Warning: Chapter Contains graphic descriptions of Gore

Despite the frail form of the preteen, K had an unnaturally powerful strength. It was enough to overpower even the strongest of Hero Factory's heroes.

Sometimes they questioned if it came with the third eye since the Sonic Scream did but other times they tried to ignore that so they could have better control of the strength.

Currently the non-binary preteen held a grown male's throat in a tight grip that prevented him from screaming and calling for help but also loose enough that he could still breathe.

They didn't want to kill him, yet anyways. Just keep him alive long enough for their dissection.

Pressing a button on the side wrist of their gauntlet that held the man's throat with their free hand made a small almost hypodermic needle which pierced his throat to his vocal cords, damaging them enough he could no longer speak and especially scream but less damage to make the slow bleeding of it.

Immediately K threw the man down on his back, climbing on top of them and used the sharp claws on their gauntlet that covered their fingers of it to easily cut open the man's chest like a scalpel.

It wasn't anything professional as they easily began to cut away at metal and muscles, just the basics you would know in science class from dissecting a frog or donated organs.

'That irony huh.' K thought to themselves in amusement as they continued to cut away at the metal skin and muscles. 'I'm the closest thing to a modern day Jack the Ripper but he has better skills at dissection than I do.' They thought while continuing to dissect.

Ever since hearing the story of Jack the Ripper, the infamous serial killer of humans in old day London who killed prostitutes by dissecting him after stalking them for days at a time, K was immediately fascinated by him like the Son of Sam killings.

Though they remembered how other people before the accident would claim it was the evil devil stuff of their third eye taking over.

But becoming a villain wasn't a choice they wanted to make but it was better than going back into the horrible foster system with their third eye and how they were treated before their last foster parents with the near death experiences that would make them close friends with God and the Devil with how many times they were face to face with them in those moments and constant abuse over their eye.

K snapped back to reality from their thoughts as they reached the man's rib cage finally. Using their inhuman strength the preteen immediately broke away rib bones with their claws similar to those large cutters medical examiners would use to do the same and in no time they had full access to all the victims internal organs.

K grabbed his pancreas in their hand as they looked it over. "Maybe I can yoink some organs for mom to eat so she doesn't have to go hunt tonight." K thought aloud before shaking their head. "Nah, too much of a mess that'll lead back to base." They thought against the idea as they carefully sliced open the organ with their claws to look inside it.

When joining the villains to escape the foster system K never expected to gain a family, a real family soon after losing their previous one from it.

K was hesitant to trust Serena when the Umbra Witch had literally picked them up upon first meeting with the rest of the villains from the boss and proclaiming they were her child now as the first reaction the woman had upon meeting them.

But the time K finally started to trust Serena and call her mom the undead woman nearly bursted into tears of joy knowing she had earned their trust. Meltdown was a different story of siblings compared to Thunder, while Thunder had an impeccable charm of his child-like mindset (another thing he and Speeda Demon had in common) it took a while for K to warm up to Meltdown as a sibling.

Meanwhile with Skye (an infant Serena took in after her parents died (not by Serena ironically enough) and was proudly raising), Speeda Demon (an orphan like themselves for their second set of arms) and Voltix it was easier. Witch Doctor being an unofficial addition was somewhat different but that was because like Serena he was a medic.

They definitely didn't expect Corroder to be like a father to them though. K was surprised hearing Serena and Corroder were a couple from Thunder and seeing the two act like a couple. Then again K didn't think looks were that important for relationships anyway, their third eye an example, plus they seemed happy so how could they judge?

K had to admit some of Corroder's habits had rubbed off onto them, mainly just clinging to walls and hanging from stuff on the ceiling. Though Corroder did those because he was an adrenaline junkie K did it for fun when there was nothing else to do.

As K continued to cut open organs to look inside them they thought back to a friend, a friend they had made when they were still with their previous foster parents before their tragic deaths.

They had introduced K to some friends from their job and they had a son, though he didn't look like their kid he was still proudly their son nonetheless.

