was most of the second floor. The fight scattered clay across the floor. Patches of green showed through the soot and clay, like spring trying to come after a crop field burning. There were papers and pictures everywhere, some half-burnt.

"Collateral damage happens when trying to subdue villains. Ouch!" the hero cried out when she pulled his ear.

"Don't either of you think about leaving until you clean up your mess," the woman glowered before shoving them over towards the skeleton of her shop.

"And what if we— don't," the villain turned around and saw her soft face darken.

"Do I look like I want to be tested today?" Her voice dropped a couple of pitches.

"My agency can just write a check," the hero tried.

"Grandmother has good enough insurance, and I don't need your damn money. You are going to take the time to clean this shit up," her voice got ominously softer, "the more time you spend arguing with me, the more time it's going to take for you to get this cleaned up."

The villain shrugged and started cleaning. Sure, he could just as easily overpower her and run away. She was pretty enough he could have just captured her. However, she showed enough spirit he'd figured he'd humor her. It's not often he runs into someone who doesn't cower in fear when they see him or try to seduce him for his money half-heartedly. It's not that he was a bad-looking guy. He was just a bad guy.

The hero put his arm around her. She could smell cheap cologne trying to cover sweat and soot from the battle. The loudness of his suit stinging her eyes in the dark.

"Hey, sweetheart, maybe we can work something out?" The hero was trying to sound soothing, "maybe we could arrange a date while my people clean this—"

"If you don't want this to be your last night on earth saving people, you'll actually HELP the bad guy do the simple community service I'm asking you to do," she turned her nose, "I'm not even mildly interested in anything outside of that."

"Ooooo," the villain stifled his laughter as he was gathering debris. The floor was slowly becoming visible in the area he was cleaning, and it was grey tile flooring that would usually look good against the remnants of the light blue on the walls. The villain, though, if this shop weren't in pieces, it was probably beautiful.

"Sweetheart, do you know who I am?" the hero was incredulous. Everyone knows who he is, and people clamor to talk to him, not reprimand him for doing his job.

"You're the Jet, and he's Creator Chaos," the woman rolled her eyes, "Am I really supposed to be that impressed."

She knew them both quite well as they had been destroying her historic city street repeatedly. Business dwindled because the area was constantly under reconstruction. Some companies had to close, and others held on like her flower shop. Many food trucks gathered on the block to keep up the crowd and continue to have the area be a tourist attraction. It's much easier to move a food truck in and out than run a business in the buildings. The Charleston Avenue Flower Shop was one of the last businesses where the owner lived above their storefront, so Lisa usually experienced peace and quiet.

"So you do know me?" the Jet raised an eyebrow. He was relieved, and his bruised ego returned to its usual inflated state.

"I know of you, and the main thing I know about the two of you is that you're both menaces and a pain in my ass," she sighed, pulling the Jet's hand off her shoulder, then shoving him towards her shop. "I didn't realize getting a hero to help clean up his mess would be difficult."

"It's sad that in the amount of time you've tried to 'win me over' Creator Chaos is— almost halfway done clearing the debris?" she was impressed.

"Of course, miss," Chaos bowed, "unlike pretty boy here, I had to build Chaos Corps with my bare hands, starting from nothing."

She blinked, "That's pretty admirable. You could have used your skills for good."

Creator Chaos clicked his tongue, "Nothing good comes from doing good." In his experience, this was 100 percent the truth. Brute force and evil were the only ways to acquire the good things in life, and one can control things better that way.

"Everything good comes from doing good," the Jet corrected. He couldn't imagine why anyone would do anything terrible, though part of him was grateful, and it kept his pockets full.

"You're too pure to get it, Jet, and that's why we will never see eye to eye," Chaos went back to cleaning.

He finally cleared a path to the stairs leading up to her room. After the fifth time her shop was destroyed and her fifth hotel stay, she decided to get the structure triple-reinforced. Rebuilding the walls and decor of the shop itself were the only things she had to do at this point. More often than not, it's the first floor they destroy.

The woman kissed Chaos on the cheek, "Well, I hope you consider it good enough. It's pretty sweet of you to help me, you know, despite being a villain."

Creator Chaos touched a hand to his cheek and watched her as she disappeared up the stairs. He noted how round her ass was as she walked away, and those jeans she was wearing did her a lot of justice.

"Because I'm a villain, I get this view," Chaos told himself.

