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The life of a true hero is never dull.

In a world of Supers, villain and otherwise, we heroes are the only ones standing between order and chaos. The media holds us up as the Protectors of Good, the Guardians of Justice, and the Avengers of What's Right, but we are always faced with the temptation to break that image. Every day is a huge weight to make all of the right choices, show up in the nick of time, and save the day. It's exhausting.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as I fly around the suburbs of New Barretton on my normal rounds. With Ringer stepping down from leading the villain's Syndicate, there's been a lot of clamboring in the ranks of baddies to see who's going to take her place. Even I, the upright and heroic Barrage, have thought about hopping into that role and steering them in the direction that I would like to see them. I know that I don't see eye to eye with the other heroes, especially those in the Guardians, so maybe I can work with the supposed “villains" and do what needs to be done. I mean, that's the reason I haven't joined the Guardians yet. Their leader, Gestalt, really doesn't like how I work.

This neighborhood has been really dull since I put away Ignition again. Even Ringer doesn't like villains like Ignition, who have no concept of innocence and collateral damage. That's why I respect that ringtail to no end, and am even considering putting myself up as the new leader in her organization.

“Hey, tights for brains!"

The call comes out from far below, telepathically boosted so that it reaches me. I squint, but manage to make out black motorcycle armor on an average height figure. Standing in the middle of a park, of course. That's just her style.

I drop like a rock from the sky, flipping over at the last minute so I settle onto my feet. “My favorite dhole. Mind if I sweep you off your feet and fly you away from here? You know I don't like being surrounded by people you're controlling." I grin at the dark visored helmet and offer a paw to the other super.

“Please. I'm getting tired of listening to this rabble's mental blather. Get me a backwoods clearing, or take me above the clouds. I could do with some silence." Her high voice always sounds like it's giving a command. I suppose being a telepath will do that to you. Or maybe it has to do with being the second richest person in the world. Either way, she has a firm grip and I love it.

“As you wish, milady. Hold on tight!" I scoop her up into my arms bridal style and launch right back into the air. She's always loved flying with me. And she's always loved our cottage, which just so happens to be where I'm going to take her.

Between a telepath and a telekinetic, we tend to do a lot of talking with our minds, or at least with our words boosted by them, especially since I fly her around so often. Cuts out on the wind's interference.

“What do you make of Ringer retiring?" she asks me.

I roll through a cloudbank and chuckle. A telepath, asking what I think! She's so considerate. “You already know, but thanks for asking. I dunno all of it, but I don't blame her. She's what, sixty? And she's got grandkids now too. I bet she never gets to spend time with family."

She snorts. “Imagine if any of those rascals gets her powers. That damn lemur servant of hers will be all over whoever takes her place."

Ah, Doc. The bane of all those who stand against Ringer. Another reason why I almost want to take the mantle of head “villain" right there: having a near immortal colleague would be quite fun.

“Fun? I already want to strangle him with his own tail half the time." Her ire always amuses me. Especially when it's triggered by my thoughts running through her head. Especially when it's triggered by my thoughts running through her head.

“Dear, you're just mad that you can't read his mind." I press my nose against where her ear would be on the helmet. I hate that she still wears this, but I get it. We've both had our issues with our secret identities before.

“You know how much that bothers me. Especially with that damn lemur. He's always so smug and holier-than-thou. Drives me up a wall."

I scan the earth below us, note the position of the city in the distance, then drop back to the ground as I have so many times before. My passenger's claws dig into my shoulders until I set her feet on solid ground, just outside of our little home away from home.

She immediately strips off her helmet and climbs the stairs to the porch of our cottage. “I'm going to kill you for doing that one of these days."

I trot after her, tipping my sunglasses up to rest above my eyebrows. “C'mon, Lizzie, you know you love it! You're just letting your frustration with Ringer spill over."

She stomps a foot and turns at the door. “It's just so wrong! She's done so much for both of us, but I have so much left to learn from her! If that damn lemur would stop shielding her mind, I could get at it, but I get it, okay? Why does she have to retire?"

I take the dhole into my arms and rest my chin between her ears. “The great Animus, frustrated by an old ringtail. Hush now, love, there's nobody better suited for taking her place, and you know it."

I love the way she fits against my chest and how gentle she can be. It's a wonder, considering how such a widely known supervillain like her is generally seen. If you ask me, she's honestly one of the better ones at what she does too. But there's a reason she never comes to New Barretton to stir up trouble.

“Lay off it,'yote," she mumbles against my collarbone. The fire is still there in her voice, but it's that very passion that drew me to her in the first place. “You're a better leader than me. Who would trust a telepath?"

Such an old woe of hers. I do what I do every time it comes up. “You know I do. C'mon inside, let me work out some of that tension." I snatch one of her paws from my chest and guide her into our cottage. We pass through the foyer, into the sitting room, and straight to the couch in front of the stone fireplace, where I lay her out. “You always get so worked up about that, love. Do you not believe me?" As I speak I set myself up, straddling her thighs - the perfect position to lean into a firm back massage for her.

