Leviathan!

Volume 1!

"So… you're supposed to be evil, right?"

The last slips of paper had yet to float downwards from the broken window, and already the peons were questioning him.

Turning, Leviathan slid his gaze towards the imbecile who spoke. The rest of the humans, measly office grunts, were smart enough not to intervene. He could almost taste the terror in their veins.

No, they weren't afraid of him. The people were never afraid of him.

Having spent his entire life in the shadow of Kraken, his brother, Leviathan had come to the realization that his serpentine appearance, not to mention his bitter personality, would never earn him the status of super-villain. He had a slender waist, and despite being taller than the average human, his shoulders were not exceptionally broad. At the very least, he looked cold and calculating.

"What a two dimensional word," he growled, narrowing his green eyes at the arrogant human. "Of course, only a fool would think in such terms."

He walked over to the man, and with one, slick movement, wrapped his leather-gloved hand around his neck. Leviathan's black nails, sharpened to a point, lightly grazed the pale skin of the infuriatingly unfazed human. "You should be trembling before me!" Leviathan hissed.

He blinked as the human tried to suppress a fit of giggles.

Opening his mouth to start screaming, Leviathan quickly shut it again when he heard the tell-tale signs of his brother down on the street. Kraken had been thrown out the window three minutes prior, when he tried to capture Volt in a stranglehold.

Why, of the all the superheroes in Capitalia, his brother chose a lightning demigod as an arch-nemesis, Leviathan would never know.

Everyone in the gray office building screamed and ducked behind their desk as a thunderbolt arched down past the windows like a jagged blade of glass. A tremendous boom rocked the earth, sending the building swaying back and forth.

With a sigh, Leviathan dropped the human, and made for the window, throwing an ineffectual "I'll see to you later," over his shoulder.

Staring down the expanse of the glass office building, Leviathan narrowed his lips, and rose a hand to his forehead to knead away the quickly forming headache. He could see Kraken down there, trading blow for blow with Volt. Obviously, the thunderbolt had missed his beloved brother.

It would only be a matter of time before Kraken fully transformed into his sea monster form, and Leviathan needed to be there to stop him.

Their goal that morning had been fairly simple: Since most of the heroes of Capitalia had been forced to the other side of the globe to confront some other "evil", Kraken and Leviathan would take advantage of the lack of do-gooders and break into every bank in town. Things started off well, and if Kraken had listened to him, they would have gotten home safe with some pretty serious cash.

However, his idiot brother wanted to keep going, and by the fourth bank, Volt had appeared.

The thunder demigod kept a pretty close eye on them, probably because they were an easy target. One hit from a thunderbolt could knock Kraken out for decades, and would definitely be fatal for Leviathan.

The serpentine monster had been sequestered to the sidelines for most of the battles with Volt, not that he minded. He wasn't the confrontational type… at least not when the encounter could end with death.

"Idiot…" Leviathan sighed.

Kraken was transforming. Leviathan only had a small amount of time before his brother ran out of oxygen. They were powerful beings, even in humanoid form, but they were masterful in their true incarnations: sea monsters. However, there was one ruinous drawback… they couldn't breath on land. With a large intake of breath, Leviathan leaped outwards from the building, and fell for what felt like an eternity.

He liked to think that he was good at falling gracefully. Not that he swan dived, or anything, but at least he wasn't like Kraken, who rocketed towards the earth like a meteor. There certainly was something charming about leaving a gaping crater wherever one landed, however Leviathan felt that he had the upper hand. He was much more stealthy than his brother.

Landing with a slight thud, Leviathan expertly absorbed the impact through his legs, and moved on towards the raging conflict in front of him. Already, Kraken was a fully transformed beast, flinging his tendrils out like three-ton whips.

People were running screaming as crumpled carcasses of cars landed around them. 'I wonder if he'll kill anyone?' Leviathan thought idly as he stepped quickly towards the fight.

They weren't murderers, Kraken and Leviathan At least, not these incarnations of themselves… he couldn't vouch for most of the time before the turn of the century. His ancestors would probably loathe him, Leviathan thought suddenly, almost losing track of what he was doing. Shaking the idea away, he ran on.