"Will you stop staring at her like that? What spell did you cast on this innocent citizen?" the Jet reprimanded.

"First off, Jet, I'm an engineer, not a magician. Second off, sometimes it's not about the glory. You'd know that if you'd done any manual labor in your privileged life. Third, I am a VILLAIN and a man with two eyes," Creator Chaos listed.

"She is attractive, but that doesn't mean you should ogle her like that," the Jet reprimanded. He did have to agree with Chaos that Lisa was pretty easy on the eyes.

"Villain?" Chaos pointed to himself, "And I'm not the one who tried to seduce her to get out of doing what she asked."

"I wasn't seducing her!" the Jet exclaimed, "I was simply trying to take her mind off of this mess here. Someone else really could do this."

"I can't imagine how many women who get attracted by your glory that walk away dissatisfied. You can't seem to hear what a woman wants over your praises," Chaos rolled his eyes, "I'm sure she's had plenty of other people fix this place up."

"The women who I see are plenty satisfied," the Jet shouted, "And why would I do this when I can hire anyone to do it?"

Chaos held up the sign with her hours of operation he dug out of the debris.

"You're being noisy. It's 2 am, and this woman's shop opens in 6 hours," Chaos looked at Jet deadpan, "isn't your power speed or something? Fixing this shop would go along faster if you helped."

"I should just arrest you right now," the Jet muttered, "it's not like any of this will be fixed by morning."

"Then who would be the villain here," Chaos began ignoring Jet and continued cleaning.

"Whatever. I'm not working next to a villain! I'll— defeat and arrest you later," the Jet flew off.

Chaos sighed, "I was wondering when he'd leave."

He pulled out his phone, "Hey!"

"Boss! Where are you? Are you okay?" A frantic voice was on the other line.

"I'm fine. Listen, I need you and the boys to meet me at the address I'm going to text to you," Chaos said, picking up some documents from the debris.

"Are we doing a heist?"

"No, we are doing community service," Chaos said simply.

"Community service? Boss, are you sure you're alright?"

"This will just be a one-time favor," he explained, thumbing through the documents he was able to salvage.

"She's pretty, ain't she, boss?" the lackey asked bashfully.

"Will you— will you all just get your asses down here!" Chaos shouted.

The man chuckled, "Sure, boss."

The line clicked.

"If my men weren't like family to me, I'd take a few of his fingers for that one," Chaos glared at the phone.

He then looked at the documents.

"Lisa Lesura..." he smirked as he put the documents aside and continued working.

---

Lisa yawned and stretched. It was 6 am, and she was exhausted. It's sort of difficult to sleep with a draft coming in from a broken window, let alone all the noise. Lisa was always up before the sun and was usually up late. However, she was rarely up late as she was last night. If the fight last night didn't ruin her shop, she might have let herself sleep in a little more.

She was sure it was the police crews or fire department or something to come to dig through the debris. She figured since it had quieted down, the emergency teams were done since it all quieted down.

Lisa made her way down to the office. She usually makes a cup of coffee before she does the bookkeeping first thing in the morning. After that, she gets ready for the day. Her office chair was pretty comfy, but it was even better in her nightgown and robe. Lisa liked to do the super hard things first, even though she was sometimes half asleep doing them.

"That's a— pretty impressive sleepwear," she heard a male voice say.

She closed her robe. Like many women, Lisa did not sleep in a bra, nor underwear for that matter. She looked up to see who was there.

"What are you still doing here, Chaos?" she looked him over.

He changed from his villain outfit to something more suited for manual labor. He was covered in dust and a little WD-40. The shop looked pretty close to how it was. The grey tile was glistening, and the walls had some fresh paint. They were in better shape than before Chaos and Jet destroyed them. Chaos and his men had replaced most of the furniture. The counter at the back of the shop was made of sturdier wood than she had with a nice finish as if it were handcrafted. The register fit perfectly into a spot on it, and the safe was nestled in its own place. The wiring and hook-up for the alarm button were reinforced, and the rifle was better attached to the inside. She noted that the gun got an upgrade though she wasn't sure that type of rifle was legal for civilian use.

"Well, you said not to leave until I cleaned it up," Chaos scratched the back of his neck.

"And you listened to me?" Lisa exclaimed, clutching her robe shut with both hands because she noticed his eye following her legs upwards.

