Leviathan!

Volume 2!

"Eh, well, Levi isn't much of of talker."

The manager was whispering through the side of her mouth at the young man standing next to her.

'He must recognize me," Levi thought, staring at the man. 'What is he waiting for?'

Jerking in surprise, Levi almost hissed as the young man suddenly reached out a hand. "Well, my mom calls me a chatterbox, so I guess I can talk for the both of us." he said, flashing a blindingly white smile. "You can call me Troy."

Levi stared at the hand, and slowly slid his fingers into a listless shake. Maybe the superhero hadn't recognized him? "I see," he said.

After several moments, Troy let out a nervous laugh. "So, where should we start?"

Walking out of the store that second would be the smart thing to do. If a superhero found out his alter-ego… Levi would have no where to hide, and his name would lead directly to Kraken. His brother would kill him if he let their secret out.

"Follow me," Levi said. He didn't really feel like doing the smart thing. He had to know if this was some sort of ruse, if the young man was playing him, and knew exactly what Leviathan was.

Troy nodded, and followed as Leviathan led him through the giant book store. Weaving deftly through the crowds of holiday shoppers, Levi almost lost his tagalong, but Troy managed to keep up until they reached the upper floor. Stopping suddenly, Levi snarled when he felt the graceless hero thud into him.

His lip curled when he saw Troy staring at the stacks they stopped at.

"Comic books?" the hero asked.

"Yes," Leviathan replied, sliding his hand down the spine of a particularly thick anthology. "They're surprisingly popular, even now." He pulled the book out, and flipped through several pages. "Do you read them?"

"Not really," Troy said, glancing anywhere but the comic novel in Levi's hands. "Aren't they for… kids, or whatever?"

"Hm," Levi said, barely responding. He handed the book over to Troy. "People of all ages buy them." He was waiting for Troy to flinch, to break, to show some sign that he knew Levi was a villain. With a sigh, he crossed his arms. "You seem like the superhero type."

Troy's eyes flashed up. "What?" he said, slightly pale.

Levi was slightly disappointed. If this boy was worried about getting caught, then he most likely had no clue that he was standing in front of the same supervillian who knocked him down with a roundhouse kick only a few hours before.

"Never mind," He jerked the book out of Troy's grip, and placed it neatly back in it's slot. "We let the kids sit here and read, but they can't open the shrink-wrapped novels."

"Oh," Troy replied, slightly dumbfounded.

They moved methodically through the stacks as Levi explained how he made sure to circle the story every twenty minutes to replace books that the patrons had left lying around. For awhile, he even forgot that he was talking to a superhero.

"What if someone can't find a book?"

Levi looked over at Troy. "So?"

"Aren't we supposed to help them?"

Sighing, Levi crossed his arms. "I suppose," he said with a drawl.

Troy laughed, which he immediately tried to cover up with a cough when he realized that Levi wasn't joking around. The villain stared at him for several moments, lips tightly pressed together. "Are you finished?" Levi asked.

Nodding, Troy jumped to follow Levi as the shorter man promptly began stalking away. They were almost out of the store when Levi stopped short, and turned to stare at Troy. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm… supposed to?" Troy replied with trepidation.

"It's our lunch hour," Levi said, tilting his head. He turned to walk away, only to hear someone else clear their throat. Turning again, he saw that the manager was standing at the welcome counter beside them.

"Come now, Mr. Cranky-Pants, don't make Mr. Sunshine eat alone."

Levi turned to Troy. "Your last name is Sunshine?" he asked drolly.

"What if it is, Mr. Cranky-Pants?" Troy replied.

Levi couldn't help but smirk at the young hero's snark, and nodded his head for Troy to follow him. Walking several paces in silence, he wondered what he could possibly talk about with a superhero.

"You know," Troy said, cutting through Levi's thoughts. "My last name isn't actually Sunshine."

"Really?" Levi replied with a hint of sarcasm. He heard Troy laugh, and shook his head. What was he doing?

"Here," he gestured at the small Indian place that he liked to eat at during lunch. They stepped inside, and waited to be seated. Almost immediately, a waiter came up with a menu, and gestured for Levi to sit at a small table near the window.

"Mr. Mender, you don't have to wait. I always have your table ready."