"Kayra come down please." A younger K (who had yet to figure their own non-binary identity) tightened the bandage around her third eye as it was closed and quickly ran downstairs while fixing her beanie on her head.

Kayra poked her head into the room seeing her current foster parents but another couple she knew was friends with them across from them on the second love seat with a young boy sitting between them. While the couple was robotic with some organic like her foster parents the boy was completely organic like a human.

He had peanut butter skin that was flawless, snowy white cornrows with similar snowy white eyebrows and he wore a simple yellow hoodie with the sleeves crudely cut off and slightly distressed and dirty jeans with orange sneakers.

Her foster mom noticed her first and gave her the warm smile she always had. It was hard to imagine her without it.

"Come here, you remember Alix and Aubrey right?" She said as Kayra came over to her foster parents. "Yeah.." She said quietly, anxiety racking her nerves again. "Well this is their son Loki." Her foster mom Haley said.

Kayra looked at the boy named Loki who waved at her with a warm smile that reminded them of her foster mom's smile.

"Hi, I'm Kayra." She introduced herself as she held her hand out to shake. Loki gave a beaming smile as he jumped off the sofa and gave Kayra a hand shake. "Pleasure to meet you love. I'm Loki."

Kayra had to double take on that, did he just call her, love?

Alix laughed nervously, "Apologies for his nicknames, he has a habit of calling girls he meets that." He explained noticing Kayra's confusion.

Kayra mouthed an ah at that. Immediately she felt her third eye acting up. "Dang it, this stupid eye." She muttered in irritation as she turned away to take off the bandage so she could fix it properly.

Before she could put the bandage back on though Loki peered over her shoulder noticing it making Kayra's heart drop in panic.

To her surprise however-

"Woah! Is it real?" Loki asked excitedly.

Kayra grew shocked at that but allowed her third eye to open making Loki even more excited. "That's awesome! I got something similar!" Loki said as he moved some of his cornrows from his forehead showing a strange mark on it. It was two sideways triangles with their points touching on the center of his forehead in a light baby blue turquoise color.

"See?" Loki said excitedly as he showed off the mark. "Mum says I've had it since I was born." He said proudly like he never had gotten judged for it in his life. Either that or he had and never let it get to him.

Kayra nodded, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards. "Me too." She said. Loki grabbed her hands in his making her gasp in surprise. "That's awesome! That makes us friends!" He said excitedly.

Kayra froze at that. Friends. She never had any. With foster parents that actually loved her and treated her well, was that a possibility as well?

Kayra finally let her defenses lower as she smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I like that."

K snapped back from the memory when they realized the last organs to cut open were the man's heart and lungs, plus his kidneys.

K blew a raspberry in annoyance at that. "Damn well you've been a bore, was hoping you could cure my boredom while I was waiting to pass the time for whatever Boss can call me on." They said before they flexed the claws on their gauntlets and quickly stabbed them into the man's eyeballs.

Ripping their claws back out they used the other set of claws to quickly slit his throat halfway cutting through his neck till it hit his spine, severing arteries which was a quick death after the pain and torment K had caused them.

As K plucked the eyeballs off their claws they picked up the man's wallet and went through it to grab any money inside of it that wasn't cards.

It was a habit they gained from when they first started as a villain so they could get money on the streets to get food so they didn't go to bed hungry. Occasionally they would use the money to bribe lower quality motels to let them stay the night without questioning the blood on them. All they seemed bothered by was the dollars in front of them K would hand them.

K managed to get all forty dollars and seventy two cents from the man's wallet in cash and change and quickly tuck them in their coats pockets while making sure no blood got on the bills.

Did they feel bad with all the money that was in it? A little, but he wasn't gonna need it anymore.

K noticed some bits of eyeball on their claws making the preteen grumble a bit as they used the mans shirt to clean it off. "I wonder if mom had this much trouble when it came to her stilettos before her heel guns." K wondered aloud to themselves in amusement as they cleaned off the eyeball remnants.

