Chương 60: Burdensome Secrets

Alex glanced over at Lyn who was still sitting ramrod straight in the chair she'd plopped down in, her lips pressed into a tight line that quivered almost imperceptibly.

"Could you stop intimidating my girlfriend?" he huffed at Song. His landlady had a bemused smile on, "I'm not doing aaaaaaaaanything, Mr. Adams. She's just a little nervous. Probably because she has the smarts to know to respect me."

"She hasn't seen you throw all of your official Victory Hawks water bottles in the garbage during a tantrum."

"It was a twelve point lead!" she snapped loudly enough that Alex had to wince.

"Once is coincidence. Twice is happenstance! Three times?! Their new coach is atrocious but not this bad. I swear I will find whoever is responsible for this and make them rue the day they chose to interfere here!" As she seethed, clutching a mug that seemed a little chipped across its rim, Alex shot a grin over a Lyn, trying to show her there was nothing to worry about. Ms. Song was clearly just like the rest of the villains in this town.

My fucking idiot boyfriend is going to get me killed, Lyn thought to herself while watching him banter with Death f ucking Siren in the small room she currently found herself trapped in. Her nails dug into her palms as she watched Alex smile at her. She wanted nothing more than to scream in that moment, and maybe to shake him until he shut the hell up before they both died. Her eyes slid over to Death Siren.

They almost bugged out of her skull when she saw the woman staring directly back at her, the slightest hint of teeth peering over her lips, and that shout died in her throat. For some unknown reason, she was allowing this and clearly didn't want anyone to interfere. Lyn fixed her gaze to the floor, only for the super villain to place down her mug with a heavy thud on the small desk at the back of the room.

"Let's get back on track," her dangerous voice lilted over the room.

"Your little job last night was a mixed bag. You got that silly little float your mad scientist wanted and successfully captured the attention of the whole city. You need to capitalize on that as soon as possible." Lyn tensed upon hearing Celeste being mentioned. It was like an illusory knife being pressed to her throat.

"Hmm… Something upsetting you?" Lyn jolted as she realized Death Siren was addressing her. She looked up to see a cruel grin on the woman's face.

"Oh right, Mr. Adams here has been keeping me filled in about his life lately. I've heard wonderful things about your organization." That was a threat. It had to be. But what was she trying to say? Or was it just a general threat like "Do whatever I say, or else"? Lyn's mind raced.

"Oh, don't worry," Death Siren said through a smirk.

"He's been positively beaming with joy lately, and I'm sure I have you to thank for that."

"Please stop with the mind reading," Alex sighed. Lyn stiffened. Mind reading?! Her hands felt like they were going to explode with how tightly she balled them.

"It's not mind reading, brat," Siren huffed.

"Emotions are just loud. And she's worried half to death. Really? Did you not tell her anything? Tell me she at least knows about what you stole from the League?" Lyn's eyes exploded open as she whipped her head to face Alex. Her boyfriend's face ran through a gamut of emotions. Shock, fear, hurt… Lyn's entire body shook as she faced Death Siren and upon seeing a victorious smile on her face the world stopped having any other meaning to it than pure, unadulterated rage.

She barely registered Death Siren's look of surprise, much less recognize her own body transforming at a command she didn't realize she'd made. Her hand was already reaching out, clawing for the bitch's face. Ungodly force met her own, almost grinding her to a halt. Lyn simply continued to press forward, leaning her entire body towards the woman while her chitinous talons attempted to push past the woman's upheld hands which were latched onto her own. All to try and seize her by the throat.

She thought she heard a sound of surprise but had no idea if it was from Alex or Siren.

"How dare you?!" she screamed.

"That was not your secret to tell!"

"Wh-" Siren moved backwards as confusion crossed her face.

"He was supposed to tell me on his own!" she snarled, the perfect little fantasy of hers coming undone. The sweet and tender moment of trust snatched from her grasp as yet another fucking interloper intruded on her relationship. Another arm reached for the supervillain, heedless of all logic or reason as she snarled, "It was going to be romantic and touching! You ruined it!"

She had just wanted this relationship, this beautiful little thing, to be like the stories she spent the last decade reading about while stuck in this fucking monster body. It didn't matter if there were lies at first, just so long as he opened up to her, revealing the vulnerable sides of him that he kept secret from the world. It would prove how special she was. How important she was! And yet every single fucking person wanted to push them on what should be the sweet honeymoon days of their relationship.