The nightgown dame up to her mid-thigh, and it clung to her around her hips and bust a little. She was a voluptuous woman. Lisa was the kind of woman who would almost make him believe that some good things come from doing good, but only almost. Chaos knew he'd probably ruin her if he got too close, and why would he even want to get close? It's not like he likes her or anything.

"Uh— yeah?" Chaos shrugged, trying to look away innocently.

"Don't you try to look like you're not trying to catch glances," Lisa turned away to make coffee.

His eyes training onto her round ass that he was pretty sure would fit in his hands just right. Chaos shook the thought from his head.

He sighed, "Villain, a man with two eyes, and you facing that direction doesn't make this any better."

Lisa threw her hands up in frustration and rushed back up the stairs. She liked the way her nightclothes fit on her, but she wouldn't wear anything like that during the day.

She came down in a canary yellow sundress with blue trimmings. Lisa tied her cinnamon hair back in a messy bun.

"Beautiful..." Chaos breathed.

"What was that?" Lisa asked.

"Nothing! Anyway, my boys are just finishing up the painting, and I sent some to try to replace the merchandise in your inventory," Chaos cleared his throat.

"How— very generous of you," Lisa replied slowly.

"Some of the flowers here are pretty rare, and I don't think they'll find those anywhere," Chaos looked at the inventory sheet.

There was parrot-beak, orchids, Juliet roses, Franklinia, and others. Most scientists assumed a few on there to be extinct, so he wasn't sure how on earth they were actually on her inventory. Then again, many of the pictures of bouquets were pretty unique, the flowers having bloomed brilliantly.

Lisa giggled, "Well, those we grow in-house."

"In-house?"

"I don't show anyone this part of the shop, but since you helped me out, I guess I'll show you," she smiled, leading him by the hand.

"Um... sure," he nodded.

"For someone so delicate looking, she's pretty strong," he noted, being pulled along by Lisa, thankfully not by the ear this time.

"Shouldn't you be concerned that I'll rob you of whatever is in this secret room?" Chaos asked as he watched her holding his hand.

"Don't be silly," she shook her head.

"I guess everyone has forgotten I'm a villain today," Chaos thought, then shook his head, "No. Nothing good comes from doing good. However, this view is pretty good. No!"

He continued his internal struggle as Lisa pulled a key from around her neck and opened the door to a secret greenhouse in the backside of the building. It was full of rare flowers. Lisa set the conditions in each room segment for as close to their natural environment as possible. The lighting in the central area mimicked the sun, and in other places, it was dark as night. Some of the flowers grew in pots, and others grew from soil plots. The area was big enough to accommodate at least three different kinds of rose bushes and flowers that grow from vines. It was like a colorful paradise of rare and unique treasures in flower form.

"Grandma loved flowers, ever since I can remember. She taught me everything there is to know about caring for them," Lisa explained as she led him through the greenhouse, "aren't they lovely?"

Chaos was vaguely aware of the flowers in the room, "Yes."

"Hold on! I have to prune this bush, or the flowers will wilt," she said, leaving him to stand there.

"She could make boatloads of money on some of these, yet they charge such low prices," Chaos thought, examining some of the flowers, "She could triple the price of some of these on the black market, and she's not worried I won't rob her? Really?"

"Done!" Lisa came back with a set of gloves and trimmings for the flowers, and she put them in a bin for recycling soil.

"You know, you could be making boatloads of money and move out of an old shop like this," Chaos pointed out.

"Grandma always said, 'anyone should be able to appreciate a beautiful flower, especially the rare ones,'" Lisa quoted, "many of the people here appreciate what it means to want to give so much for having so little. The young people who can't afford a wedding ring still want to present their lover with something special. The elderly person living on a pension still wants to shower their significant other with flowers. People want to provide a special touch to their loved one's graves. A chain flower shop can't provide the care and consideration for a customer's hearts."

"That's— the corniest shit I've ever heard," Chaos laughed.

Lisa smiled at him, "You can think what you want of grandma's and my philosophy, but... well... I know I've taken up a lot of your time already, but can you indulge me a little longer, Mr. Chaos?"

"Why not? I don't have any big schemes in my schedule today," he shrugged.

Lisa giggled, "Thank you."

Chaos nodded.

"This flower may be the death of me if I'm not careful," he thought. He weirdly didn't feel like robbing or kidnapping her, and the fact that she made him feel that way was what was most dangerous to him. Nothing good comes from doing good, and that includes inherently good things.