She grunts underneath me. “You know better than that, Chris. I worry about how I come off to everyone else though. I don't even think Ringer likes me."

I set claws against her leather top, using my powers to push the sensation of them directly against her skin. My specialty: telekinetic massages. “Ringer flipping loves you, hon. If you just talked to her, you'd be her successor in a heartbeat."

She squirms against my fingers. “Not if I already talked to her about taking you under her wing." Her tail flips up against my side. I find it hard to form words.

Fortunately, when you're dating a telepath, words are optional.

“Oh come on, sweetie, you're perfect for it, and Gestalt hates you anyway! You've been wanting something new to do aside from patrolling New Barretton for months, and here it is! I never get to do anything nice for you, and you've been tossing it around for weeks now."

I roll my eyes and roll off of the couch. My feet never touch the floor, though. “Please, you know that you don't need to do anything for me." I mean, it's hard for her to do that anyway. Pretty sure I'm the only one in the world with more influence than her. Without her powers, at least. “I appreciate the thought, but I don't even know if I want to! I like being a hero!"

She snorts and waves a paw dismissively. “Come on, you're so much better than the rest of those tights wearing weirdos out there."

I gesture down at my orange and yellow spandex with a raised eyebrow.

“Whatever! It looks good on you and you know it. I'm just saying, Syndicate was meant for you. You remember why Ringer started it, right? To do what had to be done to make the world a better place. That's what you've been doing here, isn't it?"

She's not wrong. Well, she's never really wrong, per se, just occasionally thinking too far ahead. The little things. “Yes, but you don't understand. I like being seen as the hero too! If I join Syndicate, it'll look like a hero going bad. How's that going to help reassure the public? My fans? Because you do know that I have a lot of fans. I have a duty to them and to New Barretton."

“You're always so worried about them. What does it matter how they see you? What would really change? You can show them that Syndicate isn't about being the bad guys, it's about changing the world! Be the leader, but stay a hero. Revamp the entire system if you want!"

I shake my head and float over to the cabinet in the far corner, weaving between sofa, lounge chair, and then dining table on my way there. “It doesn't work that way! You should know better than anyone how the general populace's mind works. Even if I save their city over and over again, I'll still have become a villain. This is a huge decision, and I can't just make it willy-nilly like you seem to believe!"

Her mental claws dig at my mind and I slip out from underneath them, as I've learned to do. Sometimes she lets her temper get the best of her. “Well, they can go fuck themselves!"

I click my tongue at her language, then snag a wine glass and a bottle from our little rack. Today is a Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux day, I believe. A sip or two should temper my irritation. The bottle slides from its resting place and floats up to my paw. “Temper temper, dear. Yes, you don't like normal people. I understand this and I've accepted it." I pop the cork with a quick flick of my thoughts, then carefully pour the wine, again utilizing my powers to properly aerate the liquid. I inhale, savor the aroma, then sip from the glass. “But I don't think you've yet accepted that I love them. Not as much as you, quite obviously, but they still need my protection. Yes, I could give that to them still, but it would no longer comfort them. I'd still be the Bad Guy, just not as bad as the other Bad Guys. That would take a lot of adjustments on my part."

The soft touch of her paws on my hips never comes as a surprise anymore. The more surprising part is the gentleness of her mental touch. “I'd be right there with you to help you make them, love. I really think this is an amazing opportunity for you. You could make better use of all of your contacts, all of your networks. You could up the tech of Syndicate singlehandedly, and use your charm to bring in so many new members. You could make it into something worth more than the Guardians!"

A quick turn puts my arms over hers and I let my glass float off to our side so it doesn't spill. “That's not the point, hon. Why didn't you come talk to me? Or at least call me?"

“Because I told her not to." A deep voice echoes through the sitting room and my ears fall. If he's here, then that means…

“And I gave that order myself, Barrage." I turn to watch a ringtail, clad in what is essentially a white blouse and dress made of who knows what material, stride uninvited into our sitting room. Ringer does have a certain sense of timing. Maybe she gets it from the lemur that accompanies her.

My companion's hackles go up immediately, leaving me the duty of soothing her with a gentle brush of my fingers and mind over that same spot. “To what do we owe this delightful intrusion, Ringer?" I ignore the lemur behind her, despite his formal and imposing presence that soon fills the room. I have to suppress a shudder.

“I needed to speak with you, Barrage Coyote. I respect Animus and her opinions highly, but I have never worked directly with you. Her recommendation of you comes weighted, I see now." The cacomistle's voice is as light and airy as her calf length dress. My eyes stick to the tip of her long, ringed tail as it flicks this way and that. I flinch just once when it crackles with electricity. “I would not want my successor chosen because of a juvenile relationship such as yours."