"Ah, well," Levi gestured over at Troy.

The waiter smiled with sincere warmth. "A friend?" he said, blatantly surprised. He looped his arm around Troy's, and dragged the young man further into the restaurant, leaving Levi behind. "It's so wonderful to meet you," the man said, "Mr. Mender has been coming here for years, but he always sits alone." He said the last word as if it were made of poison.

Pushing Troy down into a chair, he gestured for Levi to come forward. "How did you two meet?"

"We're coworkers," Levi replied, sitting stiffly in his chair.

The waiter, oblivious to the villain's tone, continued to blather on about how Levi would show up every day and sit alone as he ate his chicken vindaloo. Troy laughed along, glancing at the cold man across from him.

"Could I have some water?" Levi cut in, hoping the waiter would catch a hint. Thankfully the man nodded, and hurried off.

"Don't worry about it," Troy said, smiling.

"Worry about what?"

"You know, eating alone."

Levi narrowed his eyes. "Why would I worry about that?"

Shaking his head, Troy just smiled, and placed a napkin in his lap. "So, you like Indian food?"

"It's passable," Levi replied quietly.

A moment of silence threatened to stretch into an awkward pause. Shifting in his chair, Troy stared at the menu as Levi considered slicing the young man's throat open. How much would his reputation soar if he killed a superhero? Probably not at all, considering this one was green, no one had ever heard of him.

Speaking of which, Levi wondered, what kind of hero was he? Did he have powers, but didn't use them? Was he from a different city? Capitalia drew a lot of heroes from across the globe, so it wasn't such a far fetched idea that Troy came here to learn how to be one.

He could just ask. "Where are you from?"

Looking up, Troy smiled at the attempt at small talk. "Out west, a small town."

"I bet you were quite the small-town hero," Levi replied, he couldn't help it.

"What?" Troy replied, almost choking on his water.

"You know, football star and all that?" Levi had crossed his arms, and was now leaning back smugly in his chair. "You look like a golden boy," Before the young man could answer, Levi tilted his head and asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one," Troy replied, setting his glass down.

"I see," Seven years younger. Still, that seemed a little old to not know how to be a superhero. This boy flinched every time Levi even said the word 'hero', something he should been able to hide years ago.

Before Levi could continue the conversation, they heard a crash, followed by several screams outside of the building. Scrambling up, Troy raced out of the restaurant, a quick "stay here," thrown over his shoulder.

There was no way in hell Levi was going to miss this, if indeed Troy was about to commit some heroic act. He launched out his chair, and followed the young man outside of the shop. Standing on the sidewalk, Troy was motionless as Levi walked up to him.

A man was holding a gun to some woman's throat, standing in the middle of a crowded street. Cars had swerved to avoid them, crashing into each other as the man ranted crazily, dragging the woman around with him.

Turning to look at Troy, Levi realized that the young man had no idea what to do. The color had drained from his face, his eyes were wide. He snapped out of it when the woman screamed again.

"He's going to shoot her, you know," Levi said, watching with some disappointment as all Troy did was pull out a cellphone, and start punching numbers. Maybe the villain had been imagining things when he decided Troy was a superhero?

The young man ignored him as he brought the phone to his ear, "I'm at twenty-three East street!" he yelled into the phone, "There's a guy here with a a gun pointed at someone!"

Levi narrowed his eyes. Who was Troy calling? Another hero? There wouldn't be time for that. He frowned disdainfully as the woman screamed again.

"Kraken is going to kill me," he muttered as he stepped down from the sidewalk, and walked towards the insane man.

"Levi!" he heard Troy yell, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Ignoring the yells, Leviathan walked closer to the man, who swung around and started screaming for him to back off. Widening his eyes, Levi used a power that he avoided at all costs. Kraken called it Serpent's Eye, and thought it was Levi's best power in his entire arsenal. Leviathan respectfully disagreed.

The man's eyes became blank, and suddenly he released the woman, and swung the gun at Leviathan. "I'll kill you," the man said with slurred words, as if drugged. Leviathan smirked, and began to walk towards the man. Suddenly, he faltered as his energy quickly depleted. The longer he kept the mad man under his control, the more likely it was that he would simply faint right in front of everyone.

