Unheroic Life of a Certain Cape-Chapter 64 The Bargain

Chapter
64 The Bargain
The glass panes above shattered like brittle ice, raining down in glittering shards. Thunderbolt and Promise stormed in, bursting from Garuda’s forcefields, while Garuda hovered behind them with wings spread wide. I didn’t flinch. Instead, I muttered, “You’re too late.”
They didn’t waste time on words or even the courtesy of rights. Thunderbolt hurled a lance of lightning at me. My body shifted instinctively, slipping through the floor, letting the current scorch only air. I twisted my trajectory and reappeared at her side, my hand nearly brushing the sparks still crawling on her skin. She swung with her left, a fist cloaked in electric fire.
“Kill them,” a whisper coiled in my ear. The same voice born from Crow’s manipulation that had been tugging at me, suffocating me, and tempting me. And for a heartbeat, I almost listened.
But I clenched my teeth and forced my focus back into my body, leaning on my Enhancer training, letting instinct flow through me instead of that damned whisper. My fist shot forward, colliding with her jaw. I ducked low under her swinging arm. The crack of impact echoed, and she collapsed, lights dying in her eyes. I hadn’t thought it possible, but luck had decided otherwise. She was out cold.
I pressed my boot lightly on her ribs, keeping her down, and raised my voice so the others could hear. “Don’t. Or I’ll phase her through the floor. Every atom in her body will rip into matter that isn’t hers… muscle, bone, organs exploding all at once. You know I can do it.”
Promise tensed, hands glowing faintly, but Garuda shouted, “Promise, don’t!”
“I need help!” I snapped. “Crow is manipulating me.”
The whisper coiled tighter in my head, smooth as venom. “Is this your choice? Does Onyx mean nothing to you? Silver? Your mother? Will you let them all slip through your hands?”
I swallowed hard. “Right now, he’s threatening someone precious to me. If I disobey, she dies.”
“Take off your mask,” said Silver’s voice, though I didn’t know if it was truly her or Crow bleeding into my mind again.
“No,” I answered sharply.
“Interesting,” the whisper hissed, satisfied. “What’s your play, little phantom?”
Garuda lowered his stance, his feathers rippling faintly with power. “How long has Crow been in your head, Eclipse? You need to give us something. If you don’t, we’ll have no choice but to take you in. There’s blood on your hands already, more than anyone can excuse. But if you cooperate, maybe you’ll get a lighter sentence. Maybe we can even save this ‘precious person’ before Crow breaks them completely.”
Their words pressed against me like chains. I felt childish for ever thinking I could juggle them all from the gangs, the capes, and Crow’s shadow. I had thought myself clever, pitting Murder of Crows, Pride, Seamark, and even the Vanguard against each other. A balancing act on strings that weren’t even mine to hold. But it wasn’t too late. It couldn’t be too late.
“I murdered Royal,” I said, my voice flat and heavy. “At Crow’s orders. And I’m going to do the same against the Captain. With Pride and Seamark gone, there will only be the Murder of Crows.”
Crow wasn’t a telepath. That was the key. He couldn’t read thoughts, only feelings, and that meant I could hide my thoughts from him. I leaned hard into my Enhancer ratings, forcing myself into a state of sharp detachment, stripping away the weight of fear and grief. I carved out a single, cold objective in my head: save Onyx. Every other thought, every other emotion, I pushed aside. If I kept myself sealed, Crow’s empathic reach would brush against a wall. He couldn’t twist what he couldn’t feel. That left me room to act.
Promise laughed bitterly from across the broken floor, sparks still simmering in her palms. “No shit, you don’t. How could a rookie cape like you kill one of the strongest capes Markend has to offer?”
I smirked behind the porcelain mask, my boot still pinning Thunderbolt in place. “Tell that to Sunstrider. He’s one of you, right?”
Her face tightened, lips curling with fury, but she forced herself to keep steady. Even Promise had enough sense not to throw another attack while I had her teammate helpless.
I pressed further. “The telekinetic who just died, Royal’s second, mind you… You saw how strong her powers were. And you saw how she ended. Now, Seamark’s next.”
Garuda’s wings flared, his eyes narrowed as his voice cut through the tension. “What do you want?”
I let the silence stretch for a moment before answering. “Do your hero work. Deal with Pride. Their capes are probably scattered and confused without leadership. They just suffered casualties from an internal conflict. No wonder Janah came after me herself when she could’ve sent others… She knew I was dangerous. And she was right.”
Garuda’s feathers shifted, his gaze remaining on me. “And why should we believe you?”
I kept my tone steady. “Because I don’t want you or Pride in my way. Someone’s going to kill the Great Serpent, Seamark’s Captain, and when that happens, you’ll have one less gang boss poisoning this city.”
Promise narrowed her eyes, suspicion bleeding through her voice. “What, at the Crow’s benefit? You take down Seamark, and Crow rises higher.”
“Maybe,” I said, my voice low. “But at least there’ll be one less dangerous cape in Markend.”
The three of them exchanged looks, the weight of the decision settling on Promise most of all. Garuda finally broke the silence. “What do you think? It’s your call.”
