Vespidian Arc 2 Me, Myself, and Neon Nurse

Chapter 10 Interlude: Motives

Molotov sat in the luxurious limousine as it pulled away from the Hero League Headquarters. A delightfully evil smile filled the little girl's face. She tilted back and forth, humming. Across from the little menace, Boris sat, legs wide, clothes save his bright red speedo absent. His grizzled stubble glistened in the light streaming in from the window.

"Good job, my boy. Da those idiots bought it hook line and sinker. With that none should suspect the wasp of being our mole." Molotov chuckled, rummaging about for a cigar and lighting it up. "That bit about loving her was golden. Hehe, even had a ring. Surprised even me. The spy training you been doing is paying off. Here I thought you would be bookworm all your life."

The towering man of muscle across from her adjusted his reading glasses as he looked down from the tablet in his hand, "Da, I had to express how serious I am."

Molotov paused, taking a moment to process that, "Serious? About what?"

Boris rested his chin on his fist as he gazed out the window, "My love, of course. Da, why else would I come to America if not claim my woman."

Molotov choked, coughing, "HUH?! You were serious? You don't want her. She is lazy, stupid, a coward, a weirdo slob. No son of mine will marry that lazy wasp!"

He nodded idly, "Can all be fixed with training and discipline. You know this better than most after all the people you have whipped into shape."

Molotov mulled it over, "Nyet, explain what you like about her. Is it pity?"

Boris tilted his head back, crossing his arms over his powerful chest. "Do I need reason to love woman? What stirs heart stirs heart."

"Da. When you being serious and not just taking her to pound town, yes. When it comes that one especially yes."

"Her body of course. If she is as you said in your report she might be able survive my full power and I won't have to hold back passionate pussy wrecking."

Molotov squinted at him, "Only her body? You can be honest boy. I know you not that kind of person."

He scrunched his fingers together, "Ok. I may have watched some of her stream clips on way over. I enjoyed her personality. She is ruthless, cunning, devious, sassy. Like feral jungle cat. Makes my heart burn and I want to tame her. The way she smiled while she clubbed those baby seals and massacred those centaur was so evil I fell in love at first sight."

Molotov nodded in understanding, "True. She does have much villainous potential. We just have to find how to scrape off that veneer of humanity that she clings to. That being said those videos were from before she changed. She is different now, more skittish."

"Skittish? But she ruthlessly crushed my heart and threw it on the floor like it was nothing! If I was lesser man would be crying on floor."

Molotov looked out the window, "Don't get attached boy. Vesper is unstable."

Boris's face hardened, "Unstable?"

"Yes, her brain is damaged. Not surprising considering that she melted into goop at one point while she was mutating. But that is not the real problem."

"How do you know?"

"The brain scans I received yesterday. There is a hole in her brain. A big one, Dr. Arbor must have hid whatever it was that she removed during that operation that I stopped. The sly bitch didn't put all of her back together."

Boris had a pained look on his face, "The poor thing. How bad do you think?"

Molotov just shook her head, "I don't know. Luckily she has regeneration, if she didn't well she would be dead already. If she is fortunate she will recover on her own in time."

"I see, so that why you got so mad at Dr. Arbor."

Molotov scoffed a bit, "Da. Of course I did. Lobotomizing somebody is fucked up even for us. Well, some of the other council would protest the validity of it, but at the very least it is too far for me. Better to die than have your brain butchered. That is why I hate Mind Divers."

"Puppeteer would be angry to hear that."

"No. It knows full well my disdain for it, it finds it amusing. After all it is why I am like this in first place."

"What we do now about Vesper?"

"For now we leave her alone to recover. I will make use of her later once she has wriggled her way in."

"Will she be ok?"

"Da. She is in good hands, Neon Nurse is famous and will be able to keep tabs on Dr. Arbor make sure that she doesn't get out of hand like before. She might be a manic emotionally dead cyborg, but she dislikes her patients being harmed."

Boris squinted at Molotov, "Not like you to be sympathetic."

Molotov looked away, "Not sympathetic, I feel, responsible since I did not pay more attention to Dr. Arbor's operations. Looking back it was obvious not to trust that suka."

He looked at her closer, "Not like you. You are being squishy, like banana not hard and cold like turnip. Normally you don't even bat an eye when people die. If Mishka saw would laugh at you. Why?"

"No reason in particular. Speaking of Mishka, has she finished suppressing the rebels that escaped the work camps?"

"Nyet, they escape into tundra, will take time to hunt down."