Like they were running out of time! Worse, they were throwing it in her face that they knew Alex more than her! That his secrets weren't hers to discover first! How dare those around her prance around like they were better than her! Like she couldn't even have a boyfriend to herself! Like she was… like she was… The rage began to bleed off her and she suddenly realized what she'd done. How she was currently grasping for the throat of a woman that went toe to toe with Mr.

Wonder and often came out of the other side looking like it had been a fair fight. Death Siren was holding one of her arms to her side, her own arm fully outstretched as her hand gripped Terror's much larger limb by the wrist. The other hand was intertwined with Lyn's own, obscuring the woman's face as she leaned back against the desk. Lyn sucked air through her teeth as she felt the grasping talons shoved aside. Death Siren was beaming at her… in what looked like pride?

"Oh my gods, you're delusional!" she laughed, making the statement sound like a compliment somehow.

"You're perfect!" Lyn felt her massive body yanked forward like she weighed no more than a box of tissues. Before she could process that, she found herself in a tight embrace as the much smaller woman pulled her into a hug, "Oh, I was worried there for a moment that you lacked the nerve, the backbone to challenge the world. That you were just a trophy to adorn his rise to power, but I'm so glad to see I was wrong. You're just as hungry as Mr. Adams over there, aren't you?"

Lyn blinked in shock, not sure how to react to all of this, especially as soft lips pecked her forehead, pressing down the eyes hidden behind her mask as Death Siren laughed in amusement before pushing her away. She stumbled a few steps, clearing the table before shifting back to her elven form to avoid crashing into anything. She yelped as the remaining momentum caused her to trip and fall into the chair she'd been occupying moments ago, only to quickly find Alex standing in front of her protectively.

"I apologize," Death Siren through her chuckles, "I meant to correct what I thought was a mistake, but I see now that you're perfectly fine as is. Sorry, Mr. Adams, for revealing that secret. And my apologies, Terrorantula, for underestimating you." Alex held her gaze, one hand resting on Lyn's shoulder as she panted, feeling the spike of adrenaline coursing through her system.

"I-" Alex glanced back at Lyn, an appreciative look on his face before it went stony again, "I don't like you telling people my secrets. Even if-" Death Siren held up her hands, "No, I shouldn't have interfered. Especially not for the reasons I did so. Although, I must say that I'm heartened you chose a suitable partner for world conquest. Make sure you live up to the example she sets. Terrified out of her wits and yet willing to fight just to make sure she gets the future she wants."

Alex once again looked over at Lyn, a look of pride on his face that made her swoon, despite her heart hammering in her chest with how close she'd come to death over not keeping control over her temper.

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm lucky to have her." Oh his mattress upstairs was going to be destroyed after this. A snort reminded Lyn that Death Siren apparently could read emotions or something. Her face lit up red.

"We'll have to chat more later, Lord Menace," Siren stretched out Alex's new name with notes of fondness in her voice.

"I have to hear what you've got planned next, but I feel it's best to let you and your partner in crime enjoy each other's company. For now, know that I'm proud of you both. I look forward to seeing your future exploits." Lyn's mouth flapped open and shut and she saw Alex look her way, also clearly trying to process that. Siren walked around the desk and gingerly sat down in the chair behind it, flicking her hand in their direction, "Shoo, both of you. Get out of here."

Lyn scrambled to stand, only for Alex's hands to gently guide her upwards and away. She looked over her shoulder at the former council member of the League of Domination, the woman who had once threatened to seize control of the whole Ameran, Uropan, and Azanian coastlines in a prolonged reign of terror, who clashed countless times with Mr. Wonder and the whole of the Protectors of the Globe. And that woman returned her gaze with a warm smile.

Alex opened the door to his apartment and winced as he remembered he hadn't remembered to clean off the table, his own half finished projects spread across every inch of the surface. Otherwise the place was ordered enough, but he still felt like between whatever had happened downstairs and how disorganized his workspace was, he was failing at something.

"Oh, did you clean up for me?" Lyn asked as she looked around the small living space.... Right… Never mind. Alex ushered her inside and latched the door shut. He clicked the lights on despite the sun creeping in, which was keeping most of the room lit well enough.

His finger also thumbed the small micro sonic emitter – something that he'd only recently come to learn was not a standard installation in most apartments in this city – which would keep their voices from carrying even through the relatively thick walls, floor, and ceiling. It had been a godsend for working on projects late into the night without getting noise complaints and so he hadn't bothered to question it up until Song had outright confirmed her own identity.

