Chapter 12: [12] Flashy Villain in the Homecoming
Chapter 12: Flashy Villain in the Homecoming
Author Note: Where them votes 😕 let's do goals then. The top 50 right now is 230 stones, we're at 150 stones. We should be able to cross in a day with ease. So goal is, if we are top 50 by tomorrow, I'll post 2 whole chapters. Vote!!
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Spider-Man re-emerged in a new, far fancier hero costume two days ago. It looked professional this time around, rather than the amateur work from before.
The problem was, people failed to recognize him on the first day he appeared, which caused some confusion. Some police even got aggressive at the presumably new vigilante.
However, it was quickly resolved after SHIELD, thankfully, realized it really was the web-slinger based on his routine work, and pulled some strings to calm things down. Fury didn't like vigilantes, but Spider-Man did good work, making sure to never kill anybody. Not long after, the public accepted that it was indeed their friendly neighborhood hero. It was hard to not notice the web being swung by for long.
The problem was smoothly dealt with, which was good news for SHIELD. Yet, Nick Fury couldn't be more pissed.
Fury was frowning deeply as he watched the report on his desk. He was pleased that the case with Spider-Man was resolved, but now another issue had surfaced. The rising superhero, Supernova, turned out to have a new sidekick, who was the same girl from the train incident a few days ago. Anna Marie—SHIELD found out—who went by the superhero name Rogue.
Truth be told, the problem wasn't that Enrique was promoting a minor to do hero work. No, that was far from the issue as long as Enrique knew how to keep her safe. More vigilantes didn't always mean a bad thing, given the plans Fury had for them, but this time around it posed a problem.
Recently, these two Supers had caused a scene in a civilian neighborhood, initiating a pretty loud and noticeable fight. Sure, the two women he fought were labeled as criminals, tracing back to the destroyed dojo incident six months ago. But still, to endanger civilian lives like that?
Fury was starting to get annoyed with Nova.
At such times, he would want to talk face to face with this man in a costume. While this Mr Nova had changed his residence, it wasn't particularly hard for SHIELD to track down his new location. Fury could contact him anytime he wished. The little issue was that SHIELD didn't know much about Enrique beyond his powers. There was nothing to gain leverage on him about.
Even so, they didn't know his full power arsenal either. A durable super-suit and an invisible mask with defensive properties. These were the only things SHIELD had managed to gather beyond the apparent powers such as lightning, flight and his tiger transformation.
However, it's not as if SHIELD planned to subdue him, as he wasn't an all-out villain, so knowing what his powers were didn't matter yet. They had to know his personality and more about his personal life before Fury could go meet him. Unfortunately they knew bullocks on that.
"Hmm," Fury scratched his chin as he reviewed Enrique's file once more. "Hill, he has a game development company? What's the list of his workers?"
"Sir," Hill, who had just walked into the office, paused before smiling. "He… doesn't have any workers."
"Huh," Fury raised an eyebrow.
"The company only has one simple mobile game under its name, so he may have made it by himself, though it probably took him months," Hill said. "In short, he's the only one in his company."
"For now," Fury noted. "Ten bucks says he's the ambitious type, so he would want to grow his company. So recruitment is inevitable. Keep an eye out online for any announcement about recruitment from Nova Games. Send some agents around the pubs, bars, and other active places in his area too. Then we wait."
"Yes, sir," Hill nodded.
"Leave me alone now, I gotta think some things through," Humming softly, Fury's eyes gleamed as he contemplated his next move.
****
Meanwhile, in Enrique's mansion, the situation was less scheming and rather quiet and calm.
"Mhm…" Greer Nelson's eyelids fluttered open as she woke up, blinking at the unfamiliar ceiling. She would have panicked if yesterday's memories hadn't resurfaced in time.
"Aw, fuck."
She really lost it and slept with him, didn't she? Not that she regretted it; she was actually looking forward to future "training sessions".
Her body was so compatible with his that it gave in to his approaches as easily as a submissive tigress did to her partner tiger. It was usually her who dominated her partners in bed, so it felt so damn good getting fucked like a cat in heat by someone stronger and more dominant.
"Finally up?" Greer blinked and turned to the side as she heard Ava speak, realizing she wasn't the only one in the room. "Hey, Gre. Get freshened up; we need to talk."