"Of course they did. You would think they would be grateful for the being allowed to live. Worthless worms. Don't they know how fortunate they are to be under my rule rather Blood Rage or Nitro or any of the other council members. It is my fault for being soft. Gave them the wrong impression, Civis acting like they have rights or something. Their food supplies will be cut for this."

"Is that necessary?"

"Da. They must learn their place. Mishka will be reprimanded for letting them escape."

Boris looked over the report once more. "Nyet, this time not entirely her fault. The fragments of the Spore they had been collecting have mutated a good number of the workers causing the prison break."

Molotov nodded slowly, "That would cause issues. I take it complications occurred?"

"Da, an out break of radioactive mutants spread in the surrounding towns."

Molotov nodded, "Da, it happens, I will make arrangements before things get out of hand."

Boris nodded with a smile, "Mishka will be pleased."

Molotov just nodded dismissively. The car ride was quiet, with Molotov smoking and Boris reading varied reports on the tablet. After a time, the man of impeccable physical condition looked down on the little girl across from him.

His eyebrow raised questioningly before he clunked one heavy hand into the other, "Da. You like her."

Molotov gave a blank stare. "Who?"

"Vespidian."

Molotov scoffed, "Fine, fine she is kind of cute. In a weird bug pet sort of way. So of course I as her owner would be worried."

Boris smiled, doing little tiny claps, "She is cute, isn't she? Da. You see the appeal too."

Molotov dismissively waved her hand, "Nyet, Nyet, you see her very differently than I do. There is no romantic or sexual interest in her on my end. She is suka. Dog that belongs on leash."

Boris contemplated that "She would be very appealing on a leash."

"Not like that. Not everything is about sex. Though she is rather perverted."

"Da, true. Romance is important too. She must be wooed, wine and dined."

Molotov nodded approvingly, "I will help you romance is important, how you think I got your Mother?"

Boris nodded, "From what I have heard you two were at each other's throats before you seduced her."

"Da. She almost killed me six times before I claimed her. A true woman needs fire and passion. If she isn't trying to kill you she isn't into you."

They both nodded to that. It was certainly something a normal person wouldn't understand. Something only powerful yet damaged people would understand. It would be a big stretch to think of it as anything even close to healthy relationship advice.

"How are plans in the city proceeding?" asked Boris.

"Excellent. Diablos are being a nuisance though."

"Odd, does this branch not communicate with the others?"

Molotov gazed out the window passively, "Doesn't matter. They will join us either the easy way or the hard way. Though they are little concern to me. I think I need to pay the little kitty another visit, she behind schedule compared to the others."

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***

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Later that night in the Hero League.

Neon Nurse sat at the meeting table, her blond bob cut immaculate. The glowing pink neon lights ran like thick veins along her synthetic flesh. She tilted her head ever so slightly. Her bright green eyes surveyed her arguing colleagues.

The only other person sitting it out was Enforcer, who was beside Neon Nurse. His arms were crossed over his armored chest. Most of him was machine, something of a cop robo, one might say. Besides Neon Nurse, he was the most heavily augmented of the cyber-swat members. His visor was down, leaving only his blank chromed face plate that revealed nothing to his thoughts.

"We need to throw that thing out of here. Look at the trouble that fucking thing brought here. We are all lucky to be alive." Captain Metal yelled, slamming his hands on the table.

Fire Chief tapped his fingers, "You are blaming her for the actions of Villains. That is disgusting. Did anyone get hurt? No. Did anyone die? No. So why are you blaming Vespidian for things that she had no control over and acting as though she committed murder. She is a scared, lost girl desperate to find some safety."

Dreamer interjected, her melted opera mask glistening with a slight sheen, the deep blue eyes matching her hair. "I do not trust this situation. Something is off. Boris, let alone Molotov could have killed all of us easily. They didn't which means they are either fucking with us, or they are up to something. Either way Vespidian is at the center of this."

Everyone in the room nodded; Ring Master wrung his gloved hands, tipping his fancy top hat. "What are they after? Is it just another demented game, or is Kraken up to something again?"

"Who knows. All I know is that thing needs to get the boot." Replied Captain Metal.

Neon Nurse finally spoke, having processed it all, "Say we do throw her out; what do you suppose will happen?"

"Why should we care? Not our problem. Throw her in the slums or ship her ass to the Correctional for an attitude adjustment. That bitch is dangerous. We can't have her here." Captain Metal grit, his chromed visor still cracked from the confrontation with Vesper.

