Unheroic Life of a Certain Cape-Chapter 61 Voicemail

Chapter
61 Voicemail
I pressed play, and a voice I hadn’t expected came through the landline.
“Hi, I am BunnyBlade, also George. You told me to call you, but you didn’t answer. I assumed your phone was fried by Thunderbolt.Electrokinetic-6 could do that. Anyway, if you are hearing this, I am already gone, took the train out of the city. I got out with a special pass, specifically because my civilian identity was burned and Pride ID’d me. So I managed to get out, courtesy of the SRC. Just so you know, I didn’t tell them anything. I respect your mother too much to snitch on her son being a cape, something your mother wished to stay hidden so that you can attempt a normal life.”
I froze. My mouth went dry at the sound of his voice. It was steady, casual, but carrying too much weight.
“I don’t know what is happening exactly with your life, but I can surmise some kind of impostor had been pretending to be me and had been operating with you for some time. When I said your mom was my coworker, I meant that we have the same kind of job, spying on major gangs. I worked for Pride as a double agent for SRC. Someone also has the same job on Seamark, of course, I won’t tell you their identity, because it is confidential, and mine and your mom’s wasn’t much anymore.”
I leaned on the counter, gripping the edge until my knuckles turned white. Every word landed like a nail driven deeper into my chest.
“As for your mom, she’d been working as a double agent for SRC against the Murder of Crows. She managed to infiltrate deeply. Something happened along the way, causing her to be silenced, and eventually revealing her as an SRC agent and someone fabricating your father’s history as an unregistered cape. The SRC did their best to cover up the incident, and as a result the truth never got out.”
Silenced. My jaw clenched. I didn’t want to hear more, but I couldn’t stop listening.
“As for Nicole, your mother, don’t hate her too much. I don’t know about her being a good mother, but she’d been a great person. A year ago, if she hadn’t done what she did, a lot of people would have died and Crow would have gained total control of Markend. Beware of the Crow, Nicholas. The SRC is barely keeping up with him, the Seamark keeping his capes in check, and as for Royal, he kept Crow himself in check from taking overzealous actions such as forcibly taking over the SRC.”
The line crackled, George’s tone dipping lower and softer, like he knew this would be the last thing I’d ever hear from him.
“A year ago, if it wasn’t for your mom, he would have successfully killed Royal, advanced drastically on his ambitions, and taken over Markend unopposed. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive your mom. May she rest in peace.”
The voicemail ended with a click.
I sat there in the silence of my empty apartment, staring at the dead phone on the counter. My chest felt hollow, like the words had scraped me clean from the inside. Forgive her? After everything? My throat tightened, but nothing came out. I leaned back against the wall, the plaster cool against my spine, and forced myself to breathe. In. Out. The storm inside me didn’t calm, but it sharpened, narrowed into a single point.
It wasn’t her.
For years, I had told myself my mother’s secrets were the reason my life was broken. That her choices had ruined me. That if she had just been honest, just stayed a mother instead of playing spy, I might’ve had a chance at normalcy. But George’s words wouldn’t leave me alone… ‘
she saved Markend, she kept Crow from winning.
’
“Crow.”
That bastard’s name slid into place, fitting perfectly into every hole, every scar. The murder, the lies, the bloodstains across this city. He was the rot beneath it all. My mother hadn’t been the one who doomed me.
I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor, my hands hanging useless between my knees. My mother wasn’t innocent, but she wasn’t the villain of this story either. That crown belonged to someone else.
“Crow,” I whispered into the empty room, tasting the name like venom.
“You called me,” came a voice to my right, smooth, playful, and infuriatingly casual.
I snapped my head and nearly swung my fist off instinct, catching the lean silhouette of a man leaning on my wall like he’d always been there. Black coat, sharp eyes, a smile carved out of mockery. Crow.
My arm lashed out, wild and desperate to hit flesh, but he dissolved into smoke and feathers, scattering across the room. Another version of him perched to my left, arms folded, the same amused gleam in his eyes.
“Disappointing,” he said, shaking his head like a parent scolding a child. “I expected more. You almost passed, too.”
“Passed?” I spat, heart pounding as I turned toward him. “For what?”
