It was waiting for her when she arrived home: a brown manila envelope that she almost stepped on as she rushed through the door, out of the cold. Picking it up, she continued on her path to the kitchen, dumping it, and her bag, onto the counter. The kettle was put onto boil as she removed her hat and scarf in the living room. Hearing the kettle call her. she returned to the kitchen. A teabag, two sugars and milk added, and the drink she had been craving all the way home was ready. Mug in hand, she headed through to the living room, grabbing the envelope on the way. Taking a sip of tea as she walked, and wincing as it burned her tongue, she turned the envelope over in her hand.
The mug crashed to the floor, fracturing against the hard-wood, unleashing it's scolding contents, as Olivia froze in horror.
'The Silver Vixen.' was scrawled in black ink, sending ice through her veins.
The Silver Vixen was dead. Killed four years ago by The Crusader. Dead people don't get mail. Her alter ego may be alive, but no one knew that. No-one.
Tearing open the envelope, she emptied it and found only a U.S.B. stick and a note:
Love is giving someone the power to destroy you...and trusting them not to.
It wasn't signed. That was never good. The Silver Vixen had trusted some, loved someone, and they had destroyed her. They were the reason that The Silver Vixen was dead. Olivia looked at the U.S.B. in her hand like it was a bomb moments from exploding.
Her laptop seemed to mock her panic as it took an age to boot up. She twitched and fidgeted in her impatience. She hurriedly plugged the stick in as soon as the machine was ready. There were several files saved onto it, including some videos. She clicked on the first thumbnail, a video, and a face appeared on the screen. Olivia's heart stopped.
"Hey, Vixie," Olivia flinched at the sound of the pet name. An uncertain smile accompanied the voice she had both missed and resented, in equal measure, for four years. When had Purple Death ever been uncertain about anything? "Though, I guess you don't go by that anymore, huh? Faking your death was a mean trick, Vix. I mourned you. All five stages Well...six. If you count revenge. Killing The Crusader really helped my process.
The Crusader: Hero of the Age. Supposedly, a hero to all. 'All' apparently did not include anyone in love with his nemesis. Used as bait and abandoned, she had begged The Crusader to save her. Begging was only marginally better than death...The Silver Vixen had gotten both. The Crusader had burned the lair down around her. The ghosts of those flames burned her skin, even know. The Silver Vixen had perished in those flames; Olivia Munroe had emerged from the ashes.
"I made the wrong call, Vix." His striking green eyes bore into her from the screen. "I thought he would save you. You must know that. I never thought he'd leave you to die. I thought at worst he'd take you hostage. He was supposed to be a fucking hero!" Rage flashed across his face. After it faded, he was left looking defeated. "I'm sorry, Vixie."
Olivia hit the space bar, pausing the video, she sat there looking at his face. Even the mask couldn't hide his sincerity, or how gaunt and broken he looked. She reached out and ran her finger tips gently over the image of his face. She had loved him. She'd tried to prove it by letting him see her without the mask, and he had used her. Chosen his stupid vendetta again and again. She made him her King, while all he saw in her was a pawn.
She hit the space bar again.
"I shouldn't have used you like you were disposable. You weren't. I wish I'd realised then, that you were more important to me than he was. I finally killed him, and it didn't matter. You were gone. Nothing, not even ending his life, was bringing you back." Purple Death ,sighed, shaking his head sadly, "I really thought he'd save him." His gaze returned to looking straight down the camera, "I had a plan to get you back, when he took you to get to me. It's what he was supposed to do. He wasn't supposed to let you die. He was supposed to take you, use you as bait and believe he'd won. That's why I made sure he knew that you were with me, that you mattered to me. I know you think that was just another trick I played. I did too, then, but Vixie, I promise you, it was all true. You mattered, I was just too stubborn to realise how much."
The video ended.
Tears fell from Olivia's bright blue eyes. She had forgiven him some time ago, for the sake of her healing process. She had no idea that a part of her had still been waiting for him to say how he felt about her, for his apology. How much she had missed him hit her like a tonne of bricks.
After a few minutes collecting herself, she returned to the files. The second thumbnail was for another video labelled 'My Confession', she played it, discovering that it was Purple Death reciting a list of everyone he had killed - it was a long list. She thought she knew his crimes, but there were a few that even she hadn't known about; there were a few that others had been credited for. Her breath caught when after the roll-call named The Crusader a.k.a. Jeffery Adams, Purple Death added:
"The following human scum were killed in memory of my Vixie. Murdered by The Crusader, she never had the chance to finish her work of ending the lives of rapists and abusers. She was a vigilante, a corporal punisher, but she was never a villain. She was just messed up enough to love one." He then listed dozens of known and unknown rapists, pedophiles and domestic abusers. The first twenty were taking directly from the list The Silver Vixen carried.
Olivia continued her way through the files: locations of his lairs, safe houses and hideouts; licence plates of all his evil plots; intricate details of his crimes; lists of his weaknesses, of which The Silver Vixen and her death was the top. The files were everything needed to either arrest him or take him down.