He took a deep breath, "So, I guess I should-""No," Lyn cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it. Why don't we find your old outfit and then kill some time instead." Alex blinked at that, confused. And for once not at the sultry voice Lyn was employing which tended to make his brain shut down.

"Dear…" he cautiously tried to start back up the subject, "I don't know what's going on but-""It's not the right time," she insisted, avoiding meeting his gaze as she strolled over to the table to look over a half completed gravitor emitter.

"How did you learn to do stuff like this?" Her voice quivered slightly as she clearly was forcing the change in conversation. Perhaps she was still rattled by the fight downstairs. Alex exhaled and went over to join her.

"It was one of the few things I actually was good at when my parents sent me off to-" A hellish reeducation complex the larger family used to churn out soldiers they could rent out to supervillains.

"-boarding school. Shop class was actually fun." And the only place where people weren't constantly comparing me to my family, Alex thought while keeping himself from grimacing. Lyn clearly wanted "normal" right now and if he was going to approach the whole subject of his accidental murder of Dr. Maniacal, he was going to have to tread lightly here. Still, apparently "boarding school" was a heavy enough subject to earn a pitying frown. Dammit. He threw on a forced smile.

"Would you believe I actually got to apprentice with General Gears?" he told her, earning the exact surprised reaction he was fishing for.

"He… uh, swung by the school and gave me some lessons." Actually, the General had come by to grab some grunts for his last attempt at world domination. There'd been a minor scuffle with a superhero team who had tracked him down and in the confusion Alex had hitched a ride on the supervillain's shuttle.

The man had been less than pleased to find a teenager in his cargo bay but had still ended up training the boy when he managed to prove his worth by helping fix the man's power armor that had been damaged in the fight. Lyn grimaced, "Uh… didn't he…?" Oh, right. Smooth choice of subject change, dipshit, Alex berated himself.

"That was a couple years later and I know what people say about why he did it, but it was actually a medical thing," he explained.

"Late stage Daoxuan-Foort syndrome." ¹ Her mouth formed an O and Alex quickly changed subjects again, "Anyways, I've mostly been doing a lot of my own research here and there and picking up a few DIY projects to test out some things. Nothing like Celeste has going for her, but do you remember the heat beam from the Starlane Shipping job? That was something I made here." She smiled at the memory, hopefully forgetting the part where he'd singed his own fingers with that damn thing.

Alex's hands tingled as he remembered playing off the misfire long enough that he could rush to find a water fountain when no one was looking. The ache of that past moment led his brain straight back to the feeling of lightning running down those same fingers. All the incidents in recent memory kicked off with the death of the mad scientist. He swallowed through a dry throat as Lyn wandered through the rest of his apartment, staring at what possessions he'd managed to acquire since he came to this city.

As she looked over it, he couldn't help but feel the weight of everything he'd lost when the explosion had torn apart the apartment complex. What he'd been forced to leave behind. What was coming for him.

"Lyn… I-""Alex. Stop," she said firmly, keeping her back turned to him. A few tense moments passed in silence before she turned around, eyes ablaze as they plead with him to drop the subject.

"Please, not now." The look in her eyes chipped at his heart, feeding that cowardly part of him that told him to bury his secrets down and ignore them until they became a problem. He should be welcoming this whole situation, overjoyed that Lyn didn't want to know one of the most dangerous truths in his life. He should be celebrating the fact that for some reason she was shutting down any attempt at a conversation that could get him killed. But something about it was wrong. That fight with Ms.

Song hadn't scared him with how brutally powerful it had been – and honestly he was a little concerned that his reaction to seeing Lyn going full Terrorantula at the drop of a hat elicited a different response than fear, but no time to examine that now – but rather something about her face had spoke of a desperation. Something more than just some idealized romantic ideal like Song had identified. He was even more certain of this given her reaction now.

He tried once more only for her to immediately cut him off, "Please, Alex. I just- Can this just be normal? Just a little longer? The two of us going on dates like normal people without all the… everything of super powered bullshit?" If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Alex squeezed his eyes shut, a flicker of that world flashing through his head. He'd spent his twenties looking for a taste of it himself.

The very thing his family stole from him. And it slipped through his fingers. Because the truth was that this life dug its hooks in you and wouldn't let go.

"I don't think… the world will let us have that," he muttered, causing Lyn to wince. Her blue fingers wrapped around the frame of the cheap folding chair next to his desk and Alex heard the metal beginning to bend.

"Sooner or later, it's going to come out and I want to-""Don't you dare say 'protect me'!" Lyn snapped, her teeth bared at him.