He almost reached his brother when, seemingly out of nowhere, he felt the impact of a body shoving him to the ground. "What in the name of…" he began to hiss, only to be cut off by the sound of semi truck landing not a few inches from where his fingers grasped the broken concrete. Clearly, his brother was past the stage of reason.

"Are you alright?"

Leviathan almost gagged from the compassion and empathy flooding through that cliched phrase. Looking up, his eyes met those of a young man, and he couldn't help but sneer. "Quite the hero, aren't we?"

The boy looked suitably disconcerted by Leviathan's mocking tone, "I just saved your life," he said, perhaps wondering if Leviathan had taken a blow to the head. He leaned forwards, and rested a hand around Leviathan's upper arm, pulling him upwards. "You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous."

Momentarily blind-sided by the young man's obliviousness, Leviathan allowed himself to be dragged several feet before coming to a dead stop. When the young man felt the jerk of Leviathan's arm, he turned with surprise. "I know its exciting, but you need to leave!" he said with disgustingly earnest eyes.

"Is this… some sort of prank?" Leviathan asked, "Or do you really think I'm a harmless innocent?" He jerked his arm away from the boy, and turned to collect his now suffocating brother. The idiot was still fighting, even as his gills started to turn blue. With a stab of consternation, Leviathan felt the grasp of a hand on his shoulder. "I can't let you go over there," came the now more commanding voice of the youth, "You'll be killed."

Leviathan then knew that the man was a superhero. He wasn't exerting enough strength that he would hurt Leviathan, if Leviathan were a human, but he was grasping harder than anyone of the human race should be able to. 'Enough of this,' Leviathan thought to himself, he had to get to Kraken.

Moving faster than the eye could see, he shirked the hand, and circled around in a low round house kick, successfully knocking the youth to the ground. Without waiting for a reaction, he ran towards his faltering brother.

Kracken was now slamming his tendrils down haphazardly, slicing canyons into the concrete at random intervals. His eyes were unfocused, and if he fell into unconsciousness before transforming back into his human form, he would die. Knowing this sent Leviathan into a sprint towards his brother, dodging one tendril only to be blockaded by another. With a loud crack through the air, he saw Volt fly over him towards Kraken.

Grasping his fists, Leviathan leapt onto a tentacle and ran towards the base of Kraken's body, praying that his brother didn't fling him several miles in the opposite direction. He barely made several yards before Volt was there, flying beside him. "Your brother has gotten even more reckless, if that's possible," the arrogant hero said with a laugh. Leviathan ignored him.

"Aren't you tired of being his babysitter?" Volt continued, "I mean, he is older than you, right?"

By at least fifty years. When Leviathan awoke in this existence, he had learned that the aging cycle of he and his brother had been thrown off. Technically, they were supposed to be twins, but Kraken's real brother had been killed. Well, Leviathan was Kraken's real brother, but he wasn't the right brother, and he knew it. Not that this was Volt's business.

"Fuck off," Leviathan yelled impetuously, and immediately regretted his outburst. Volt let out a chuckle, but continued to fly with him. Jumping from tendril to tendril, Leviathan found it almost impossible to reach his brother.

"Kraken!" he yelled, using every ounce of strength in his lungs, "Transform before it's too late!". He wondered if he should just transform as well, and attempt to drag Kraken to the edge of the bay.

Before he could make a decision, he felt his lungs depress as the sudden force of a tendril wrapping around him mid-jump stopped him from getting any closer. "Shit," he rasped, his head reeling as the tendril ascended towards the sky, carrying Leviathan along with it.

He knew what was about too happen, Kraken was preparing to send him into the ground like a sledgehammer.

His brother was past recognizing the difference between friend and foe, and may very well kill Leviathan before perishing himself. The situation had never been this dire before, and as Leviathan rose to the clouds, he wondered if this would be the last thing he was remembered for: being pancaked into the cement by his own brother.

Sure, they weren't always successful villains, but who was? He and Kraken had a track record that much older evils would be jealous of… well, they hadn't lived up to their predecessor's legends yet, but Kraken had assured him that they were young and had time.

The memory of Kraken's voice filled his head just as the last buildings dropped away around him, "The heroes always win, Leviathan. The point is to cause as much misery as possible before that happens."