Thanks to the work of Chaos and his men, Lisa was able to open the shop as usual. Since Chaos's reputation precedes him, he decided to sit out of the way.

"Good morning, Lisa!" an elderly man came in.

"Good morning, Mr. Wilson! How is Mrs. Wilson doing?"

"Well, she's doing better than she was. She's starting to remember me less though," Mr. Wilson smiled sadly.

Lisa rubbed him on the back, "I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Wilson."

"She seems to remember the day I proposed to her. You know I did that with flowers from this very shop?"

"Grandma did tell me that and that you gave her our flowers at your wedding and all your anniversaries. We appreciate you, Mr. Wilson. Grandma still has the pictures you gave her! Hold on."

Lisa went to pull a picture album from the safe, and it had all the customers' memories that wanted to share what their flowers did for them.

"Let me see," she thumbed through the book; it was organized by year, "here we go!"

Mr. Wilson smiled with tears in his eyes, running a finger over the plastic.

"My Wilma is still as beautiful today as she was then."

"Would you like me to make an arrangement from this day?" Lisa asked, examining the picture.

"Can you really do that, Lisa?" Mr. Wilson exclaimed, "this picture is in black and white!"

"I sure can. I have a fresh pot of coffee for the guests I put on. If you want, I can pour you a cup to drink while you wait," Lisa guided him to the table on the far end of the shop within eyeshot of the front counter. She then trekked to the work station on the opposite side of the shop that was within eyeshot of the front door. Chaos made sure that she had rifles under those counters. Never know when a guy like him could walk in.

Chaos got a little nervous because that's where he was sitting. He was sure Lisa was out of her mind at this point, and it was almost like she was actively trying to lose customers or something.

"You're a strapping young man. Are you a friend of Lisa's?" Mr. Wilson asked.

He knew the young man sitting in front of him was, in fact, Spencer Hendrix, also known as Creator Chaos. He reminded her a lot of Lisa's grandma. Only he was more like a kid playing at being a villain in Mr. Wilson's eyes. After all, his best friend was a hero, and heroes and villains weren't built like they were in his day. The only thing that changes is that good and evil aren't always black and white. Despite him trying hard to be bad, there's a good heart in there was hurt too many times. Sometimes, villains start out as gentle souls who have the unfortunate start of being born in a pit of darkness and filth.

Mr. Wilson does see how he looks at Lisa. Much like how she doesn't change the environment her flowers bloom, she wouldn't try to change him. He couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing, but he was pretty sure that maybe Lisa liked him, too. Life is too short to dwell on stuff like this. Lisa's grandma and grandpa didn't let trivial things keep them apart, so why not. After all, despite how gentle she was towards the end of her life, Lisa's grandma shed more blood than any criminal in history.

In contrast, history remembers her husband and his best friend as the biggest savior in history. Perhaps that's why he's not bothered by this situation, and he kind of feels like he needs to encourage it.

"I guess... you could say that," Chaos asked, confused as to why the old man didn't recognize him.

"She's a nice girl. Still single, though I don't understand why," Mr. Wilson noted, smiling at Chaos.

"I-is this old man trying to play matchmaker right now?" Chaos thought as his eyebrow twitched.

"Listen, young man. My Wilma and I will have been married 60 years today, and the best years of my life have been with her," Mr. Wilson continued.

Chaos nodded, listening.

"You kind of remind me of me when I was young before I met my Wilma," Mr. Wilson smiled.

"You were a supervillain?" Chaos thought.

"Too focused on your work and not taking the time to smell the flowers," Mr. Wilson reminisced.

"Oh..." Chaos thought.

Lisa returned with a beautiful bouquet.

"Here you are, sir!"

Chaos stopped breathing for a minute as he stared at Lisa holding the bouquet. She looked genuinely happy to help this old man out. No one is that kind— right?

"Lisa!" Mr. Wilson exclaimed, "That's exactly like the picture! Thank you! Thank you!"

Mr. Wilson went to pull out his wallet.

"Don't worry, sir. This one's on me," Chaos offered.

"Wait, what the hell am I doing?" He thought.

Mr. Wilson gave a knowing smile. He was interested to see where this situation goes, but he figures he probably shouldn't meddle anymore.