He tilted his head, letting silence hang long enough to sting. Then, with a faint chuckle: “To see if you deserve to be one of us.”
The Crow beside me lifted his hand, fiddling with a silver ring. My stomach dropped. It was the
same
ring I had taken from Sunstrider, the one I had thrown away in disgust. Its insignia, the bold letter
M
,
glinted under the dull light of my apartment.
“I was surprised you threw it,” Crow said, rolling the ring between his fingers with careful reverence. “Fortunately, I had one of my people retrieve it for me. Waste not, want not.”
Rage flared hot in my chest. I lunged, snatching at his hand, but my fingers sliced through empty air. No resistance. No impact. My hand passed through him as if he were smoke.
I froze.
Something pressed sharp and cold against the back of my skull, not physical, not tangible, but heavy in a way only thoughts could be. My breath hitched, memory clawing its way up: Silver’s training, the subtle hints of how to notice an intruder in your head, and the quiet warnings I never took seriously.
“No…” My throat felt dry as gravel. My fists clenched even as my body trembled. “You’re not here.”
Crow’s smile widened.
Realization crashed over me in dawning horror. “You’re inside my head…”
The silence after stretched tight as a noose.
My lips barely moved, the words breaking out on their own. “How long?”
I remembered the first time I had met Crow, and the memory clawed its way into me like broken glass. Back then, I had dismissed the unease that had settled in my chest, the strange pressure at the back of my head, the way my rage had flared hotter than it ever should. Now, it finally made sense. That was when he had sunk his talons into me. That must’ve been when I was subjected to his power.
Why else would I have gone so ballistic? Why would I have pushed so far, crossed so many lines, even gone out of my way to confront Royal, when survival had always been my instinct? It didn’t add up, until now.
Crow laughed, the sound carrying from nowhere and everywhere at once, sharp and hollow. His voice cut into me, playful and knowing. “Just to get this out,” he teased. “I can’t read your mind like a telepath does, but that sure is one funny thought.”
Now, I’m confused. What was Crow’s angle here?
“You almost had it,” he continued, and his smile widened in my mind’s eye. “But you’re wrong. My influence doesn’t spread that far, and you should know.”
My lips moved before I realized it, the word crawling out like poison. “Distance…”
“Yes.” His voice warmed with approval. “There are limits.”
I clenched my fists, swallowing the dread rising in my throat. “Why are your lips so loose right now? You don’t strike me as the type to just… talk.”
“Because we are on a threshold, my good lad,” Crow said smoothly, as though the answer should’ve been obvious. “And I want you. Words I am sure you’ve heard from Royal before. Except unlike him, I don’t wish to bind you in slavery, nor anything remotely close. You see, we Crows thrive on mutual prosperity.”
His words oozed into my ears like oil. I wanted to believe they meant nothing, that this was just manipulation. Yet they crawled inside my skull with a familiarity that set my teeth on edge.
I forced myself to breathe evenly. “Explain something to me then. The impostor BunnyBlade… who was he?”
There was a pause. Then Crow’s chuckle dripped with smug delight. “I had all of your mother’s contacts secured. Watched over. A gentle tug here, a little tampering there… and the rest is history.”
His tone shifted suddenly, adopting a cadence I recognized immediately. The exact cadence that had haunted me ever since the so-called Bunny first appeared.
“Are you insane!?” Crow snapped, voice almost identical to that impostor’s frantic warning. “You’re going to pit the three major gangs against each other? Pride, Seamark, and the Crows? That’s not a fight, that’s a fucking war!”
Crow had been Bunny all along.
“You…” My throat tightened as the pieces clicked into place. “You ruined my life. You wore another man’s skin just to steer me into your schemes.” My voice broke with rage. “I want nothing to do with you. Nothing. So what the fuck do you hope to achieve by appearing before me now? You want me? I don’t even want you.”
Crow didn’t falter. He never faltered. “If you wish your mind changed, then come to me,” he said, smooth as silk. “But of course… you could always just run. Leave it all behind. Walk away.”
He let the silence stretch, long enough to bait the hook.
Then his tone shifted again into something cold, cutting, and deliberate.
“Leave poor Silver behind.”
The words split me open. I staggered upright, blood roaring in my ears, my voice raising before I could stop it.
“What did you do to her!?”