Smiling ruefully, he felt his stomach flip like all humans must feel at the apex of a roller coaster ride. Any moment now, Kraken would bring his tentacle down a millions times harder than gravity. It was time to transform.

"That's a terrible idea."

Leviathan turned his head as scales started to emerge from his skin, and saw Volt, arms crossed, floating beside him. "I have no choice," Leviathan hissed, grimacing as his bones started to grow and rearrange.

"I could help you…" the arrogant bastard trailed off, smirking.

Leviathan let loose a low growl as his vocal chords began to change. "Like I would trust you…" he rasped, his teeth becoming pointed.

It was too late for debate, as a tremor ran through Kraken's body, and suddenly Leviathan found himself, half transformed, rushing towards the earth with breakneck speed. Just as quickly, Volt sped past him, a sharp crack sounding in his wake.

Leviathan saw him head to the base of Kraken's body, as if in slow motion, and raise his hands. "Oh no…" Leviathan thought, watching as a crackling, snapping ball of energy appeared between Volt's hands. He was going to electrocute both of them.

Luckily, his transformation was complete. Leviathan twisted away from Kraken's grip and crashed on to the ground, barely feeling a thing. He was now the length of three city buses, and just as big.

The first time Leviathan transformed into his sea dragon shape, Kraken had made sure that they were far out in the ocean. It took a lot of energy to transform back and forth, so they usually avoided it. Their God shapes were meant for warring only… well, supposedly. That never accounted for Kraken losing it and turning into a giant sea monster at any given moment.

"Volt!" Leviathan screamed telepathically just as the superhero let loose his thunder missile at Kraken. Watching with horror, Leviathan rushed towards his brother as the electricity reverberated through Kraken's body.

"What are you waiting for?" Volt said, circling over the now unconscious Kraken. "Take him to the sea!"

He didn't need to hear it twice. Grasping on to several of his brother's tentacles with his enormous jaw, Leviathan dragged Kraken down the street, towards the bay. All he needed to do was get Kraken and himself to the water before they both ran out of oxygen.

Several excruciating minutes later, Leviathan and Kraken tumbled into the sea with such a force, it sent a wave crashing back towards land, overlapping the dock.

Leviathan sighed with relief as he felt the oxygen pass through his gills, and then looked towards his brother. Sinking farther down, Kraken seemed to be regaining color. Did this mean Leviathan would have to thank that obnoxious superhero?

''''''''''''

A few hours later, they were back at their "evil lair"; an affordable duplex close to downtown.

"That bastard!"

Kraken, of course, was not pleased to hear that he had to be save by Volt. He was pacing the room with exaggerated frustration.

"Maybe you should have been more careful?" Leviathan replied, languidly flipping through a book he had been meaning to read. Tuning out the string of curses from his brother, Leviathan glanced down at his watch. "I have to go,"

"What" Kraken growled, incredulous. "We have work to do! We have to come up with a new plan!"

"And we will," Leviathan replied, "Meanwhile, I have a job." Standing up, he patted his brother on the shoulder. "Something's got to pay the bills, and it sure hasn't been villainy."

Kraken scoffed at this, and brushed Leviathan's hand away. "Fine, go work like a peasant. Shame your ancestors."

Biting his lip, Leviathan turned and grabbed his coat. The last thing he wanted to think about was disappointing his ancestors. "I'm sure we'll come up with something great," he said as he stepped out the door.

Tucking Kraken away in the back of his mind, Leviathan rushed to make the bus to his work on time. Riding the city metro with the plebeian humans left something to be desired, but he held back his disdain.

He worked at a rather large bookstore. It fit his nature, and he rarely had to interact with humans because most people did not approach him. He spent hours just quietly putting books back where they belonged, after thoughtless patrons would leave them wherever they felt like, willy nilly.

As he was clicking on his name tag, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Levi,"

Turning around, he came face to face with his indomitably cheerful manager. "Levi, I'd like you to meet the new addition to our little family!" She leaned forward, shining her ridiculous smile at him. "And I want you to train him, Mr. Cranky-Pants."

She swung around to gesture at a young man standing behind her.

Leviathan involuntarily gawked. It was the young superhero who tried to stop him from saving Kraken.