It was good to be back. That was Alice's first thought as she took a seat at her desk. She was back in Oleander, in her personal ho office. June wasn't here, but she did have the cara set up and pointed at her. It was late at night, so she was in PJ's, but that didn't matter. She had a special interview today.
"Okay, we're going. You can say sothing now." Alice stated. Her phone was on her desk and on speakerphone.
"Greetings." A chanical voice ca out of it. "I am the hero known as Beta, and I was invited to discuss the city known as Nightshade."
"That's right." Alice nodded and grinned. This was such a good scoop. "Nightshade is the biggest prison in the world, and you're one of the people who helped create it. I'm sure all my fans would love to learn as much about it as you're allowed to tell us."
Beta humd softly. "Of course. So stuff if classified, but I can tell you a bit. Nightshade is not a traditional city. It is a prison, one created by Boy Genius, that is ant to hold the captured villains."
Alice nodded her head. "I hear that once you're in Nightshade, you're there forever."
"This is correct." Beta agreed. "The prison itself is made in a way where only extrely powerful Supers have a chance of escape. Even then, they'd have to get through either , Boy Genius, or the Victorian, who we can call at any ti. Basically, it is impossible. On top of that, we are legally allowed to keep them there forever. Laws dictate that a human prisoner must be put on trial and be judged. However, Supers are no longer considered humans and do not have the sa human rights when they commit a cri. The sa naturally goes for monsters. Once captured, should the cris be deed bad enough, they will be sent straight to Nightshade without a trial. Once in Nightshade, they have no way of escape, and so they will be there until they die."
"Isn't it a bit cruel, though?" Alice questioned. "I an, if they're going to be locked up anyways for the rest of their life with no way of escape, why not just kill them? Human prisoners are sotis given life as well, but many will also be put on death row."
"Who would do the killing?" Beta asked. "Certainly not a human. Most powerful Supers simply can not be hard by human weapons, no matter how advanced. Even a nuke would do very little to so. That ans only another Super could be the executioner. Such a system could be set up in place, but is there a need to kill the villains once they are thrown into Nightshade? Once in, they won't be getting out and will die in due ti. Besides, many Supers can be tricky to kill. Why, take the mbers of the Immortals for example. Currently, one is held in Nightshade. He has been unable to be killed. We've beheaded, set him on fire, tore his atoms apart, given him every cancer known to man, teleported him to the sun, froze him, chucked him into a black hole, vaporized him, and yet still, he always sohow cos back. Of course, not every Super has the sa level of regeneration as a mber of team Immortals. It's also true many are still hard to kill. Fairy Queen is another example. Even after ninety percent of her body was reduced to mush, and her head was torn off, she still clung to life and healed. That is also why Nightshade exists. So Supers simply won't die no matter how much you kill them."
"So Nightshade exists as a place to hold the unkillable, I get that, but you do throw other Supers in there that very much can be killed."
"Yes, because not every hero has the desire to kill. Most do; in fact, I think they should. However, so heroes wish to take out the villains without killing them. Nightshade takes those villains in as well. If those heroes were so against killing, do you think they'd stand for us executing all the villains we promised to put in prison? So might, but what if so don't and they revolt? It would just be needless violence for no reason."
Alice nodded slightly. "Does Nightshade serve other purposes?"
"Of course. Though I can't say."
"Classified, huh." Alice leaned forward and looked down at her phone. "And you're truly confident no one can escape it?"
"Well, it is possible but unlikely. As ntioned, should a Super be strong enough to break out, they'd need to go through several layers of defense. We heroes will prevent it."
"What do you have to say to the people that think putting a bunch of Supers in one location is a bad idea? They would rather all Supers just die."
"To them, I say, do sothing about it then. Send all your nukes our way, it won't break through our shield. Attack us if you want. I truly do not understand why humans think they can boss us around. We live and operate under the Hero Branch because we want to help. Boy Genius created the prison because he wanted to store the villains. If you don't like it then kill him. I doubt you'll be able to though. Because humans need us. We are required to keep the world functioning. So I don't care what they think."
"I didn't say it was humans who were suggesting it..."
"I do not care." Beta humd. "Now, is that all?"
"Well actually I had more to talk about-"
"Goodbye." The phone hung up.
