[The Kill List]—❈—07:: Pan-Pan and the Battle for the OTP

“Hi, the name’s Vinsmoke. Prince Vinsmoke. You can call me Black Leg.”

“Um, hi,” Vicky said straightening, “I’m Vicky Dallon. Glory Girl. But I’m not in costume right now so Vicky’s fine…” she trailed off, staring at the stranger, Black Leg’s face.

Amy wondered what was so special about it until her sister spoke.

“You said to call you Black Leg,” she paused, not seeming to know how to continue. “Are you a cape? An open cape?”

Amy’s eyes widened.

Holy shit.

Black Leg, or Vinsmoke, or whatever, actually thought about it for a moment. “I suppose I am,” he said.

Vicky looked like she didn’t know how to react to that, though excitement did seem to be deciding for her.

“Wait,” she said. “Seriously?”

Black Leg smiled. “Seriously. And to think I would run into members of New Wave on what is basically my second night out. How crazy is that?”

“It’s only your second night?” Vicky asked, excitement growing.

Amy suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

Black Leg nodded. “Yeah, and I run into you guys. Well, can’t say I’m complaining though, I’m a fan of both your work. Especially you, Panacea.”

Amy’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of her name.

Black Leg’s dark eyes landed on her. “I know you hear this a lot, and I know you’re probably tired of hearing it, but thank you. What you do means everything to a lot of people. Try to remember that.”

He was right, Amy was tired of hearing it. With those eyes on her though, there was only one thing she could say; “Um, yeah. You’re welcome.”

Amy swallowed.

What the hell was it about this guy that gave him such a… potent presence?

Was it a power thing? Like Vicky’s aura?

“Yeah, Amy’s pretty awesome, isn’t she?” Vicky said and side-hugged her, effectively knocking out all thoughts of Black Leg and potent presences from her head for a few seconds.

Black Leg smiled politely.

“You know, I never imagined I would ever see an open cape in this city who wasn’t a member of my family,” Vicky said. “Gotta say, it’s kinda cool.”

“Oh my God, Glory Girl thinks I’m cool. Blush,” Black Leg fake swooned.

Vicky giggled.

Amy’s bad feeling grew.

“On a more serious note; yeah, you’re right. Until I became it, I too never thought I would see an open cape in this city who wasn’t one of you guys,” Black Leg said.

“Yeah,” Vicky said sadly. “After what happened with my aunt, not a whole lot of capes were lining up to take off their masks.”

Black Leg shook his head. “That’s not why. Your aunt was simply their convenient excuse. Masks are armour for capes, and it takes a lot of bravery to stand in the path of evil without that armour on.

“The sad truth is most people just aren’t that brave.”

Amy heard Vicky’s spine straighten with pride at Black Leg’s words.

She scowled.

“So, what?” she asked. “All other heroes are cowards except you?”

“Well, I don’t know if I would say ‘all other’,” Black Leg said calmly before Vicky could even be affronted for his sake. “After all, I know for a fact that I’m staring at a hero who is the very definition of the word valiant.”

He was staring at Vicky.

Vicky who was now smiling at him like he shat rainbows or something.

Amy damn near growled.

“Were you guys on patrol or something?” Black Leg asked after a moment.

“No, we weren’t,” Vicky said. “If we were on patrol I’d be wearing my costume. I went to pick up this one—” Vicky shot Amy a look that reminded her that the blonde hadn’t forgotten about her earlier rude comment to Black Leg “—from the hospital.”

Black Leg looked surprised. “You actually work that late?” he asked, looking at her. “I thought that was just a rumor.”

Amy gave him a condescending look. Of course she actually worked that late. Or did he think all those people healed themselves?

“She only does it on the weekends,” Vicky explained in her stead, since Amy clearly had zero intention of doing so.

“What about you?” Vicky continued. “You’re out on patrol too, right? You said this is your second?”