"Don't you dare be like-""I'm not!" Alex gnashed his jaw.

"That's not what this is about! I want my secrets to be told on my terms! I don't want someone to come along and spit this in your face and- and-! What are you afraid of?!" Lyn was clearly taken aback, "I'm not-!"

"Yes, you are!" he realized as he said the words himself. It was clear on her face now that he could identify it. His girlfriend grabbed the chair and flung it aside, the metal bending as it slammed onto the ground while she let out a frustrated shout, "Fine! I'm afraid of running away again!" The air in the apartment felt like lead and Alex choked on his own words as tears streamed down Lyn's eyes.

Gods fucking dammit, she was crying as the words just started falling out of her mouth. Death Siren had knocked these feelings loose by telling her part of Alex's secret on top of revealing herself in the first fucking place! She felt something in her chest tighten and she had to keep speaking just to not have it squeeze the life out of her.

"I'm afraid whatever you tell me will get me to run away scared!" Lyn continued.

"Just like before!" Her boyfriend was looking at her in shock and probably horror as she'd just destroyed his furniture all for her stupid fucking tantrum. Fuck! Why couldn't he have just left this alone?! Why couldn't she just have this?! Ten minutes ago she'd been wrestling a living fucking legend with murder in her mind and now she was having a breakdown over freezing up weeks ago! This is why she was worthless!

Alex was about to say something and she cut him off, which only made her feel worse even as she was explaining herself, "What if I'm just a fuck-up coward who runs away when things get tough? You're trying to take over the world and I just joined along because we're dating! What if I'm not cut out for this? What if I'm the weak link here? What if you tell me and it's the wrong choice and I've made all the wrong choices and everything I've done so far has just ruined both our lives?

I've got fucking fey coming for me for gods' sake because I was so stupid and what if that gets us both killed?" The "what if"s kept spilling out. The things that had woke her up last night when Alex was laying there next to her after what should've been the highlight of her villain career. He didn't know how much of a wreck she was. Not really. Fuck! It was seeing his landlady was Death Siren that told her how far out of her depth she was.

And then she'd tried to fight her over something so stupid and almost gotten killed just like she had with Arex. And then she'd gone into this room and seen how ordered his life was while the labs were falling apart even with Celeste's cleaner drones. It was all just piling up and piling up and proving what she knew since she was a child. She was nothing in a world of giants.

Just an idiot who fell in the path of a big ray gun that her stupid professor had made because she was trying to be a TA while taking twenty credit hours a semester and hold a part time job and graduate with all A's. Just to meet the bare minimum expected of her.

And now she'd forced Alex, a guy who grew up training his whole life, who lived in a place run by Death Siren, who was planning on taking over the damn world, into being her boyfriend and dealing with her mistake because she just wanted to get a different body, one that he hadn't even cared about in the first place.

"I'm-" she gasped through the tears, "I just… feel too small for this…" She expected him to look at her like she was made of glass. Crying in front of guys always did that. It didn't matter how many years of being a supervillain you had under your belt. A few sniffles and you were hopeless, pathetic, and fragile. Fuck! So it was to her absolute bewilderment that her partner began laughing.

Her sobs, which had been threatening to cause her to double over, stopped immediately as she watched the man dissolve into manic laughter. The type that seemed dangerous.

"You?! You feel small? Like you're going to get us killed? Like you're the one that's one fuck up away from all of this falling apart?" Lyn heard the nervousness in the guffaws as his grey eyes seemed to lose focus.

"I'm the one who's the actual weak link. I'm the nobody in over his head who's bringing shit down on our heads. One of the reasons I'm gunning for this world domination is because otherwise the League's just going to wipe me out for daring to fuck with them!" Alex bit down on his lip, cutting off whatever he was about to say next. He took a shuddering breath.

"This world won't let us have 'normal,'" his voice was eerily calm, sending a shiver down her spine. Not out of fear but out of a shared anger she could feel on the air.

"It's dead set on taking that from us because it thinks we're weak. A friend of mine once explained what this whole stupid dream was all about and it's why we're doing this. It's why we need to do this." He met her eyes, "The heroes, the League, the fucking fey assholes hunting you? They're only going to stop when they know not to mess with us. That's our goal, alright? Neither of us is going to be helpless anymore." Lyn's jaw quivered and she tried to form words but they just wouldn't come out. Alex sighed, "I…

know. I know what it's like to be a failure. I've been it my whole life. But I just want five minutes at the top. To do whatever I want. To have whatever I desire. The world owes me that. It owes you that too." Those words wrapped around Lyn like silken sheets being pulled tight across her body. She closed her eyes and let them echo through her brain. Finally she took a deep breath, letting that hunger take the wheel. The clawing tendrils of panic and self loathing began to fall back, losing hold on her.

