"Two sparks! Five dollars! Get your photo with the Truth Bomb!"
Misty Tucker shouted through a cheap megaphone, her voice obscured by the nearby popcorn machine. She was wearing a homemade, poorly fitted red-and-blue suit that chafed her thighs.
Nobody stopped. A family of three walked past her booth, the kid wearing a pristine Homelander action figure t-shirt, completely ignoring her.
"Fucking elitists," Misty muttered, dropping the megaphone onto her folding table.
She turned around and glared at the man sitting in the back of the booth. Charles was staring at her intensely again.
He looked completely obsessed, his eyes tracking every single movement of her hips with a pathetic devotion.
"Stop looking at me like that, Charles," Misty snapped, fuming that the bitch Starlight got into the Seven while she was stuck here with this loser. "It's creepy."
"I can't help it, Misty," Charles said, his voice flat but thick with that suffocating, obsession. "You're the only one who sees the truth. You're the only one who matters to me."
Misty dragged a hand down her face, staring at the floor of the convention booth. "Oh my god," she whispered "I can't do this sober."
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed through the noise of the convention center, heading directly toward their booth.
The sound caused Misty's internal bitterness and resentment to vanish instantly. Removing her hand from her face, she buried the anger deep down and put on her best, practiced smile.
"Welcome to the Truth Bomb!" she called out with a huge smile, her voice shifting into a loud, bright tone. "Would you be... interested".
The words died in her throat, her face turning white as she saw the approaching stranger. Except he wasn't a stranger. Not by a long shot.
Just what the fuck are those idiots in security doing?
"Oh, they are dead," the blooded golden-haired teenager said.
He didn't look at her. He completely ignored her existence, his blue eyes shifting past her shoulder to lock onto the cowering man in the back of the booth.
"Oh, we finally meet, Splinter," Aldrich said, a cold, flat smile splitting his face as his gaze pinned the identical bodies to the wall. "How long I have wanted to get my hands on you."
Charles who heard these words started panickily splitting himself into more copies before he stopped and merged back into one, and before Missy's horrified expression, willingly walked towards the Leviathan who opened his mouth and placed it on the back of his neck.
"Oh Jesus Christ," Missy whispered as she saw the scene in front of her.
Soon the bodies on the entrance were found and after seeing the horrific scene here people started escaping, but she couldn't. Her path to escape was blocked. She instinctively reached for her pistol, but it was more of habit, not to actually use it.
"Excuse me," the monster in front of her suddenly stopped and called out. She forced herself to smile and comply.
"Yes"
"First of all, rude. I'm not a monster, I'm Aldrich," he said, turning his head toward her. "Second, what's your superpower?"
"My superpower?" Missy repeated, sweat pouring down her face as she looked at what remained of Charles. She snapped her fingers, generating a small spark, making Aldrich lose interest immediately.
Turning around at the escaping crowd, he stretched his hands out wide, then brought them together.
BOOOOM!
Watching the hellish scene, Missy's legs buckled. Thankfully, he didn't seem to show any interest in her. She just had to keep it like that until he left.
Suddenly, he turned to face her. She smiled nervously as he walked towards her.
PLUCH!
His hand dug into her chest without giving her time to scream or react. He pulled and took her still-beating heart out, looking at it closely right in front of her face.
"That's for calling me a monster," Aldrich whispered as he leaned his face closer to her.
Now, it was time to test if his theory worked. Splitting himself, another Aldrich appeared next to him, but it made him dizzy and slightly tired, but at least the clone was unconditionally loyal.
"Do you have my, well our powers?" Aldrich asked his clone.
The clone looked confused before answering, "Yes, I do."
"As powerful as me?"
"I'm not sure. I don't feel any difference."
"It's alright, we will test it later," Aldrich said, a smirk forming on his face. "Now, you have a mission."
The clone looked straight back at him. "What do you need me to do?"