Alice's eye twitched, and she folded her arms. "What a dick." Her phone rang again, and she answered without bothering to see who it was. "Yes?"
"Hey! This is the hero, Pretty Face! I want to do another interview if possible."
Alice sighed and hung her head. "Sure. Why not." He was popular. It'd get the numbers up.
***
Heroes kill.
Actually, heroes tend to go for the kill more than one might think. This was just a fact. When fighting a villain, if it was possible to take that villain in, then a hero would; however, due to the nature of combat and the threat many Supers face to their surroundings and the people, heroes tended to not hold back when fighting.
A city could always be cleaned up and fixed, but a human life couldn't be replaced. Because of this, many heroes had no qualms with simply killing the bad guy they were faced with. Typically, the teenage heroes still held onto so sense of morality, though. One in particular, though, stood out.
When it ca to the concept of killing, Boy Genius would do everything in his power to prevent the death of any Super. That was why he created the realm known as Nightshade. A place where villains that survived combat, either because they were taken down by a teenage hero or simply hard to kill, could be stored. But did Boy Genius create this place out of the goodness of his heart because he wanted to prevent death?
No.
There was a different reason he created Nightshade...
"Welco back, Boy Genius."
Boy Genius took a seat at his desk and twisted a bit, causing the chair he was in to rotate and turn. "It's good to be back! I haven't gotten to be in my favorite place in quite so ti. All because Ocean Empress needed my help."
After days of being out of his lab, he finally returned to Nightshade. Currently, Boy Genious found himself in his main office. It was a large white room that had dozens of bright lights above. Several TVs hung up on the wall, and the best gaming consoles that were currently invented were all hooked up to the monitors. A desk was at one corner of the room, which he set behind a large PC hooked up around it with another monitor. He had a ga about mining blocks booted up and was ready to get back to playing when his screen flashed.
"Boy Genius," A chanical voice ca out of the walls, and the room seed to hum. "Would you like a report on the current events?"
"Nah. I'll pass." Boy Genius tapped his desk, and part of it opened up, a can of soda rising out of it. It already had a straw in it, and he wrapped his lips around it as he mined for diamonds in his video ga. His screen froze, and sothing forcefully turned his ga off. "Hey! I was enjoying that! What gives, Beta!"
"I have to insist." The chanical voice humd. "Please sit down and ready yourself for the report."
Boy Genius slumped forward and sighed. He rested his head on his elbow and shrugged. "Alright. Just get it over with, please."
"Currently, Oleander, Lillian, and Daisy have managed to recover after a series of attacks. Several villains have been captured, most notably, however, being Intake." One of the monitors on the wall lit up, showing a picture of Intake. The dark-skinned boy frowned as he stared at the villain. "He is a monster who the Oleander heroes managed to capture once already; however, he sohow managed to get free before he made it to Nightshade. Currently, he is in Block A, awaiting his test."
Boy Genius nodded and tapped his finger down on the table. "I see. He's such a pain, like all monsters." The hero sighed and shook his head. There was a reason his prison was so useful. Supers were hard to kill already. They could shrug off things that simply didn't seem possible. Monsters were even more stubborn. Sotis, even slicing a monster's head clean off wasn't enough, depending on who it was. God only knows the things he did to Fairy Queen in an effort to kill her. So monsters were just too stubborn to die, and that was one of the reasons he created his prison. "How's the test going?"
"It has yet to start." Beta explained. "There are several villains that were captured, though. Would you like to bring it up on the monitor?"
Boy Genius gave a faint smile. "Yeah. Go ahead."
The wall shimred as a massive screen appeared on it, and it lit up, showing the image of a large white room. Within the room, several villains were slowly waking up. Among them, one stood out.
Intake groaned, and he opened his eyes. It was bright. That was the first thing he noticed. Lights seed to shimr all around him in various directions. Slowly, he managed to sit up and rubbed at his head, wincing. He hadn't been able to escape. Not this ti. Green Wolf hadn't co to his rescue, and so after the battle with that Cinder bitch, he had been knocked out and thrown in a Hero Branch truck. From there, he had been taken onto a boat, and then a plane, and then-
Well, it then all went dark. So sort of gas or sothing had knocked him out. He rembered being trapped in one of those iron maidens again, his powers dampened. He had been so angry and pissed, but now he managed to keep his cool as he looked around. The room he was in was massive, about the size of a football field. It stretched out and was made out of a pure white tal. The room they were in was shaped almost like a box with walls and a roof made out of the sa tal, each just as big. The roof was lined with dozens of lights that shined down on the room.
He wasn't alone either. That was the first thing Intake noticed. In the room with him were several other villains. A few he recognized. Red Panda, a mber of Zoo, as well as Black Crow. He also recognized Ghost. Those were the only ones from the team that he personally knew, which ant either the others all died or ran away. There were a few other villains as well whom he knew in passing, though he didn't personally know them.
Red Lily was one of them, a young-looking woman with ssy blonde hair who was looking around in fear. Woody was another one, so villain that looked like a tree co to life with twisting arms and jagged branches. The last one he knew was Jet, a rather handso-looking man who had pipes poking out of his legs and arms. There were dozens of other villains, so monsters, so n, so won. He didn't know all of them, but he knew enough to know that they were all just as screwed as he was.
All of them were dressed in grayish jumpsuits, and whatever costu they normally wore was gone. Ghost was the one exception, the man still being dressed in his full-body white jumpsuit that covered him from head to toe since that was actually his skin.
"D- Damn it." Red Lucy cried out and balled herself up away from the others. "I- I can't believe those heroes actually captured !"
"Intake. You're in here as well?" Black Crow snickered. The man had a long and crooked nose and a glint in his eye as he stood next to Red Panda. "Guess you didn't do so well, huh?"
Intake growled and stood up but stopped when Ghost stepped out in front of him. The other monster just shook his head. Woody let out a snort and stood up, his body creaking a bit. "I'm a little shocked to see so many of us here. I was caught recently by the hero Wyvern. What about the rest of you?"
Jet casually waved his hand and chuckled. "Eh, I got caught by so guy dressed up in a horse costu. I had been hiding inside this big castle villain, but Fable went and blew him up, so I guess I'm here now!"
Intake shook his head and turned away from the other villains. "It doesn't matter. All we need to focus on now is getting out of here."
"Don't be stupid." Red Panda rubbed his stomach. He was still burned and bruised after his battle with Max Lightning. "Villains don't break out of here. Not this place."
"That's right." Jet chuckled. "The only thing we need to do now is focus on getting to a good cell block. The last thing any of us want is to end up in 'that' place with 'him'..."
Intake just grunted and didn't bother responding. There were many prisons that existed all over the world in the different cities. Most were for normal criminals. A few, however, would be used to hold a Super. Typically, a Super was placed into a normal prison where they would be monitored and kept until it was decided what to do with them. So Supers were given a second chance and were allowed to rebrand and beco heroes working directly for the Hero Branch. This was usually an offer given to minor criminal Supers who hadn't actually caused any harm. If the villain in question was bad enough, though, they'd instead be held until it was ti for them to be transferred to Nightshade.
It was possible to break out of a normal prison, but the only person who was ever able to escape from Nightshade was Lucifer and his band of Immortals. Once you arrived in Nightshade, that was basically it. Your story was simply over. You'd be held there for the rest of your life, and depending on how you did on your test, it would determine how good your life was in Nightshade.
A loud rumble echoed through the room, and all of them took several steps back as the floor began to split open. Small sections of it rose up, creating dozens of desks and chairs that several large stacks of paperwork were placed on.
"Greetings!" Boy Genius's voice echoed around the room. "I thought I'd pop in and explain a few things to you all!" The child declared. "See, I built this place so I could learn. I like learning. You all have a choice to make. You're not in the official walls of Nightshade yet. It's a large prison with many different sections. Twenty-six, in fact. So I'm going to make you all a deal. Take this test and answer honestly, and I'll make sure the rest of your stay here will be nice. Don't, though, and... Well, a certain villain will be getting so new toys, I think. Go ahead! The choice is yours."
No one moved for several monts. They all just stood there, unable to get the courage to actually act. Intake grunted, and he was the first to step forward. He had a feeling he knew what this was. He was proven right when he reached one of the desks and looked down at the stack of paper.
Nightshade hadn't been built to hold villains. That was one of its main purposes, but its true reason for its existence was sothing that ran deeper. Nightshade existed as a ans to hold the villains that were next to impossible to kill, people like Fairy Queen or any of the Immortals, but it took in normal villains as well, and when it ca to normal bad guys, they were given a simple choice. They could help out Boy Genius and be sent to a part of Nightshade that was safe, or they could rebel and face a fate worse than death.
Nightshade wasn't Boy Genius being nice and trying to prevent the death of Supers. Nightshade is Boy Genius' cruel way of using the villains to further the hero's goals.
The test in question was made up of several pages and asked dozens of different questions. So were simple, like 'What is your real na?' 'What are your powers?' or 'How much can you lift?' Others, however, went deeper. 'What are the real nas of all your teammates?' 'What is the address of all your bases?' 'What is the address of any close family of the people in your group?' 'Do any of your teammates have weaknesses? If so, list them below.'
So on and so on.
All you had to do was sell out all your teammates. Give up all information you knew of them and any hidden detail you could think of. The better the information, the more people you screw over, the better your stay at Nightshade would be. Because once you were in the prison, you weren't going anywhere, so you might as well enjoy your stay. Right? And, by giving up valuable information on other villains, you'd improve the hero's chances of taking them down.
It was an evil solution to dealing with evil. Boy Genius was a hero, but a hero could still be cruel.
Anything for the greater good, after all.
Several other villains all stepped forward, and many began to take a seat. So grabbed so pens that were on the desks and began to fill out the sheet. Others used the offered pens as weapons and tried to attack the closest people next to them out of a fit of rage. Others didn't even bother to head for the desk and instead took a seat, having already given up.
Intake turned away, not bothering to fill out the sheet. Instead, he made his way over to the wall and placed his hand against it. He could feel his body trying to shift and change. He still had his powers and so level of super strength, but part of it was being blocked off. This entire place was created by Boy Genius and gave off a faint radiation that disrupted powers. He'd still be able to change if he really pushed his powers, but it'd be long and difficult gathering the energy, and the mont the kid knew what he was doing, he'd likely be taken out. Still, though, it was better than nothing-
Intake felt a sudden wave of pain hit him, and blood dripped down his body as a pen found its way lodged into his right shoulder. He twisted his body and spun around, rage in his eyes as he stared at the two people who had dared to attack him. Black Crow and Red Panda stood directly behind him. Black Crow had a sneer on his face and was twirling around a second pen. Intake shot a look at the other villains, but they didn't know him all that well and weren't about to co to his rescue. Ghost didn't even bother and instead was at one of the desks writing up a storm and giving up everything he knew about Polaron. Intake was on his own.
"I really hated working with you guys." Black Crow growled. "I thought it'd be fun, but now I think Green Wolf went ntal. Actually bothering to help you all out. Screw you, Bad Tir freaks; Oleander belongs to Zoo!"
"Do you really want to do this? Now of all tis?" Intake growled and lood over the other man.
"Sure. Why not?" Black Crow twisted the pen. "I just gotta tell that child freak about Avalon. Information like that is worth its weight in gold. I do that, and I'm set. I bet he won't even mind if I go ahead and kill you-"
Intake grabbed Black Crow by the front of his jumpsuit. He twisted his body and raised the other man up and slamd him head-first into the wall as hard as he could, nearly cracking the other man's skull. He dropped the unconscious Black Crow and twisted his body to the side, raising both his arms as Red Panda threw out a powerful punch aid directly at him. His arms shook and ached as he blocked the strike and stood his ground. They didn't have their full power, but both of them did have their enhanced strength.
Red Panda stomped forward, throwing his massive weight around and unleashing punches that could tear a man in two, but Intake was far from a man. Each strike shook Intake's bones and rattled the villain, but in that mont all he could think about was just how badly he had been beaten. It enraged him. That Cinder girl had utterly destroyed him, and the mories of the fight only fueled him. With a roar, he twisted his way out of Red Panda's striking range and stabbed his hand out. His strength proved to be stronger than Red Panda's durability, and he ramd his hand through the man's gut, going directly for the spot Max Lightning had attacked.
Red Panda let out a pained grunt and dropped to his knees, spitting up a wave of blood. By now the other villains were watching the fight, a few cheering even. Intake moved behind Red Panda and wrapped his arms around the large man's neck. "Looks like you don't have to worry about what cell you're going to end up at." Intake smirked and then twisted his body as hard as he could, and in an instant, he snapped Red Panda's neck, killing the villain.
Red Panda's corpse crashed down to the floor next to the knocked-out Black Crow, and Intake let out a loud roar and raised his blood-soaked hand to the sky. He knew he likely just pissed Boy Genius off for not bothering with the test, but he didn't care. It didn't matter where he ended up. Not anymore. If this place was going to be his life, then so be it. Intake lifted his foot up and was about to bring it down on Black Crow's head but stopped when the room began to rumble once more.
The desks started to sink into the floor, and Boy Genius's voice ca back. "Well, good luck, everyone! The test is over, so hopefully, you enjoy the spot I'll be sending you, too! Not that I care, though! Have fun!"
A green gas began to fill the room suddenly, and Intake felt his strength start to fade. He grunted and then collapsed forward. Then suddenly, just as quickly as he was knocked out, he felt himself suddenly waking up. Sothing was different, though... He could tell that instantly. He was sowhere else.
Intake's eyes slowly opened, and he stared up at the roof above. It was the sa as the last one he had been in but slightly different. Instead of white walls, everything was red. Not painted, though. Instead, it was rust or a sickly wet liquid that covered the many walls. The ground beneath him was sticky and wet, and the sll of blood was heavy in the air.
There was sothing most villains tended to fear. The reason many of them fought so hard to not go to prison was because part of them all secretly wanted to be killed in battle by the heroes, not out of so noble cause or anything like that. Instead, it was fear. Fear of the rumor that was Nightshade. The thing that made so many villains sell each other out when they were caught.
Within Nightshade, it was said a mber of the Immortals resided. Unlucky villains were sent to the sa area of the prison as him...
"Hey, you're finally awake. I was getting worried." Intake's eyes opened slowly, and he tried to speak, but it didn't co out for so reason. He tried to move, but he couldn't feel his arms and legs. His eyes slowly focused on soone that was hovering above him. It was a very beautiful-looking man. One dressed in long white robes that were perfectly clean. The man had flowing blonde hair and a smile on his face as he stared down at Intake. "I hope you don't mind, but I decided to have so fun. You're a monster, so your stuff grows back, right?"
Intake tried to say sothing but realized too late that his mouth was bound. Sothing had been jamd down his throat. He lifted his arm to strike at the other man, but it wouldn't go up. Then he looked and saw why. Both his arms were gone. As were both his legs. Sothing was dripping onto his body. So sort of acid-like substance began to burn into his flesh. He tried to scream as the pain hit him all at once.
The blonde man chuckled. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it! Oh, I guess I should introduce myself! I'm Uriel! I'm a mber of the Immortals!" Uriel reached into his cloak and pulled out a long, jagged saw. "And you. You're going to be my new pet. Fun, right!"
Villains that didn't obey, villains that Boy Genius despised, were sent to the sa block as Uriel. The only mber of the Immortals that was currently held in the prison. An immortal man who couldn't die. The sacrifice of the villains was one of the few ways to keep him happy and ensured he wouldn't try to escape.
That was Nightshade's true purpose. That is the reason Boy Genius created it. A fact that Intake was about to learn the hard way.
Outside of the prison, back in his room, Boy Genius leaned back and looked down at the paperwork that had been delivered to him. Most of it was useless, but one did stand out. "What do you know? Guess I was right about him."
"Right about what?" Beta asked, letting out a hum.
"This is the test so guy nad Ghost took." Boy Genius explained, waving the paper around. "It says here that a certain Harrison Avalon was behind the attacks."
"Really? Do you believe that?"
"Why not?" Boy Genius crumbled the paper and tossed it into a trashcan. "If Avalon goes, I'll likely get his company. Between his and mine, I'd basically be a global superpower, so it actually helps out a lot if he really is secretly evil."
"So you're going to do sothing about it?" Beta asked.
"Of course I will. Just not now." Boy Genius propped his feet up on the desk and chuckled. "I don't want Avalon to be beaten because of sothing like that. I'd much rather crush the other guy myself with my own hard work. After all, I'm the best ntal-based Super on this planet. Not him."
Beta humd. "Sir, you're getting a request to head to Rose."
Boy Genius nodded and stood up. "Prep my jet. Let's go pay the Victorian a visit."
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