Alex watched her, clearly evaluating her, "Lyn?" She met his gaze, "I… still want a bit of time. I want… I wanted to fall for you more. I mean, I'm fucking head over heels for you but I wanted for it to be where I couldn't live without you before you told me, so that no matter what I'd still be here." Alex raised an eyebrow and the ghost of a smirk crossed his face, "You wanted to 'sunk-cost fallacy' our relationship?"

"Asshole," she laughed.

"But yeah… I wanted to be sure. I wanted whatever we had to be bigger than whatever it is you want to tell me." She swallowed, afraid to ask, "It's a big deal isn't it? I can pick that up from the context clues." Her boyfriend grimaced and nodded. Lyn frowned, "Yeah, Dea- your landlady made it sound like that. I… fuck, I do want to know but please, please just give me a bit more time." His jaw worked back and forth and one of his hands curled into a fist for a second. In the end, his shoulders sagged, "Fine."

She quickly spoke up, "Don't worry about Ned. He knows more secrets about the villains of this city than even Vandal probably does. He's not going to tell anyone." The look on Alex's face told her that he wasn't quite convinced. But she didn't focus on that. Something flitted through her head as the words had just left her lips.

"Vandal… her plan," she mumbled.

"That's it." Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow, confused at her sudden shift in conversation.

"If the Victory Day thing goes to plan, the League's done here, right? That's what she said," Lyn pointed out.

"And we'll have done the impossible. I'll have helped you out."

"You already did," Alex tried. It still put a smile on her face, "I just… I need more than just scraping a win off against half a hero team or getting Ned to shove off for long enough. Her plan still kind of scares me, but it's the kind of thing we'll be doing from now on, right? Tell me then. Right once we've stamped down on the League's fingers in this town. Get us some breathing room." Alex considered it, clearly still uncomfortable. Lyn didn't love the way he was looking at her. She knew this was irrational.

She knew all of this was just inviting so many things to go wrong. But even with his words coaxing the best villainess she could be out of her, those little shadows of doubt refused to go away. She'd lost control too many times in the past couple weeks and made too many mistakes. She needed the control, the clear cut goal. To make this a prize rather than a concern. Finally, after too many seconds of painful silence, her boyfriend, the man she was infatuated with, let out a deep sigh and nodded his head.

"I'll… tell you then. But… If this catches up to me before then-""Then don't let me run," she implored as she stared deep into his grey eyes. Then a light grin worked itself across her face, "If you're going to take over the world, then you need to be able to stop at least one of the spiders running around this town." Alex smiled at that, "Alright, I'll see if I can work on getting better with my gravitor gauntlets." That got Lyn to laugh.

The mental image of her being plucked from the air and dangling there was somehow comical to her rather than insulting. It helped clear the mood she'd brought down. He pointed past her to a small room on the opposite side of the apartment, "Let's go grab my old costume and head out of here." Lyn grinned, "Or… Why don't I go find your bed around here while you get what we came for. Then we can get… delayed.

Besides, we never got to try out this body last time and I'm not going to be hunted by fairy assassins for something I don't at least get to take for a test spin." The look on his face was almost worth the impending threat of death by otherworldly politics.

Alex cursed as yet another box proved to be the wrong one. Lyn was currently indulging herself by making a pile of blankets on his bed as part of some habit she'd picked up and was throwing a few too many salacious comments his way for him to help prod his memory in the right direction as he ransacked his small closet. He stood up a little too fast and knocked his head on something only for the heavens above to smile on him for once today and the exact box he was looking for to drop down at his feet.

"Is that it?" cooed his girlfriend, clearly enjoying his frustration. He knew it was without opening it but presented it to her anyways, "Yep! Now-""Oh, no, no, no," she teased.

"First, I need to see if you actually have a genuine Luna Lace in there." She laughed while he rolled his eyes and dug out the costume to hold up to her. As he did so, a small business card went fluttering to the floor. Alex cursed and reached down to scoop it up.

"Oooh, the legendary business card of the top costume designer on the planet?" Lyn cried out and leapt for it, managing to get it before he did.

"Oh. Huh. Wow, this does say Luna Lace, but it's definitely not her currently trademark. And there's the phone number!" She flipped the card around and pushed it towards him with an expectant smile.