Neon Nurse sighed, rolling her eyes. She turned off her emotional filters. Her ordinarily happy yet neutral voice dropped several pitches into a cold and disgusted sound, "You stupid organic. Don't you understand? I know your brain is underdeveloped, but do you even think before you speak? We throw her out, and it is our fault a new villain is born. Shipping her is cruel, especially when she hasn't even done anything wrong. We should all know what that place is, what it really is. I don't care how much you sugarcoat mind raping people until they are no longer who they were. She came to us for help, terrified and desperate to not become a villain, yet you are all so happy to throw her under the bus. All of you except Chief and Enforcer disgust me. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for even daring to call yourselves heroes."

Dreamer was unfazed, "Big words from a former villain. You have not been on our side for that long yet you speak like you are some paragon of virtue despite your criminal record? Heroes have to think of the whole. Some times sacrifices must be made. Are you telling us to risk our lives and everyone else's here just for some girl that got dragged in off of the streets?"

Neon Nurse chuckled coldly, "Bringing that up? I have saved far more lives than any and all of you here combined. Don't get me started on doing good. But since you insist, very well, as a former villain I can tell you the exact motivations one would have to commit crimes. Desperation. Rejection. Death threats. Extortion. Blackmail. Need I go on?"

Dreamer squinted at her, "Make your point."

"It is very simple really. Give her a chance. I know for a fact that if I had been given a chance back then I never would have gotten desperate enough to do the things I did. If I had received the proper support then the likes of Vira and Spark Spray never would have been born. We can prevent Villains with our actions, just as our inactions can create them. So case and point, make no mistake, those that we forsake out of fear or convenience will remember those that helped them and those that betrayed them. So if you want to be on the high horse, act like it."

"Bloody ell, never seen you so up in arms, Neon Nurse," chuckled a strange woman that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. She looked very out of place here in the city. Her outfit was far more suited for some expedition off in the savanna with her skimpy safari outfit. She tilted her brimmed hat with varied sharp pointy teeth displayed as trophies. Her back was strapped down with a massive sniper rifle.

"Sorry we are late. Quiet down Sheila." The door behind her was open and in swept yet another figure with his bright red trench coat. He wore sunglasses despite it already being after dark. He adjusted his black fedora as he leaned against the wall rather than taking a seat. He was a bit scuffed up, bullet holes in his coat, even one in his hat.

"Oi! Don't you sass me Sweeps. We was out fighting for our lives while they were fucking around." Irately fumed the hunter, before pointing her finger directly at Ring Master. "Where the fuck was our back up for the raid! Fold got away because you limp dicked us. You fucks ripped the rug out and left us high and dry I almost lost me neck! Give us some warning next time instead of pulling all forces en route. We was gob smacked when nobody showed to back us up."

Ring Master nodded, "I apologize, but we had- have more pressing matters than a gang bust of some of the mid villains of the city."

"It better be good! Lets hear it, what wibbly diddly bullshit are you lot on about?" She crossed her arms, her face hardened, showing off the scar that disappeared beneath her eye patch.

"Kraken Agents are in the city and they walked into H.Q. coincidently right as you and Crimson Sweeper started your raid. If I was more paranoid I would think it was planned."

She audibly and visibly gulped, paling at the mere mention of the organization, "Kraken? Who?"

"Molotov and Boris."

"Oh god the little girl. I fucking hate kids. Creepy lil buggers." Sheila vanished for a few seconds before appearing next to Crimson Sweeper, leaning against him, trying not to make it too obvious that she was trying to hide.

"I see so it was bad. How many losses?" asked Crimson Sweeper, "Odd I didn't see much damage on my way in."

Ring Master replied, swirling his fancy mustache, "No losses. Thankfully they left of their own accord before a fight broke out."

"What did they want?"

"The thing that we are arguing about, Vesper, the Vespidian. Apparently she escaped Molotov's clutches and came here for help."

Sheila wiggled her fingers. "Crickey! Got some balls on her pissing off that little monster. Fuk me ded, I wouldn't even do that. So what is the issue?"

"She is subhuman, that is what. Belongs in the slums." Said Captain Metal.

"Eh, is that it? Got your nickers in a bunch cause she not fully umie?" Sheila squinted at him, "Has she done anything? Killed people? Gone on a murderous rampage? Stolen things? Ritualistically ripped out a heart screaming Khalima before eating it?"

"She mauled and poisoned me when we first met."

Neon Nurse interjected, "Venom. Not poison. You left out the part where you shot her unprovoked. Multiple times might I add. A lesser creature would have died from the lung shot."

Sheila chuckled giddily behind her hand, trying to hide it, "Got what you deserved you did. Any critter gonna fight back, stupid git."

"She is violent."

Sheila scuttled across the room, lording over Captain Metal wriggling her fingers creepily, "So? I am violent. I kill people for a living. Aww is the widdle man all upset that he got beat up by the big bad eh, what is she exactly?"

