Cracked Windows part two

All in the Villainy / Professor Venomous’ Son

Professor Venomous’ perspective

Things are looking up. Fink and I now have a stable home and we are really moving up in the world of villainy with Boxman.

This man, Boxman, to be exact… he’s… ugh… he is such a manic ball of wild chaotic energy.

I never thought that I would be woken up from my everlasting state of boredom in such an interesting pattern of craziness and insanity. But… I can’t help but love it and tell Boxman how much it thrills me. It absolutely exhilarates me how he gives no shits of other people’s opinions. Either if they are of himself or his antics, his business or his state of villainy—-he cares not what a single villain or hero has to say. The way he picks himself up every single time there’s a failure with some sort of gleeful mania and confidence… it is as infuriating as it is brilliant.

He created an extension to his massive factory and home here at Boxmore for Fink and I, and now I have my lab back and a bedroom for myself and Fink has one too. He definitely wasted no time or energy to show off his massive warehouse and machines, and I have to admit, I was impressed by the sheer immensity of everything. Boxman just seems like the toughest wall no one can shatter and I love standing there next to it, watching him revel in the blows as if they were nothing but mere scratches.

That dinner he invited me to when we first met, it was so strange and intoxicating. He was so eager to impress me and show off his skills, cook for me(which turned out terribly burned), and though I thought at first I would be cutting off that professional relationship with him by the end of the evening—I couldn’t.

When I saw he had double booked the evening by capturing heroes and they escaped, causing even more mayhem for the dinner party, I was glad to see a change of pace. The way that man moved, so agile, so masculine, so sure of himself—-it made me incredibly in awe. He was short in stature and a bit on the bass side of figures, but I liked it. I didn’t realize just how much I liked him, until he created a random cannon out of robot parts seemingly out of thin air and took off his shirt… revealing his actual musculature and how strong he was beneath the puff ball he appeared to be.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He was just so exhilarating and … I feel so strange to admit it, but it was like eye candy for me to watch that scene unfold.

It reminded me of my ex girlfriend, Silverspark, aka, Carol. This was when I wasn’t a super villain… when I was a hero and a member of POINT, a superhero organization that I was a major part of for most of my youth. Carol was a beautiful and luscious lady, with curves in all the right places and a strength that I couldn’t match. She was a powerhouse of intelligence and had (and still carries) a powerful physical magnitude that I could never stand up to. But, I liked her, a lot. We had a very intense romantic and sexual chemistry.

Something I wasn’t sure I’d ever find again. But…

Now that I am face to face with something just as terrifyingly intense and strong and oddly familiar, I can’t help but think I might’ve found it again with Boxman.

Unfortunately, no one knows that I am Laserblast, the old, muscle guy type of hero that supposedly got killed in a blast long ago. Carol thinks I am dead. So did all my members in POINT. But…In a way, I did die that day.

I became someone new. A brand new person. A bioengineered half human, half snake. I shed my skin in more ways than one, I try to hide behind my fangs and rattling tail…

Even as a villain I hide. But not Boxman, he’s out in the open. Proud and loud.

I know that Carol had a son six to eleven years ago—-which does add up to when we were last together too… named K.O.

I wonder if that is my son. I believe he is.

I have too much on my plate right now to really worry about that, but I know I’ll have to deal with it one day. Somehow, being here with Boxy(I call him this sometimes), and his crazy robot kids, I feel safe and at home, and it doesn’t make as stressed out about it. It makes me think I can take on anything and anyone, and they all got my back.

Well, I know Boxman has my back, and I got his.

***

Waking up in the Boxmore family dynamic is a messy array of interest, and I find myself in the middle, surrounded by this type of kooky and eclectic mix of wild personalities, and I’m so…

Happy.

Fink says good morning, running up to me and gives me a hug.

“Mornin’, kiddo! How’d you sleep?” I say, hugging her back and she growls.

“Those stupid buckets of bolts were wayyyy too loud! I couldn’t get a wink of sleep!” Fink yells and I chuckle, ruffling her hair playfully.

“This a new place. It’ll take awhile to adjust to the new noises and goings on of Box’s factory,” I say, looking around the different machines with awe and going into the main living space.

She made a face. “Boxbrain is stinkbrain! Everything here stinks!”

I laugh and smile at her affectionately, “Aw; come on. It does not stink here, and Boxy doesn’t stink.”

“Boss, why do you like that Boxbutt so much? Don’t tell me you actually think he is…”

I suddenly see Boxman walk in and he waves at me with a silent smile, and I grin. Fink notices and puts her hands on both sides of my face.

“Boss! Pay attention to me! I’m talking to you here!” Fink yells and I snap out of it.

“Oh, sorry. Why don’t you grab some breakfast with me here in a minute and we can plan out today. Sound good?” I say and she nods enthusiastically, getting down from my embrace and running down to the kitchen.

“Morning, PV!” Boxman says happily.

I smile wider as I see he has two cups of coffee, steaming and hot.

“I made coffee! I’m sure you like yours black, right?” He says, handing it to me and I nod.

“Hmm, I like it black sometimes, thanks Box.” I lean in a bit toward him and say, “Good morning to you, too.”

Boxman eyes widen a bit as he breathes in slowly and nods, “I can make it another way; if you like! Sugar, cream, liquor…”

“Haha. You mean you wanna put a Snakebite in my coffee?” I tease and he blushes deeply, moving his long blue hair out of his face nervously.

He stammers out a reply, “Well…Uh, oh… hehe… hahaha… I’m, uh, gotta go, PV! I have.. meetings and!” He doesn’t finish the sentence and turns to swiftly go out the door, spilling some of his coffee as he runs like a lunatic out of the door.

I laugh and go to the kitchen to get breakfast with Fink.

“Boss? You want some cereals?” Fink says, showing me two bowls filled to the brim with crunchy looking cereal and too little milk. I smile at her cute attempt, about to take the bowl.

Suddenly Darrel comes in and scoffs. “What a pathetic breakfast. Made by a pathetic henchman!” He laughs haughtily and I roll my eyes.

Fink growls, “I’ll show you breakfast!” Before I can stop her, she tosses the bowls at Darrel’s head.

“I’ll get you for that!” Darrel yells, and I realize they are about to fight, so I get in between them, putting my hands up.

“Now, now, you two. Let’s behave civilly.” I sigh. “Fink, apologize,” I look at her softly but sternly and she looks down in a flustered way. I look at Darrel and give him the same look. “Darrel, you also apologize. Then shake hands and move on with your day. I am not feeling well and I don’t need a migraine to add onto the stress.”

They both grudgingly do so and just barely touch hands. More like finger tips. I chuckle at their childishness, bringing them in for a hug.

“See? We can work it out without tearing each other apart. Huh?” I say and Fink nods into my shirt angrily.

Darrel looks like he’s crying and says, “Daddy never treats us so nicely! You are the best! I hope you become our step-dad, after all!” He grins and gives me the thumbs up, running out in a happy, arms outstretched stance.

“After…all?” Fink lifts her head up and gives me a confused look.

I shrug and shake my head, but my heart is actually wildly shaking. I feel like my temperature has gone up. I make Fink some eggs really quick and some dry toast for myself, and finish my coffee hastily. My mind is swarming with thoughts of this potential situation to go awry. How could Boxman’s kids already assume I could be their new step-father? Did they think we were already an item?

More importantly, why did all of this make me feel utterly giddy? I needed to calm down. Talk to the more mature members of the family.

I decide to go to talk to Boxman’s other kids, Shannon and Raymond, after I give Fink some tasks to do for the day(practice her scales and read some math and chemistry texts).

Shannon sees me and says hello with a wave and Raymond is doing his nails in the living room.

“Heya, kiddos!” I say with a nervous smile, and Shannon rolls her eyes.