My eyes flick to the sharp-dressed lemur as he steps right up to my side, seeming to have appeared there from where he previously stood by the door. My eye twitches. “I have watched you passively over the last six months, Barrage, and I have to say that you hold yourself back far too often. There are many times that you would have been able to take down your mark within moments of arriving, and yet you drag out the confrontation. You are a grandstander, I believe the term is."

It's my turn to let anger flare up, and I shove the lemur backwards with a shift of my thoughts. He slides across the floor, looking completely unfazed. “I make a point with my showiness. Ringer does the same thing, doesn't she? Hell, she can take down half the heroes in the world with just a little zap. But every time she clashes with Gestalt, it's this huge light show that last for an hour." I clench a fist, then let it relax. I wouldn't win a fight with Ringer. I might be able to beat her lemur, but that's debatable too.

Animus steps up beside me and wraps an arm around my waist. “Both of you know that I wouldn't recommend someone just because I'm fond of them. I'm barely fond of anyone anyway, so that should say something on it's own, but ignore that for now. You say you've been watching him, but I can tell you that you haven't even seen a fraction of what he can do. You ever watch him take on Dreadnought? It's impressive." I puff my chest out to help her words. Truth be told, I was a wreck after fighting that natural disaster in the shape of a dingo. Dreadnought scares everyone.

And Ringer has never taken him down on her own.

It's a leg up on the cacomistle that I don't know that I really want. I've talked a bit about what I want to do as a hero with Animus, and I'm sure that she really thinks that I would be the best fit for the position. But that's only because of her own crippling issues with trust.

“My heroing prowess aside," I start, never taking my eyes from the lemur; “this isn't something that I've completely hashed out as of yet. I'm still a hero, and you're still a villain, if we look at this in plain black and white." I take a moment to shift my gaze to Ringer, just to watch her reaction. She remains as stoic as ever. Bugger. “I honestly don't know if having me take the lead would be the best idea over all, regardless of how natural a leader I am. Imagine all of your subordinates watching as I take over this league of super villains and guide them to start helping people whenever they can." I shake my head and pull my wine glass from the air so I can sip at it again. “I can't turn that impulse off, either. How much consideration is a slightly rougher hero going to get amongst the dredges of Syndicate, hmm?"

Animus sighs against my side, Ringer's eyebrow goes up, and the lemur doesn't move an inch. “An interesting thought, but perhaps you forget that every leader has different tendencies. Every person is different, be them super or otherwise, and I have worked to impress this on every new member of my organization. We may have a few more members than the Guardians, but we're all after the same thing, deep down. Syndicate just isn't going to jump through hoops to get there. Whether you want to have us help people on the side, or lead with a different style than my own, all we care about is that we are working towards our goal."

And there we have it. Exactly what I wanted to get Ringer to say, though solely for Animus' sake. “Then if I may, I would like to turn this recommendation around. Wouldn't my lovely girlfriend here be a much better choice? Promote from within, so to speak. It's a lovely business model for civilians, as both myself and Animus here can attest to, so I believe it would be that much more acceptable in this situation." That little turn around is worth a coyote grin, I believe.

Apparently, it's also worth an elbow in the ribs from my telepathic significant other. Totally worth it.

“But I am being a terrible host. Would either of you care for a cup of tea, or a glass of wine? My butler isn't here today, but that won't lower the quality of either." I sweep around Animus with a subtle pat to the base of her tail. “Please, have a seat so we can talk this out."

The lemur appears before me and blocks my way in the span of a blink. “We will not be staying long. My Mistress came here solely to validate you as a candidate, no more."

I turn back around to face the white-clad cacomistle, who watches me with crossed arms and a little smile. I scowl in return. “So be it. You can skedaddle, then. I love Animus, but I want nothing to do with Syndicate outside of her. She is far more deserving of such power than I. Get out of my cottage."

“As you wish," the lemur says. With that, he steps to Ringer's side and they vanish. I can see why my girl wants to strangle him. Just in that small span of time, I already was tiring of his presence.

“You know what you've just done, don't you?" Animus rests one paw on my arm. I don't look at her, because I know what her expression will tell me.

“Alienated half of the higher supers, and firmly positioned myself to never be a part of either big name group. Yes, I'm aware." And incredibly pissed with myself.

“You stood up to Ringer and Doc like they've never had before. They're going to want you more than ever now."

I sigh, then down the rest of my wine without tasting anything but alcohol. “And I'm going to push you towards them more every single time they show up."

She comes around to stand in front of me. “You do so much for me, love. I really hope this doesn't take you away from me."

I lean down to give her muzzle a warm kiss. “I'll never allow it, my dear. We'll get you through this, even if we have to keep what's between us out of the spotlight."

She looks up into my eyes and I can almost see the trepidation that she's constantly warring against, only let out in the most private of moments. “We've got the power to make that happen."

I pull her closer against my chest and rest my head on hers. “That doesn't mean we should, love."

We stand there for a long time, both of us thinking far too deeply on just what we're going to have to do to make this work. She nudges me, to push my thoughts into words.

“C'mon, Lizzie, let's go upstairs."