The Anti-Villain | Robin Love Story

Undercover

     My cell is empty, save for a lone chair placed in the middle of the floor and a blinding light hung above it. It's not massive but it's not small either. It almost gives a false sense of freedom within containment from how surprisingly spacious it is.

     Since being tossed in here—after getting our mugshots taken and all of that—I've been pacing non-stop. It's the only thing that fills the silence beyond the never-ending buzz of the lights or Robin shifting occasionally in the cell next to mine. He hasn't moved from his chair. He just sits there staring down at the stains on his gloves.

    The door in front of our cells clicks and then slides open. It's too dark in the hallway to make out who's coming in but I have a pretty good guess that it's Uehara. I look over towards Robin who doesn't even glance up. He just keeps staring at his gloves, occasionally rubbing them together like the staining will come off.

     A man's laugh brings my attention back to the newly entered person.

     "They just don't make heroes like they used to, hm, my friend?" Commander Uehara says. The mocking tone of his voice causes a growl to rumble out of me, almost uncontrollably.

     "Please, I didn't mean to," Robin begs quietly. His head tilts up to meet the shadowed eyes of our captor. "He had a power! He could regenerate! And this... it isn't blood. He wasn't human."

Uehara looks to me with a face filled with amusement and distain. "Neither are most of your friends. Whatever this Saico-Tek was, he was alive. And now..."

     "I couldn't have. I would never..." Robin's voice lowers to where I almost can't hear him. "This isn't happening. This can't be real. It has to be some sort of sick joke, or a setup."

     "Ah, really? And who precisely, do you think, would wish to frame you?"

     "You know exactly who," I spit, tired of the commander's teasing. In a blink his face morphs into a sneer.

     "Brushogun does not exist!" Uehara's shout echoes through the empty room and bounces off the walls. "Tokyo does not tolerate vigilantes! And you, my friends, are in very deep trouble."

     The commander throws a superhero comic book onto the floor in front of Robin to add insult to injury. Then he leaves. The door locks behind him with a deafening click that leaves a fire raging white-hot under my skin.

     "I should've made him let us out," I hiss. "I'm sure he's got keys or something."

     "No, Hypno," Robin sighs. Almost immediately my anger is gone, replaced with concern at the exhausted tone of his voice. "You should have left when I told you to. You aren't supposed to be in here. You shouldn't have let me drag you down."

      ""Drag me down?" I told you I'm not going to leave you alone for this." A choked laugh leaves my lips as a thought pops into my head. "When have I ever left you to do stupid stuff by yourself?"

Robin sighs and puts his head in his hands. "Never... and look where it's gotten you. This is my fault—"

     "Stop doing that. I chose to be here." I squat down beside the bars so I can see Robin's face. He removes his head from his hands and looks at me. I reach my hand out to him through the bars. He moves to grab it but stops when he sees the stains on his gloves.

     I turn my palm face up so that he can see the matching magenta on me. That seems to comfort him, at least a little, because this time he takes my hand.

     Neither of us say anything more. We just sit here holding hands in the overly bright cells.

~~~