Once the remnants were clean K threw down the torn cloth to the ground. Though when they did they heard a noise (more specifically a sneaker squeaking against the pavement) making the preteen immediately take out a knife from their belt and throw it behind them, the blade though was blocked by a tarot card trimmed and detailed with gold and various gold diamond shapes with a blue almost galaxy living like main card.

The card deflected the blade like nothing as its owner stood in a stance with the card in hand.

They were a head taller than K's average height for their age and fully organic. Flawless peanut butter skin tone, a perfect middle ground of athletic body type with leaner side, a yellow sleeveless hoodie with black swaying detailing embroidery on the hood, full snow white eyebrows slightly peeking behind a pair of gold goggles over his eyes, orange oversized pants with silver swaying detailing embroidery on the sides of where the front and backs came together with the same pattern and color on the bottom of the hoodie, gold chain bracelets on both his wrists with each chain made in a triangle shape with the same chain type holding a decent sized gold upside-down pyramid charm at the end around his neck and on his feet were a pair of lime green hightops with green bottoms that had seen better days as their fraying yellow laces were tied around the ankles of the high tops.

K's eyes widened in recognition as they stood normally from their own fighting stance. "Loki?" They asked in shock, their voice sounding like they were talking through a somewhat low quality game mic, kinda similar to Ghost from Modern Warfare with their mask and the walkie-talkies.

The boy's stance froze as he lowered his stance, lowering the hand with the card while still holding the card while his free hand pulled off the goggles allowing him to rest them on his neck showing a pair of silver eyes like the moon popping a bit with eyeliner and mascara on. He looked like he'd seen a ghost in front of him.

"Kayra?" He asked in almost disbelief at who was in front of him.

K laughed nervously at that. "It's K now." They said, rubbing the back of their neck nervously with the palm of their gauntlet claws. "To better fit the criminal life?" Loki asked while jestering to the corpse with the card.

"Eh sorta, Non-binary actually." K admitted making Loki mouth an oh at that.

K sunk their head between their shoulders nervously, unable to speak to their childhood best friend after so many years of not doing so after the accident and of obvious he had seen them kill a person and rob their money.

Loki's ears twitched making him put his goggles back on while pocketing his card and K's knife before getting over to them. "Hold on, I hear heroes." With that, Loki carefully and quickly picked K up bridal style making them yelp as their arms wrapped around his neck as the boy did an almost inhuman jump to a wall of a building and pushed his feet off it to jump on a rooftop.

Loki secured his grip on K, one arm underneath their knees and the other wrapped around their shoulders as he ran and jumped unnaturally fast and high across rooftops, his person giving a turquoise aura as he did so.

K buried their face in his neck as their eyes closed.

K had to admit, Loki had this type of inhuman strength, speed and jumps when they were kids he was getting control over like them with their sonic scream.

But the aura light around his person reminded the non-binary preteen of when Serena had a crimson one before she would summon a demon or a purple one they would notice she would have on missions at night during a full moon where her powers and magic were at full strength and most potent.

K was confused of one thing though, Loki had witnessed them kill a grown man and rob his money. Why was he saving them from potentially getting caught by heroes?

Soon Loki finally came to a stop on a pretty tall building, K lifted their head from his neck recognizing the building top as one where Purge jumped off followed by Samara, Rotor, Thunder, Serena and Core Hunter. the reasoning? Purge did it for fun, Samara and Thunder wanted to join in (despite Samara didn't know how to fly with her wings yet and Thunder having no way to do so), Rotor went after his and XPlode's daughter, Serena of course after her son, Core Hunter they wasn't sure why he did it.

Loki carefully set K on their feet allowing K to let go of the boy as they found their balance while the aura of blue light left Loki's form while he pulled down his goggles again and put his hood down showing K the same snowy white cornrows with gold prisms holding the ends together.

"That should be enough distance between us and the heroes." He said as he brushed his locks back showing the familiar twin triangles mark on his forehead. K looked at him as they took their gauntlets off.

"Why?" They asked him making Loki look at them in confusion. "Why would you get me out of having to deal with heroes?" They asked him more clearly.