Darkness started to edge around his vision. "Fuck," he said, as he dropped the control, trying to cling on to consciousness. As he stumbled, he heard a shot go off, and then his vision went black.

'''''''

The smell of curry was the first thing to enter his mind. Opening his eyes, Levi realized he was lying on the floor of the Indian restaurant.

"Mr. Mender!"

Groaning, Levi sat up, only to wobble slightly from dizziness. He flinched when he felt a reassuring hand press against his back, and turned to see Troy sitting next to him. "You were out for like ten minutes," the young man said with a smile. "You shouldn't act like a hero if you're just going to faint when a gun's pointed at you."

Levi stared at him. "What happened?"

"Your friend saved you!" the waiter cut in, "The police were coming, but the man was going to shoot you!" He leaned down and clapped Troy on the back, "This guy knocked the gun out of that man's hands, and then caught you! All in the blink of an eye!"

Fine, so basically Levi was the one who saved the woman, but Troy was the hero?

Did it even matter?

'Get ahold of yourself,' Levi thought, 'You're supposed to be a supervillian.'

"You're really light-" Troy began to say, only to be cut off when the door of the restaurant crashed open.

"Levi?"

Sighing, Levi turned back, and stared at the ground, unable to look at his brother. He heard Kraken stomp over to him, and grimaced as his brother gripped on to his arm and jerked him to his feet.

"Hey!" Troy said, getting up, "What do you think you're doing?" He grabbed on to Levi's other wrist, and pulled him closer. Kraken turned to stare at Troy, as if noticing him for the first time.

"Let go of him," Kraken growled. Although he was fully human in appearance, even Levi had to admit that his brother was intimidating. Surprisingly, Troy did not let go.

"Hey, Levi, do you know this guy?" he asked.

Kraken turned to stare at Levi incredulously. "A friend of yours?" he asked.

"Troy, you can let go," he said, jerking his hand away from the hero. "This is my… friend, Ken."

"Ken?" Troy replied, "Friend?" He stared dubiously at Kraken's vice-like grip on Levi's wrist.

Kraken and Levi had made the decision years ago to not live their human lives as brothers. It was easier to keep a cover story that way, since they looked nothing alike.

"Right," Levi said.

"Levi," Kraken growled, "It's time to go home,"

Troy's eyes widened. "You live together?"

Not getting a chance to answer him, Levi was dragged from the restaurant, and followed Kraken obediently down the street. "What was that?" he heard his brother say. How could Levi explain this? Better yet, how did Kraken know where he was?

"It was nothing."

Kraken stopped short, and turned on Levi. "Nothing?" he asked menacingly, "You saved a human."

Ah, so he knew about that.

"Not to mention," Kraken continued, "You used a power you hate to do so." He jerked Levi closer so that their faces were inches apart. "That seems mighty unselfish, brother."

Levi stared at him quietly. "I won't do it again,"

Snorting, Kraken turned and continued to drag Levi down the street. "I swear," he said, "It's like you don't even want to be a supervillian,"

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

"What now?"

Leviathan glared at his idiot brother, arms crossed, as a piercing siren alerted anyone in a five-block radius that they had broken into a bank. Kraken, of course, had simply crashed through the security system, tripping every defense mechanism in the building.

"We take the money," Kraken snapped back at him as he began stuffing stacks of bills into his sack. Levi sighed, and joined his brother.

They paused when the lights flickered, and static seemed to slice through the air with a tingling sensation. "Fantastic," Leviathan drawled. They both dodged away in time as a shot of electricity exploded where they had been standing only moments prior.

"You two are back at it so soon?" They heard the arrogant voice of Volt say. "Have you ever thought of taking a vacation?"

"Evil never sleeps," Kraken growled. Levi rolled his eyes as he heard Volt laugh in the darkness. Why did his brother have to be so embarrassingly cheesy?

He didn't have time to ponder this as Kraken suddenly rushed forward, and crashed into Volt at high velocity. Just as Leviathan made his way to help his brother, he felt a staggering force impact against his stomach.

Falling to the ground, winded, he looked up to see a young hero standing over him.

"Hello," the masked young man said, "My name is Triton, and I'll be beating you to a pulp today."

Well, fuck. It had to be Troy.