"A wasp woman." Replied Neon Nurse.

"Monster. You left the monster part out." Coughed Dreamer.

The robo nurse interjected, "She isn't a monster. She is actually surprisingly shy. She is sweet and cute."

Captain Metal reeled away from Sheila; clearly, he was being bullied, but nobody was doing anything about it. Panther was out on patrol, so he didn't have anyone to help him against the borderline psychotic woman.

Dreamer interrupted Sheila's fun, "Enough, this is a serious meeting. Vesper, the Vespidian is mentally unstable from what I saw in her head when she came in. It might be very difficult to acclimate her to normal human standards. Not to mention any biohazards that she might be."

Neon Nurse retorted, "I have been running tests since she got here. Though her body is alien and mutated, I have not seen anything to be concerned about in terms of infectious diseases or viruses. She is not some sort of plague bearer."

"It is too soon to be sure. From the brief visit I had in her head, she requires extensive Mind Diving therapy. Is she worth all the trouble or should we dispose of her?"

"Dispose of her?" asked Crimson Sweeper, "What are our options in that regard?"

"We could dump her with the other subhumans in the slums or ship her out like we do with convicted villains." Said Dreamer.

"No home where she is watched and therapy?" ask Fire Chief.

Ring Master replied, "You know the rules, no subhumans in the city. The media would turn this into a circus."

"If you throw her in the Slums we are handing Glitter Kitten yet another super for her gang. I cannot stay quiet about this." Enforcer chimed in with his robotic voice; he stood up, slowly surveying them as he projected a map of the city showing the cordon where the main city and the Slums overlaps. "As the one who has to deal with the Slums that is highly unadvised. The Blood Moons are bad enough as is. Last month they breach the walls in several places. From the tests this, Vespidian is stronger than Captain Metal. For comparison, that would make her roughly as strong as Thumper, Glitter Kitten's second in command. Give me a logical reason why we should empower arguably the most dangerous gang in the city."

"She is not stronger than me." Grit, Captain Metal.

"All evidence to the contrary," coldly and clinically replied Enforcer. "I reviewed your chest cam. Had she continued attacking you, rather than clearly getting cold feet and reeling over what she had done, you would be dead. She is not a hardened criminal, they don't hesitate. I understand your prejudice against Glitter Kitten and her horde of subhumans, however I would think that you of all people would be pleased to deprive her of yet another minion. Or are you so blinded by your hatred that you would hand her yet another tool to use out of spite?"

He looked away, "You have seen her, after all the shit she caused I had every reason to assume she was some villain up to no good. She is lucky nobody got killed by that run away donut sign."

"That was a dangerous situation, however that does not excuse your conduct when you confronted her. Body language, temperament, even her actions before you shot her made it very clear that she was attempting to be friendly. If you had talked to her, there was roughly a 70% chance she would have surrendered on the spot without a fight. If nothing else you could have deescalated the fight and distracted her while calling back up to apprehend her." Enforcer towered over him, the blank face plate gleaming.

"I wasn't thinking about that in the heat of the moment. She was dangerous-"

Enforcer interrupted him in a placid, emotionless voice, "You were calm and collected, until she fought back. If she did not have regeneration, that shot to the chest would have been a grievous wound if not fatal. From my estimates it hit the lungs. My review of your performance is that of F- if you were one of my men you would be on probation and sent for retraining at bare minimum. You are lucky she hasn't pressed charges for attempted murder, yet."

"Murder?" Captain Metal asked, stunned.

"Yes. We might have super powers, but we are not above the law you know. If I was her I would be pressing charges. Would be a fairly open and shut case since you shot unprovoked. Not encouraging you, but if you gonna do something illegal turn off your camera." Neon Nurse smiled coldly.

Ring Master let out a long sigh, "I will have to review that. I didn't realize it was unprovoked.” He gave a scathing side eye. “Captain Metal said it was self defense and seeing as how he was carried in unconscious it was understandable. It seems we need a more thorough review."

Neon Nurse wasn't taking that excuse, "You mean you didn't realize it was on video. Can't sweep this under the rug, well not without some serious concessions. Depending on your answer I know just the lawyer to call."

"Are you threatening me?" Ring Master asked, his hands behind his back.

Neon Nurse's smile was plastic and fake. "No. Just reminding you that we could have another lawsuit on our hands. So don't even think about trying to throw her away or ship her out to cover this up. I won't stand for that."

Captain Metal relented, "Alright, alright, I won't say anything about her being here, but don't you dare drag Panther into any of this, he is innocent. Only reason he attacked her is because he thought I was dead."