“Well, it’s less that I’m out on patrol, and more that I was going about my night, and I spotted some Empire capes and decided to follow them.”

Amy’s breath caught, and Vicky’s whole bearing changed.

“Empire capes?” the blonde asked. “Where?”

“That building over there,” Black Leg answered calmly, pointing at the building he’d been staring at before she and Vicky came along.

“What?” Vicky asked in a harsh whisper, suddenly worried about being discovered. “Why didn’t you say something? We might miss them.”

“Nah, they’re all still inside,” Black Leg said. “I’d know if they try to leave.”

There was something about the confidence he said it with that caught Amy’s ear.

It caught Vicky’s too.

“Thinker?” she asked and Black Leg nodded.

Vicky nodded in understanding, but she observed the other cape for a moment more.

“You have the confidence of a brute though,” she noted.

“I’m one of those too,” Black Leg said.

Vicky’s eyebrow climbed appreciatively. “Looks like someone won the power lottery,” she joked.

Black Leg rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Well, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Miss Alexandria-lite?”

Vicky laughed.

“You know, I used to hate that nickname,” she said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, wanted to be my own person.”

“I get that. What changed?”

“Well, I realized that being likened to the woman who suplexes Endbringers can only be a good thing,” Vicky said.

Black Leg nodded sagely. “That’s a very wise thing to realize,” he said.

Vicky smiled cockily. “What can I say? Brains and brawn; this girl’s got it all.”

“Yes, you do,” Black Leg agreed, and to Amy’s horror, Vicky’s cheeks pinkened at the intensity of his gaze.

“Should I whip out the candles for you two, or are we doing something about the Empire capes?” Amy asked snappily.

“I was actually waiting until they came out,” Black Leg said. “It’s Fenja, Menja, and Crusader in there. Not a good idea to face those in an enclosed space.”

Amy scowled, annoyed that he was right.

“If you say so,” she said.

Vicky shot her a dirty look.

“Prince, excuse us for a second, please” she said.

Black Leg looked at Vicky for a moment, then he nodded quietly and walked back to the other end of the rooftop.

“Okay, what is your problem?” Vicky asked as soon as Black Leg was out of their privacy bubble.

For a single moment, Amy considered pretending she didn’t know what Vicky was talking about, but even as she did, her mouth disagreed: “My problem is you getting flirty with some random cape we just met.”

Vicky blinked, taken back for a moment by the intensity of Amy’s annoyance, but then she recovered. “Well, what the hell is it to you who I flirt with?” she fired back.

Now, it was Amy’s turn to blink, floundering for an acceptable excuse as to just why seeing her sister get all giggly with some new cape was so upsetting for her.

An idea came to mind, and Amy latched onto it without even taking a moment to think it through.

“You have a boyfriend remember? His name’s Dean?”

Vicky damn near spluttered. “Since when do you care about Dean?” she asked. “Besides, you know Dean and I broke up.”

Amy scoffed (and she didn’t have to fake it). “Yeah, three days ago, which usually means you’re about three days away from getting back together.”

“Okay, wait,” Vicky said, looking like her brain was trying to comprehend this new reality she found herself in. “So, you’re being a bitch to Prince because you want Dean and I to get back together?”

And that was too much for Amy, even for the noble purpose of keeping Vicky from this strange new cape with his fancy suit and dark eyes and too smooth smile.

“No, I’m trying to keep you from flirting with a random cape we don’t know,” she said. “For God’s sake, Vicky, he could be a psycho villain.”

“Based on what?” Vicky asked, staring at Amy like she was being ridiculous.

“Based on the fact that we don’t know anything about him,” she said.

“Amy, we don’t know anything about most of the heroes we work with. Hell, you don’t know anything about most of the doctors and nurses you work with. Are they all psychopaths too?”

Amy opened her mouth… then closed it when she realized she had no counter.

“Sorry, to get in the middle of this,” Black Leg said, somehow much closer than he’d been what felt like a second ago, “but they’re coming out.”