Promise’s glare locked on me, then dropped briefly to Thunderbolt at my feet. I could almost feel the bile in her throat as she forced the words out. “Saturday, March fifteenth. Six o’clock in the morning. We’ll hit Pride’s resources. Once we do, there better not be any interruptions from Crow. We’ll be cleaning the streets, Eclipse… and we’re going to be thorough.”
I phased through the floors, letting gravity and intangibility pull me down level after level until I slipped out the main doors of Estrella Alta. The night air hit me, sharp with the smell of rain on concrete. I raised my hand for a cab and slid into the backseat when one pulled over.
“Highmark Cemetery,” I told him.
The voice whispered again, curling in my ear like smoke. “Excellent play, Eclipse. Now, what’s next?”
“Leave me alone,” I muttered under my breath. “I need peace. I need time to think.”
The cab driver kept throwing glances at me through the rearview mirror. By the time we reached the cemetery gates, he demanded, “That’ll be five hundred. Don’t think I’m scared of you just ‘cause of your little mask.”
I sighed, weary of Markend’s suicidal cab drivers. None of them seemed to have survival instincts. “I have no money,” I told him plainly. His mouth opened for another threat, but I grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the wheel. He went limp with a groan, horn blaring uselessly into the night.
The voice jeered in delight. “So much anger. That’s why I like you. You’re not afraid to express yourself.”
I ignored it. Across the cemetery was a small supply store. I walked in, still dripping from the drizzle, picked out a hoodie, and slipped it on. The rest of my costume I phased underground as if burying a piece of myself. I wasn’t leaving empty-handed either; I phased an entire shovel inside my body, the metal’s chill pressed against my ribs, hidden perfectly from view.
I didn’t go into Highmark itself, the resting place of politicians and tycoons. Instead, I crossed to the public cemetery beside it, rows of cracked stones and unkempt grass glistening under the rain. I found the grave I was looking for… Nicole Caldwell.
I planted the shovel and started digging. Mud splattered against my arms, rain washing rivulets of dirt into my eyes, but I kept at it. Each strike of the shovel was mechanical and detached. No anger. No grief. Just a task that had to be done. When I pried open the coffin, the smell hit me first, sour and rotten. Inside, there were bones. Fragile, decayed, eaten through by time and worms. My mother.
I stared down at the remains and felt nothing. I felt detached and empty. It only confirmed what I already knew: the “person” Crow paraded in front of me wasn’t and couldn’t be real. There was no such thing as a soul. No lingering essence. Just flesh, and when flesh rotted, that was the end.
But then the rain turned colder, and the air shifted. Behind me, arms slipped around my shoulders, soft and warm in spite of the storm.
“Just a bit more, son,” my mother’s voice whispered, tender as ever. “And we will be together again.”
I felt cold as if nothing could reach me. Her touch meant nothing, yet my own emotions clawed beneath the surface, bleeding, screaming, and telling me what I should feel. Crow’s hypnosis didn’t invent anything new. Instead, it only dug into what was already there, magnifying it until it became unbearable. That was why my mom felt real, why Silver felt real.
Just at the thought of her, Silver appeared on my other side, wrapping her arms around me. Her voice brushed against my ear, soft and tender. “You’re making the right choice, Nick.”
Their warmth pressed against me, their worry vibrating in my chest as though I could feel their hearts beating against mine. It felt so painfully real. Except it wasn’t. My Enhancer ratings told me otherwise. They reminded me of the truth I didn’t want to admit.
Mom had always told me not to let my powers rule me. Yet that was exactly what I had been doing for months since I decided to break bad. I clenched my teeth and forced a lie past my lips. “Yes, Mom. Just a bit more.”
She disappeared, fading into feathers and mist. Silver remained, her lips pressing on the side of my neck, soft kisses burning trails into my skin. We locked eyes, and there it was, the undeniable spark of life reflected in her gaze. It was so convincing that I almost believed it. Souls weren’t real. I didn’t believe in them. Then what was this spark, if not a soul?
I realized it was my own longing reflected back at me, a mirror of how I wanted her to see me. I cupped her cheek, my thumb brushing skin that shouldn’t exist, and she leaned into me. Our lips met under the cold rain, and the kiss split me apart inside. My Enhancer ratings faltered, slipping for one treacherous moment, and her kiss was real. The taste, the warmth, the ache… It wrenched my heart raw, whispering that I could have this again.
I only needed to give in. If I let Crow have his way, Silver could be mine once more. Except I knew better. She was gone. The bones in the casket were proof enough. These shadows weren’t real.
So why was it so hard to accept?
I pulled back, letting her slip from my arms. She smiled at me, eyes bright, lips trembling with something tender. “I’ll be waiting for you, Nick.”
And then she was gone too.
Rain poured harder, soaking my hoodie and the dirt clinging to my hands. I let my Enhancer ratings close around me like armor, cutting off the hurt, and pretending I wanted to be detached from my emotions because it was easier. Because it hurt too much to admit how much I had lost.
I told myself it was a lie. But the truth was, it just hurt that much.