Enforcer nodded. "Arguably he did more damage than you did. A normal person let alone most of us here would have had our heads ripped off by one of his kicks. I find it highly surprising Fire Chief was able to talk her down during his encounter with her, after a first encounter such as that."

Fire Chief rubbed his neck, "I didn't exactly talk her down, she did attempt to flee, screaming something about not wanting to be tortured again. I had to restrain her with hardening foam. Still, she didn't attack anyone and was far more inclined to escape. From my interactions with her here at the base, she is just a normal… well odd girl who is very traumatized."

Neon Nurse nodded, "She is traumatized, would be hard not to be after being kidnapped by Molotov and mutated and trained to be a villain. It is not as though she is some mystery person, we know exactly who she is, was. She is Vesper Walda Vasska, the same young woman that went missing a little over 4 months ago."

"That does explain how cold the case went." Replied Enforcer, with a slight nod.

Neon Nurse looked to Ring Master, "We should give her a chance. At the very least we are keeping a potential villain off of the streets and monitoring her every move, if she does turn out to be bad then can always arrest her. If she is good then we get another Super on the force. Might I remind you how under staffed we are currently?"

"We are, criminally understaffed," said Crimson Sweeper. "What you think Sheila, want a wasp monster on the team?"

"Took out Captain Metal, good enough for me." She grinned.

"Now, now, I want her on my team. I saw her first." Said Neon Nurse.

"Oi we got first dibs on newbies! Been down to two people for all the north side for six months now." Sheila fumed. "Don't act like the Cyber Swat showing up late to the party is enough. Almost all of them are down there keeping the slums contained."

"She is untested." Said Fire Chief crossing his arms. "If she is going anywhere she is going into the Juniors to learn the ropes."

"Juniors this and that. Stop coddling them. They grown ups. We need the help." Sheila threw her hat on the floor. "Ell' we getting overrun! The city is going to shit and I don't know how much longer me and Sweeps can keep the north side peaceful. Angels of Hell have been causing shit, Crimson Souls have been getting sneaky beaky, even the damned Cyber Sirens have been smashing and grabbin. What the fuck do you want us to do with 2 people against 3 bloody gangs? If a Gang War goes off we are fucked sideways six ways to sunday double sprinkles."

Chief yelled back, "They are not ready! I am not sending them to fight murders. They are emergency response workers, they have not been training for super fighting."

"YOU BETTER START TRAINING EM!" she screamed back, "All ell' is gonna break loose soon. I don't know if you lot have heard, but L.A. is in some serious shit right now. My mate, Mr. Fahrenheit, down there is saying things are boiling over and that is saying something from him. Last thing he said was they might be declaring Free Fire Zone if things get much worse."

"Free Fire Zone?" asked Fire Chief. "What the fuck is going on down there for them to do that?"

Sheila started tapping her knife on the table, "I don't got full details, media black out. I do know that the Diablos and Angels of Hell are there in full force duking it out in a massive fuck me ded gang war, the piddly fucks here are just branch groups. Hundreds of em down there. Supers mind yah' not just the goons they got loads more of those. Slimy, nasty, ruthless gits the lot of em. Bottom barrel trash that don't even blink at murder, torture and rape."

Sweeper sighed, "Hopefully L.A. gets their shit together or that is going to boil over onto us and become our problem."

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst is it?" said Ring Master. "If any of you had any secret projects you have been putting off, you should get on those. I will look the other way unless it is very questionable. We will be needing them if things go that bad. Just keep them on the down low if we don't need them."

"I did have some plans for a bigger mech." Said Fire Chief thoughtfully.

"Noted." Said Neon Nurse, "So is Captain Metal being reprimanded?"

Ring Master played a little with his mustache, "Yes and no. I can't even put Captain Metal on probation over this because we need the man power. You are on thin ice Captain Metal. Don't get into any fights with her and don't even look at her, understood."

Captain Metal nodded a bit deflated.

"As for the Vespidian, all in favor of enlisting her?" Ring Master asked, looking over the others. Everyone in the room, save Dreamer, and Captain Metal, raised their hands. "Very well then, unless I find that she is a danger to others, she is under your care for the time being, Neon Nurse."

"I will take good care of her." Smiled Neon Nurse.

Dreamer interjected, "We should give her a serious screening. I recommend keeping her in quarantine for the time being while we evaluate her. We need to be sure if she is spy or not. I saw memories in her head that were extremely concerning. I still find it suspicious how she was just let go without a fight."

Ring Master thought it over. "Very well. It would be prudent to know who we are enlisting. We will discuss where she goes after all reviews. I assume that is ok, Neon Nurse?"

She thought about it and smiled pleasantly, "Assuming it is a short duration, yes."