Talk? Ava looked more serious than usual.
Greer shrugged and decided to think about it after brushing her teeth and taking care of morning stuff. The clock ticked and she returned. Greer sat down on the edge of the bed in front of Ava, who was seated on a chair.
After a short moment of uncomfortable silence, Ava sighed and decided to speak.
"This guy, Supernova or Enrique, whatever you call him, is human trash. He'd a menace to society, you know? He is already with Anna, the Rogue girl you saw yesterday. Yet he slept with you."
Greer flinched as she realized that Ava and Anna had seen them together yesterday. Of course, they did, ugh. Greer sighed internally. We were being so loud, for fuck's sake.
"What's wrong?" Ava paused after seeing Greer shift uncomfortably in her spot.
Perhaps the fact that Greer knew that Enrique and Anna were a thing, given he and she were fucking on the sofa when Greer woke up, was what was wrong? But Greer had gone with his flow anyway. The situation just moved that way, he was just that good with his words too.
"It's nothing." Greer decided not to say it to Ava's face, as the girl clearly didn't like Enrique that much. "Go on, continue."
Ava looked at her strangely before sighing again and starting to explain the scenario.
The scenario where Enrique was a two-faced snake, using Anna's condition to take advantage of her—using her as nothing but an exclusive booty call. Ava suggested that Enrique wasn't trustworthy and that they should leave this place as soon as possible. Maybe take Anna Marie along with them too.
Truthfully, Greer felt some pity for Anna. Discovering her power while kissing her boyfriend and consequently putting him in a coma must have been traumatizing. Luckily, she found another man she liked who could even touch her safely, except he was apparently taking advantage of her.
Greer said "apparently" because she doubted Enrique was doing what he did because of Anna's special condition. Having spent an intimate session with him, she knew he had lots of experience with women, which meant he'd always been this way and Anna wasn't what gave him this leeway.
Though true, Anna was unlucky to end up with a man like that. It was sad.
However… Greer didn't want to leave yet just because of that. She could lie that she promised to train him for a month, that's why she wouldn't leave as that'd go against her promise, but in truth, she wanted to experience another one of those "training sessions" and would rather not leave earlier than planned.
Greer Nelson, looking back to a few years ago, remembered how she fell in love and married her policeman husband. Back then, she was just in her sophomore year of college and had dropped out because her husband wanted her to be a housewife instead of "wasting" time studying. She was married to that man for a year, but on one fateful night when they were on a date for their first marriage anniversary, her husband was shot by a robber and died in her arms.
That's when the spark of being a superhero struck her.
At first, she used a suit to do her job as a superhero, as she didn't have powers, but years later she encountered "Cat People," a race of humanoids who magically evolved from cats, and mystically transformed her into Tigra to save her life when she had tried to sacrifice herself for them.
She was 26 years old now and had been Tigra for nearly three years, though most of the time she had the Cat's Amulet with her, which allowed her to transform back to human whenever she wished, so her lifestyle hadn't changed much.
She dearly loved her husband before, but since her transformation into Tigra, she met many more people and realized how narrow-minded her husband was. At this point, she had no feelings for him anymore and wouldn't mind finding someone else, someone better. Someone who wasn't so narrow-minded and backdated.
The problem was, she was very aggressive and dominant in bed, which most men didn't like—but they couldn't dominate her either, so that didn't work out well. But finally, she had found someone extra handsome who happened to have just the drive she needed in bed. So she was somewhat reluctant to leave him so early. She should enjoy herself for at least a month or two, right? That should be enough.
Ava should understand too, since she knew Greer was locked in her house for the last six months after she lost her Cat's Amulet and couldn't revert back to a human, and therefore couldn't leave the house and get laid.
"I see," Greer said. She hadn't told Ava about these thoughts, of course. That'd make her appear selfish, a bit too much for this self-righteous girl. "But we have promised to train for a month, haven't we? Let's not go back on our words."
"But—"
"Besides, even if he doesn't help us, we will get stronger by fighting him as well." Greer interrupted Ava. "I already feel a bit stronger. Not even joking. Even if he disagrees to help us later on, we may just be strong enough to take care of The Hand by ourselves at that point."
