The lab was quiet aside from Lucius’ constant humming.

He’d grown quite bored here, held captive as he was. There was nobody here entertaining enough for him. Not like you were.

But you hadn’t been caught when he was. Lucius had made sure that nasty vigilante hunter wouldn’t see you. That was the only reason he went without a fight. Couldn’t see a hair on your head harmed by anyone else. He sighed at the thought of seeing your face. Were you thinking of him? He wanted you to miss him, to need him, to depend on him so much you could hardly function without him.

More than anything he wanted to see the expression you’d make once you found out what was here. Oh, the horror. Clones of everyone’s favorite heroes. Sometimes the little pretend infants cried like they were real and the silly scientists would soothe them.

Lucius couldn’t have made it into Deus Lab this easily. A giggle escaped him. They thought he’d given up, that the collar they’d wrapped around his neck to dampen his powers would keep him. Lucius was no pet. They’d made the mistake of assuming he was helpless.

The cuffs around his hands clinked against the chains that held him to the wall. Try as he might, Lucius couldn’t tell how many days had passed. Or had it been weeks? Lucius was going to be cross with you if you’d left him here that long. He expected more of you, his cute little former hero.

Someone had come in on the first day to threaten him, ask who was working with him. Lucius had laughed in his face. No matter how many times they hit him or shocked him or threatened him, he would not give you up. You were his to play with, not theirs. You’d seen the truth of the hero industry because he had shown you.

New Vision, The Crusaders, all of those corporations that used Enhanced like meat pigs. As if they were things to be shown off. All those touchy hands and looks and whispers. Disgusting. But none of those other heroes saw the world as he did. Sometimes he wasn’t sure if you were able to understand him and his visions.

A world where Enhanced were free.

Free from being stuck in costumes and laws that kept them complacent. Why did they act like they were prey? Enhanced were at the top. Non-Enhanced should fear them. Those born without their gifts, their powers, what good were they? Why were they allowed to keep Enhanced beneath their utterly weak heel?

No, Lucius knew he’d evolved past that. Every Enhanced had. They were the future. More and more Non-Enhanced were birthing Enhanced children.

Lucius needed to remind his brethren they were at the top of the food chain. Only then would they begin to free themselves.

“Helllooooo,” Lucius called. “Am I to starve again?”

Usually there was a guard on duty. Some of them ignored him, others engaged. He enjoyed the ones that talked to him. They always ended up frightened.

Silence greeted him. Not the sort that people made when they were ignoring him, the kind that meant no one was there. How strange. Lucius tilted his head. There was no one he could see, no test infants screaming.

He smiled wide enough it made his cheeks ache. Someone was there. Someone had found him. His beautiful angel had was coming to him. It was enough to make him shiver excitedly.

The door to cell he was kept in creaked open. Too unsure to be someone that worked here. He tried to jolt forward, but the chains kept him in place. Had you already explored the rest of the lab? Lucius wanted—no, needed—to know every one of your thoughts. Your reactions. Would you finally come to realize why Non-Enhanced needed to be phased out?

“My darling has come to save me,” Lucius crooned, tilting his head back and forth. “I knew you would. I could smell you down the hall.”

He suddenly went lax, pale hair curtaining his face as he laughed. “They said you weren’t coming, but I knew you wouldn’t leave me here.” Lucius stared at you through his bangs. “Let me out, sweet darling. I’ve missed you.”

You were the only one destined to free him.