The last file was a third, and final, video. Olivia took a deep breath and played it.
Again, it was Purple Death alone with the camera.
"Four years ago, you told me you loved me and showed me the other half of you. You made me your weakness, and I made you pay for it. You trusted me when you shouldn't have, and I didn't trust you when I should have. I'm trusting you now, Vixie." Slowly, Purple Death removed the deep purple mask, revealing a face no-one but the mirror had seen for over a decade.
"Olivia Monroe, meet Petrik Payne." The uncertain smile was back, and Olivia's heart ached a little, somewhere deep down. "Vixie...Olivia." He corrected himself. "I love you. Now, you have everything you need to destroy me, which you have every reason to do, but...I am trusting you not to." He moved, as if to turn off the camera, but stopped. "But whatever you decide, just get rid of the brown hair. We both know it's not you, Vix." The screen went blank.
Staring at her reflection in the black screen, she re-adjusted her hair and searched for the person she used to be; the woman he loved, the woman who loved him. Slowly, she peeled off the brown tresses. The wig had been itchy and cumbersome, but she had never been able to bring herself to dye her hair. She carefully laid down the wig.
With her eyes glued to her reflection, she watched as her fingers slowly unpinned and removed her wig cap. After dropping it to the floor, she fingers gently pulled her hair ties from the ends of the two french braids that he long, silver hair had been in. Slowly, almost second nature, the braids were undone.
Staring at the reflection, she realised the woman staring back at her was The Silver Vixen. Purple Death was right, the brunette look was not her, but Vixie's look, it wasn't her either. Not anymore.
The sound of her heeled boots marching over the boards reverberated around the auditorium. She stopped centre stage, hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and leaning slightly on her left leg. Waiting. He'd appear soon.
She was a vision, standing there, self-assured in a way she hadn't been since The Silver Vixen died. The brown wig was gone, hallelujah, but so was her natural, silver hair. Her head was now shaved on the left side and the rest was now a shocking shade of violet, cut short and swept over to the right. Looking at her in that figure-hugging dress, he was sure his mouth was hanging open.
Minutes passed as he watched her get impatient. Minutes of him in shock that she was here, at how much she had changed, and at how little his feelings for her had.
For almost four years, he'd believed her dead, and now here she was, mere yards from him. She was close enough to touch. Or she would be if he could just move.
"Petrik." she yelled into the abyss of empty seats. His heart stopped at the sound of his true name on her lips. He shifted closer, still not revealing himself.
"Petrik. Show yourself or I leave." It wasn't an empty threat, he knew that much. With the grace of a cat, he swung himself over the edge of the balcony, and used the stone carvings on the wall to climb down to the stage.
Neither said a word as he walked towards her. He wanted to run to her, but knew he'd get his ass handed if that wasn't what she wanted. He stopped about half way to her.
Petrik barely registered her moving when the U.S.B. came flying towards him. His reflexes kicked in, grabbing the stick from the air like it was second-nature.
"I don't need that." Her voice was cold, but he could almost feel the fire underneath.
"Vixie." He breathed, "I...I...I'm sorry."
"I know." Olivia's voice was still chilly. "Did you really think I would turn you in?"
"No. Truthfully, no I didn't. Exact revenge, maybe. But not hand me over. To the police, at least. But it was about trusting you. Showing you that I trust you. Making it clear what my priorities are now."
"You are still hiding from me. Purple Death is clearly still who you are, still you're number one. Yet again, I'm here as me and you're hiding behind an alter ego. What's changed? You finally killed your arch enemy, and I've been bumped up the list? What happens when another hero triggers your obsessive need for battle? Do I go back to being a pawn, to being nothing more than bait?"
"No! Never. I wont risk losing you again." Tearing off the mask and suit, he stumbled to her. When he got to her, he ran his fingers down the sides of her head until he was caressing her face, slightly amazed that, after all this time, she was alive and her could touch her, hold her. He was even more shocked that after everything, she was letting him. Stroking her face with his thumbs, he looked her deeply in the eyes, holding her gaze.
"I love you. You are my priority. After I lost you, I realised what you meant to me, what I'd been willing to risk just to defeat the stupid hero. It was too much, I lost too much. I sacrificed too much."
He placed his forehead against her's.
"Please, Olivia. I love you, my Vixie."
She steeled herself, placing her hands on his face.
"I cant be with Purple Death. I don't trust him." Petrik gave out a defeated moan and slumped down. Olivia followed him to the ground, lightly stroking his hair as she continued, "But the man he has become, the one I always knew that he could be, that guy I can give a chance to."
Petrik looked up at her, shocked and searching her face for any clue that he had heard her right. He went to kiss her, but she stopped him.
"I'm serious, Petrik. You say goodbye to Purple Death or you say goodbye to me." He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"If you think that I'm letting you go for anything, ever, you're not as astute as you think you are."
After four years, and an attempt by Death to seperate them, Olivia Monroe and Petrik Payne kissed for the first time, and both were exactly who they really were.
No comments:
Post a Comment