She wasn't lying. She did feel stronger. Honestly, that was somewhat weird. They did have a proper fight before things got "sweaty", but that much shouldn't be enough to make her stronger.
So what happened, really?
"....."
"It doesn't hurt to try." Greer shrugged at Ava's contemplative expression. "Look, we can also use the time to get to know both of them better. Maybe it's all a misunderstanding? If not, we can use the time to convince Anna to leave, at least, as I don't think she would accept the option of leaving the moment we bring it up."
Hearing the word 'we,' Ava blinked and nodded with a smile.
"Right. Sorry, I was thinking something weird." She said with a shake of her head. "You are right. Let's spend some time here. Just be careful not to fall for his tricks next time, by the way. Anna will be hurt."
Greer nodded quickly, though unfortunately, it wouldn't be Enrique who would trick her next time. Next time, it would be her tricking him to come to her.
Sorry, Ava. Greer bit her lip. He is just so good.
In the end, she valued her personal pleasure above the minor annoyance that Ava might feel. As for Anna? Well, she would consult Enrique about it. He'd figure something out; she was sure.
But really, she swore to God, she needed to relieve her pent-up stress, so fucking with Enrique was unavoidable.
X-x-X
While those two girls were wondering about useless stuff, Enrique was struggling in his head.
He could hardly control his beast form. Especially, he found it challenging to manage his libido. First, he had exhausted Anna to the point of unconsciousness. Now the same thing had happened with Tigra.
Admittedly, he had also fallen asleep after Tigra. The synergy between their bodies made their sensual experience intensely pleasurable and the end of it deeply relaxing. It was similar to when Anna had absorbed Tigra and Ava's powers earlier.
Enrique was confident that he would get better at controlling himself over time, so he wasn't too worried about it. For now, he focused on improving Subway Surfers. He couldn't train with Tigra all day, and he wasn't in the mood to play hero either. So, working on his game was the best option.
It had been around seven hours since he and Tigra had finished their session, and while he had woken up three hours ago, she had yet to do the same. Seizing the opportunity, Enrique had been diligently working on his game.
[Ads are annoying,] he heard Mut speak in her soft accent. [Why must you include them in the game? Isn't it also killing the growth of my faith?]
In this version of Subway Surfers, players could either pray to Mut or watch an ad to resume the game after being caught by the police. From one perspective, Mut was right; it could be killing her growth. But on a grander scale, she was wrong.
Enrique yawned as he uncapped a soda can. "Some people are quite religious. They will quit the game at once if they are forced to pray to some random goddess every time they want a second chance. This group of people can watch the ads, while those who don't mind praying to a presumably fake Goddess will still do it since that's a faster way. Besides, ads bring me the most money as of now, so it's not a bad thing."
Enrique gulped a mouthful of soda. "On that note, I am working to add a shop feature. It will bring more money than this. A lot more. I plan to add a few Egyptian-themed items too. Like outfits, skateboards, and maybe a character designed after you. Like a chibi version of Mut." Enrique looked at the air. "Goddess, you don't mind mortals controlling a lookalike puppet of you, do you?"
[In fact, I do,] Mut quickly confirmed. [That's disrespectful.]
"Boomer."
[What is a boomer? I don't know why, but that also sounds disrespectful.]
"It's nothing."
Enrique waved it off and leaned forward to his monitor again, starting to work on some designs. "By the way, you can keep talking this time. I don't mind distractions in this, since this is quite easy and boring."
[Hmm, alright. Ah! Hey, isn't this outfit a bit too revealing?]
"This sort of thing attracts players."
[But isn't your game for 7-year-olds and above?]
"It is. This might surprise you, but I take pride in teaching those kids about the real world." Enrique chuckled maniacally as he slowly removed another piece of clothing from the female character he was designing.
[....]
"Don't worry, I know the limits of how far this can be pushed. Worst case scenario, I'll just increase the minimum age."
[...What an imbecile.]
Mut gasped in stupefaction in his ears while Enrique continued working with a shrug. "This is business, woman. You wouldn't get it."
****
After a series of long hours, Enrique finished his desk work. He was happy with the outcome. Finally, the 'Shop' was ready for the general public. He could already smell the money in the air.