"Really?" he asked. He knew this little game of hers was her way of trying to move past all the high emotions that she'd been going through. He was more than familiar with the concept of good-spirited ribbing in the aftermath of a shitshow.

However, now he was beginning to feel guilty for that one time he and a couple of villains had kept Red Robber bar hopping with them when the poor guy clearly just wanted to shack up with Flash Freeze for the night after a job that had seen three separate hero teams chasing them for hours. This had to be karma for his part in bullying the man into one more drink across town.

"Yes, really," Lyn insisted.

"I overheard Turnaround making a bet with Vandal over this and I want to see who's going to owe money on this one." Alex rolled his eyes and plugged in the number, throwing it to speaker as it rang through.

"The voice mailbox of 9-" a robotic voice began to say before Alex cut it off.

"Oops," he said flatly while Lyn pouted.

"Looks like she-" The phone began ringing with the caller ID displaying the number he just dialed. Cautiously, Alex picked up, once again going to speaker.

"How did you get this number?" a man with a heavy Francian accent asked in a clipped tone.

"Sorry?"

"This number," the man practically snarled.

"Your name is not in this phone. How did you get it?" Alex looked over at Lyn who shrugged, "Uh, sorry, I think I got the wrong number." The man sniffed derisively, "Obviously. You still should not have been able to call this though. Did you steal-""Pierre, darling? Who is that?" a rich Muscangee ² accent asked from a distance away from the other side of the phone.

"Dearie, just hand it to me I'll figure it out." The sounds of protest were quickly shut down before the woman who had spoken clearly got possession of the receiver, "Well now, this is a surprise. An unfamiliar number after all the steps I've taken to keep this number private? Tell me, darling, how did you get this number?"

"Sorry, ma'am," Alex apologized, "I was just calling a number off a card I got-""A card? Oh now that is a story!" she laughed, cutting him off.

"How did you get one of those?" Alex rubbed his temples and looked to Lyn for support. To his surprise she was holding a hand over a giant smile that threatened to run off the edge of her face at this point.

"It came with something I bought off CrafTee awhile back. Sorry, the original owner's number must-" A loud crash came through the speaker and Alex winced before the woman let out an excited shriek, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness! It's you!" Lyn belted out her own laugh and suddenly Alex began to comprehend what was going on. His girlfriend immediately yanked out a phone and began texting, her fingers practically blurring with motion.

"You're that darling young man from awhile back, ain'tcha?" the woman asked with apparent excitement.

"The one that made that custom order for a plain old suit from little old me?"

"It… it wasn't that plain," Alex muttered, looking down at the formfitting assortment of reds and blacks.

"Darling, that's not an insult at all!" the Tailor on the other end chuckled.

"I actually have some fond memories of it. Especially when you swung on by to get it made properly. I had been thinking about closing up that little shop of mine at the time when you popped on outta the blue. Doing proper work got me all excited and well, I'm guessing you might have an idea how that ended up, right hon?" Alex's mouth flapped for a few moments before he nodded, "I think I do… Ms. Lace?" She chortled and Alex's phone dinged. No. No ducking way.

Ducking DUCK FUCK FUCK YOU NO BULLSHTI AAAAAAAAAA Turnaround was taking the news well.

"So what can I do for you, hon?" the apparently number one Tailor in the world was asking him. Alex stuttered, trying to figure out how to deal with this, "I… uh, needed a new costume, and- I'm sorry, you must be busy, and-""Nonsense!" Luna Lace laughed.

"Pierre! Clear my schedule tomorrow! Yes, I know he's a king, but he shouldn't be traveling with all those villains out and about. I'm doing him a favor! Imagine what his voters would think of that! … Well then whoever's opinion he cares about. Anyways, darling, you wouldn't happen to have that old suit of yours?" Alex looked down at the ratty thing that had survived ten years of slumming it through all that Victory had thrown at it, "Uh… yes but it's a little-""Perfect!

Why don't you bring it on by my place tomorrow and we'll see if we can swap it out for something a little more interesting? You're still in the big VC, right? You know where to come find me?" He was about to say something when Lyn pressed a finger to his lips and nodded, then retreated back to the bed, "Uh… yes."

"Great! Swing on by tomorrow morning and I'll get you all set up with whatever you need! Just remember to bring my old work with you, alright?" The phone went dead before he could answer her.

"What the fu-" Alex said before he was interrupted by a squeal of laughter and a large chitinous limb dragging him onto the bed.