“What’s up, Professor?” She asks, hands on hips.

“What can we do for you?” Raymond asks, still not looking up.

“So… I heard that kids these days liked…” I felt myself cringe as I spoke, “bio-upgrades for fighting heroes! It’s a great start to fight off pesky foes.”

Shannon nods, “Yeah. Sure. I’m in.”

Raymond finally looks up and smiles, “I’d love it. Anything with style.”

I smile back, sighing a bit more relaxed. “Okay. I’ll work on that. I’ll get back to you guys.”

“So, everything going better with Darrel and Fink?” Shannon asks, honing the edge of her blades to get her weapons back into original form. Boxman’s metal works really had a lot to offer and really did seem to give his models quite a bit of expertise and variety in fighting techniques.

“Working on it. Your brother Ernesto is helping too,” I sigh, placing my palm over my forehead to press back my hair. It has been stressful keeping those two from killing one another and it’s only been two weeks since Fink and I moved in.

“Dad’s been in a way better mood recently, well… considering everything with Darrel,” Raymond comments offhand. Shannon nods.

“Yeah, he’s singing a lot and dancing all over the factory. Weird!” Shannon finishes honing her last blade and lays on a large arm chair sideways. “It’s like he’s in LaLaLand ever since y’all shacked up.”

Raymond makes an astonished sound. “Shannon, you can’t just say stuff like that! That’s scandalous!”

Shannon scoffs and shakes her head. “It seems like the most proper definition to me!”

I feel my face heat up. “Shack up?”

“What my dear sister is trying to say is since you and your minion Fink have merged within Boxmore’s catacombs, our father is most elated,” Raymond explains. “His mood is elevated.”

“That’s putting it lightly…” Shannon says quietly, looking down.

“Did daddy talk to you about what happened to.. you know?” Raymond says in a shifty manner all of a sudden and I move in close to the tall robot and my eyes widen.

“Happened to whom?” I ask, my curiosity peaked.

Then, I hear a loud crash and a huge yell, “Kids! Leave Professor Venomous ALONE! He’s a very busy man!” Boxman bursts in and throws some random things on the floor. His teal-blue hair is more wild than normal and he looks a bit disheveled.

Shannon and Raymond look defensive and put their hands up and I go over to Boxman calmly, and place my hand on his shoulder.

“Box, I came in here to discuss some bio-upgrades for your kids and to see if they would be interested in it. It wasn’t their fault,” I say in the most quiet voice as he listens intently. “There’s no reason to be upset with them.”

It’s almost like instant morphine and he’s relaxed. His eyes give me this soft, apologetic look and I feel my insides mush up and everything goes mushy too. I really like his round, handsome face. However, I just can’t abide his unfair anger toward his kids, so I’m glad I said something.

“Oh… sorry… I… I think I had way too much coffee this morning… hehehe,” he mutters with a shamed look on his face. “Sorry, PV.” His eyes look big and watery and I frown.

“Say it to your kids,” I whisper near his face. “They’d want to hear it. Or else you can buy them something nice.”

“Buy them… gifts? Why? It’s not Cobsmas, or the day I completed the finalized design of their individual model?” He looks confused and I sigh.

“I get Fink gifts all the time. It’s good for morale and to build a bond…” as I’m talking he is looking at reboot buttons for his robot kids and I grimace deeply.

“Ok… fine. I’ll go talk to my kids,” Boxman says in a understanding as our eyes lock and goes over to Raymond and Shannon.

It gives me hope as they all hug suddenly and I think of my own potential son. It is a strange feeling of icky gooey goodness… I think it’s okay but I usually don’t let myself feel like that unless it’s around Fink, who is like my daughter.

I take my leave to go to my lab when all of a sudden I feel a hand on my arm.

“Hey, PV! Wait up!”

I turn and he’s so close…

Our faces practically are touching, and my heart is completely still, but it feels like it’s on fire. A peaceful flame, and it’s all him.