"Hmmm…" He was stretching a little while planning his next moves when his phone rang. "Hello? Enrique Nova speaking."
– Um, Mr. Nova?
Enrique frowned when Peter's voice came from the other side of the phone. And why is he calling him Mr. Nova? Usually, Peter called him 'Supernova' when he was under the mask of Spider-Man. However, in his civilian identity, he just called him 'Enrique.' So it was a bit weird for Peter to use this new term.
"Peter Parker?" Enrique decided to play along. He guessed there were people around him, before whom he didn't want to appear too close to Enrique. If he had to guess further, Peter was in his civilian identity and was in a situation where he couldn't bring out his suit. In such a scenario, he couldn't let the people learn that he was close enough with Enrique to be on a first-name basis.
– Well- ah, you know, this is October and it's our Homecoming?
Enrique frowned a little more. It couldn't be that Peter's classmates had asked him to call the superhero to the party? He sighed. So that's what the commotion in the background is about? Makes sense.
"Yes, I remember. What about it?"
– Well- BOOM!
"....?!" Enrique was stunned for a moment hearing an explosion go off in the background. That could not be a mere party trick. Thankfully, Peter's voice returned soon after. The boy wasn't dead.
– I-It just so happened that a blue-skin supervillain came out of nowhere and started throwing lightning at our school! I suddenly remembered you have lightning powers, so maybe you can help out- bz#t?
Peter's call ended suddenly, possibly due to the interference made by the electric villain.
...An electric villain after Spider-Man? I think I know who it is. Enrique concluded as he stood up and started to walk out of his room, his casual attire changing into his super-suit as he walked. 'And here I was thinking there will be no problem in this year's homecoming because Vulture doesn't exist in this timeline yet.'
It made sense why Peter didn't enter his Spider-Man mode. It would be too suspicious, and on top of that, he wasn't confident he could defeat such an enemy. The risks were too great. So he had reached out to the only reliable ally he had.
Enrique felt a little helpless that the kid had called him, but since he wasn't particularly busy, he didn't mind making Spider-Man owe him one.
He ran through the hallway and stormed into Anna's room. Anna Marie was sitting on her bed silently, her expression bleak, and her gaze on the floor when Enrique suddenly barged in. When the door opened with a thud, she jumped up. "Ah!?"
"...." Ava frowned. She was sitting with her arms crossed, giving Enrique a gaze far from friendly. Enrique's eyes glossed over her form, her thighs, and he might have stared for a second if the situation wasn't urgent.
[Image Here]
"Enrique?" Greer asked.
Enrique spoke quickly, "Sorry for barging in, but we need to move. Quick."
"O-oh, okay. Let's go." Anna ran behind him as he went to find the two tigresses. It turned out that both of them were in the living room, watching TV. In fact, the news talked about the exact incident Peter had just reported.
– Breaking news! A possible mutant spotted in Midtown High!
Both of the girls had a frown on their faces as they watched the news, possibly regretting that they couldn't go out. Fortunately for them, Enrique was here to help.
"Miss Ayala, can you lend your power to Anna for a bit?" Enrique stormed into the room and yelled, startling the two women at the same time. "I would have taken Greer's, but her physical change will confuse the people who saw the news from yesterday."
"Ah- well, that-" Ava looked uncomfortable. From what Enrique recalled, it hurt a lot getting one's power sucked. It was hard to consciously agree to that.
"Be quick. I need to save those kids."
"F-fine, alright! Anna, come, touch me!"
Anna hesitated for half a second before running over and placing her hands on Ava's cheeks, making her let out a short gasp as thin veins popped up in her cheeks.
Around half a minute later, Anna released her as Ava gasped and fell to her knees, though Anna caught her before she hit the ground.
"Thanks, I will use it well," Anna muttered in Ava's ear as Enrique moved over to pick her up in his arms. Before leaving, he looked at the two women one last time. "Also, I am pretty sure you have no plans to– but please, don't make it hard for me by trying to flee."
Then, like a gust of wind, Enrique flew out of the main door with Anna in his arms.
As he left though, the scene on the TV flickered as the camera focused on a person with a thin cloak of blue lightning around his body. By the time Enrique vanished on the horizon, the two women gasped as the camera shattered when a beam of lightning hit it.
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Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone