The heroes expected shouting.
They expected defiance. Threats. Fanatic loyalty slogans shouted through bloodied teeth.
They did not expect a conversation.
Mara sat on a broken column, wrists loosely bound with a suppression cuff that wasn't even turned all the way up. Across from her, three members of the Hero Guild stood in a loose semicircle, weapons lowered but ready.
This had not gone according to anyone's plan.
"Okay," the hero in blue finally said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I have to ask."
Mara looked up.
"Why?" he said. "Why are you loyal to him?"
She blinked. "To Lord Malachai?"
"Yes," another hero snapped. "The mass-murdering tyrant. That one."
Mara considered them.
Really considered them.
They looked tired. Overworked. The kind of tired she remembered wearing like a second skin.
"Do you want the short answer," she asked, "or the honest one?"
The blue hero frowned. "Those should be the same."
She gave a soft, humorless smile. "That's what I thought too."
---
The heroes exchanged glances.
"Start talking," the third hero said.
Mara shifted, wincing slightly as the cuff tugged. "Under my old boss, I was expendable. If I got hurt, it was my fault. If I died, I was weak."
"That's villainy," the hero said flatly.
"Yes," Mara agreed. "It was also bad management."
They didn't like that answer.
---
The blue hero folded his arms. "Malachai kills people."
"Yes."
"He conquers territory."
"Yes."
"He destroys cities."
"When necessary."
The hero stared. "And that doesn't bother you?"
Mara tilted her head. "Do you think the world is gentle when *you* win?"
Silence.
She continued, voice steady. "Here's the difference. When Malachai sends us somewhere dangerous, he tells us *why*. He gives us the tools to survive. And if something goes wrong—"
She swallowed.
"He brings us home."
---
The second hero scoffed. "You're describing… a workplace."
"That's because it is one," Mara said.
"You're evil."
She shrugged. "So is he. He never lies about that."
The blue hero frowned deeper. "Then why protect you? Why babysit a child? Why pull squads out instead of finishing objectives?"
Mara met his eyes.
"Because we're his," she said simply.
That landed harder than a threat.
---
"You don't have to stay," the third hero said, softer now. "You could defect. We could help you."
Mara laughed.
A short, sharp sound.
"Help me how?" she asked. "By telling me I'm replaceable but 'fighting for good'? By giving me a medal instead of medical care? By sending me back out tomorrow with a speech instead of backup?"
The hero flinched.
She leaned forward.
"Does your guild know your spouse's name?" she asked.
"Do they know if your kids are sick?"
"Do they pause wars for fifteen minutes so people can surrender?"
None of them answered.
---
The blue hero lowered his weapon fully.
"That's not supposed to work," he said quietly.
Mara nodded. "I know."
"That kind of loyalty—" He shook his head. "That's worse than fear."
"Yes," she said. "It lasts longer."
---
An alarm chimed softly on her comm-band.
Malachai's voice came through, calm as ever.
"Release her."
The heroes stiffened.
"You're surrounded," the third hero said into the air.
"I am aware," Malachai replied. "You are also standing between my operative and her scheduled medical check-in."
A pause.
"I will retrieve her," Malachai continued. "You may choose whether this ends as a conversation or a tragedy."
The air grew heavy.
The heroes looked at Mara.
"You'd really go back?" the blue hero asked. "Knowing what he is?"
Mara stood as the cuff unlocked itself.
"Yes," she said without hesitation.
"Why?"
She paused at the edge of the clearing.
"Because when I was broken," she said, "he fixed me. Not because I was good—but because I was *useful*, and he takes care of what's his."
She looked back once.
"You fight for ideals," she added.
"We fight for each other."
The portal opened behind her.
---
Later, back at the fortress, Mara passed the question along the internal feed.
**Hero Inquiry Logged:**
*"Why are you loyal to a supervillain?"*
Replies came quickly.
**Because he never lies to us.**
**Because my kid is alive.**
**Because I sleep.**
**Because when I got hurt, he stopped the war.**
**Because fear made me obey. Care made me stay.**
Mara added her own.
**Because evil that protects you is safer than good that forgets you.**
She closed the feed.
Somewhere out there, heroes were rethinking everything they thought they understood.
And Malachai?
Malachai was already planning the next move.
---