"How kind of you!" Lisa smiled, handing Mr. Wilson the flowers.

"Y-yeah," Chaos nodded.

"He's a nice young man here, Lisa," Mr. Wilson nodded on his way out, "Don't let life flash you by, young people!"

"I won't, Mr. Wilson," Lisa smiled and waved.

She turned to Chaos.

"I'm sorry. Mr. Wilson has been trying to marry me off for a while," she apologized, "I hope he didn't bother you too much."

"Not at all. Though I was shocked, he didn't know who I was. I'm not a nice guy," Chaos shook his head.

"Whatever you say," Lisa smirked as she went to help another customer.

"I'm not!" Chaos called after her as she waved.

Chaos plopped down on the chair, crossing his arms. He continued watching Lisa work. Customers who come in distraught left with a smile on their faces, and some came in chipper and left happy. There were a lot of shy young people who were starting relationships.

"Wait..." Chaos squinted his eyes at a customer who was bashfully talking to Lisa about taking out a girl, and Lisa was offering encouragement as she prepared an arrangement. The man looked around then panicked.

"B-boss!"

"Don't mind me. Just keep doing what you're doing," Chaos sighed.

The man nodded. He was kind of nervous that his boss was hanging around the flower shop still.

"There you go, Mr. Victor. Let me know how things go with Veronica!" She smiled.

The man smiled bashfully, "Thanks, Ms. Lisa. I sure will."

Victor had come to this shop many times browsing because he was trying to ask Veronica out for a while. Then he started spending a lot of time there because he wanted to ask Veronica to marry him. Victor helped Chaos rebuild the shop last night, but he was hoping the boss would go back to planning some big heist so he wouldn't be caught buying flowers. They were hardened criminals, after all.

"Why is one of my men in here acting like a huge softy! He put at least three people in the bottom of the river last week! And who is Veronica?" Chaos's eyebrow twitched, "what is this shop?"

Lisa walked over and blinked, "Huh. I knew Mr. Victor lived a life of crime, but I didn't know he worked for you. Small world."

"That— doesn't bother you?" Chaos was confused about how someone like her is not bothered by someone like him.

"No. Before superheroes and villains moved into the area, it was run by the mob. Grandma had a financial plan to keep the mob paid and happy and all the shops on this street safe. It also helped that one of them was sweet on grandma. Apparently, he had a crush on her since they were teenagers," Lisa smiled.

"I— think I should go—" Chaos began when the door burst open.

"I see you got your shop fixed up," the Jet strolled in, "maybe now that it's fixed, we can go to dinner!"

Lisa grimaced, "You can't be serious."

"What do you mean?" the Jet looked confused.

Most women would jump at the offer of him taking them out. He wasn't quite sure what was up with this woman, but the Jet always wins at the end of the day.

"He's not used to women turning him down," Chaos whispered.

"Oh..." Lisa nodded, "I'm sorry. I can't. While Mr. Chaos and his men worked all night to fix the structure of the shop and restock my merchandise, I still have to organize my paperwork and clean up little things around here."

"I'm sure that can wait, though, right?" The Jet flashed a charming smile.

"I bet not a single woman you slept with has ever been satisfied with the amount of time you spend stroking your ego," Chaos commented.

Lisa tried to hold back a laugh. Chaos smiled.

"She thought that was funny," he thought, "no! No. Nothing good comes from doing good. I'm out of here. This woman is more dangerous than I am..."

"Well, it's been fun. I'm going to go-- rob a bank or something," Chaos rushed out of there.

"Okay! Come back any time!" Lisa waved after him.

"Not happening," he blushed as he rushed off.

"Boss! Are you okay? Your face is red!" one of his assistants was waiting for him to return to the car.

"I'm fine," Chaos muttered, sinking into his seat in the back.

"You know Victor is going to ask Veronica to marry him?" He said, driving off.

"I heard," Chaos muttered.

"I don't know the new girl running the shop, but Old Lady Lesura was like a miracle worker!" the lackey said, "if someone with Victor's ugly mug can land a girl like Veronica, there's hope for the rest of us goons!"

Chaos put his head in his hand. He was pretty sure he taught his men that nothing good comes from doing good. Yet some of them insist on having good things.

"I just helped rebuild a weapon of mass destruction, and a dangerous little flower is at the helm," Chaos muttered.

"I didn't catch that boss?"

"Just— drive."