Loki gave one of his signature charming warm smiles to them. "You're my best friend Kay- K. Why wouldn't I?" He told them, crossing his arms over his chest.

K looked disbelieved at that. "Y-You- You literally saw me kill a guy and rob him of his money Loki, why would you even think anything good of me? I'm literally riding with Hero Factory's most wanted villains!" K yelled in shock, unable to understand.

"Because I know being a criminal wasn't going to be a choice you really wanted to make but had no choice." Loki said, keeping firm.

K looked so distraught like it was when Serena had to do stitches on their wounds. "Why?!" They quickly pulled off their mask making the pins and needles let go of their face showing how worsened the mask had made the wounds on their face.

"I literally kill people for a living and rob them of their money, I work with the most wanted criminals that Hero Factory has to deal with, my own biological parents might be associated with my foster parents deaths because gods forbid the child they gave away had a happy life! I don't understand-" K started break down, years worth of bottled up emotions they kept a tight lid on finally bursting, from the moment their foster parents died in the accident to now like a shaken soda bursting.

K fell to their knees on the concrete ground of the rooftop making Loki immediately on his knees in front of them as tears spilled from the preteen villain's eyes. Loki carefully took off the bandage showing K's third eye and the scarring around it from the times they tried to sew it close from relapses, something Loki was familiar with that K would do when they relapsed.

Loki looked over their best friends wounds. The third eye at the lids and the base of it had noticeable stitch wounds with treatment as best as possible without getting into the eye itself. Meanwhile around their face where the mask would attach with various pins and needles tore the skin enough to where it was barely holding on to muscles and showing bases of teeth and jaw bone.

Loki felt his heart ache at the sight, his best friend so used and numbed to any pain over the years even before the accident not even bothered by this despite how severe it was.

Loki's person gave off that previous aqua aura as some tears prickled the corners of his eyes as he gave a small kiss to the top of K's head making them freeze in surprise before registering the aura of light traversed to their person changing to a soft lavender color as their wounds across their lower face from their mask and their third eye from their relapses began to heal themselves.

Wounds began to magically stitch themselves together, flesh remending with muscles which mended with bones and veins leaving faint scars behind.

When the process was done K brought a hand to their face at the corner of their mouth feeling the now uninjured smooth skin and the dimples at the corner of their lips as the aura of light left their person fading to nothing like Loki's.

K was surprised by the healing power, it was something they would see Serena do and that was with the Umbra Witch's hair, this was different something much more powerful than that.

Loki gave a thin smile, "There we go, that's better than seeing you injured." He said with a warm tone.

K wiped their tears from their eyes with their coats sleeves making Loki take a handkerchief out from his hoodie and clean the blood off their face from their wounds and other tears.

"Feels better to let that out? Even if it's a little bit." He asked them while cleaning off the blood and tears. K nodded at that, "Yeah... Been holding it all in since the accident." They admitted, some of their locks falling in their face making Loki push it away noticing their hair wasn't as kept up as before the accident.

"Haven't had a proper wash cycle for your locks in a while huh?" Loki asked making K smile sheepishly. "Yeah, the others don't really know how to either so there's that as well." K admitted as they rubbed their wrists from the red marks of their gauntlets.

Loki gave a thin smile as he pulled them into a hug making K pause at that before they slowly raised their arms to hug him back, face burying into his shoulder and eyes closing in content.

K inhaled their old friends scent, he still smelled of caramel and vanilla with the slight hint of worn paper for cards. Even years later that scent was still there and strong.

Loki grinned of an idea before letting his person fall back against the concrete rooftop while dragging K down who yelped in surprise as they were half on top of Loki on the ground.

"Feel familiar?" He asked making K roll their eyes as they fixed their lilac coat. "Yeah, we did this all the time as kids whenever we talked about stuff." They said while brushing some of their locks away.

"Yeah, so tell me what's been going on with your time with the villains." "So like playing catch up after the time we haven't been around each other?" "Pretty much." K laughed at that, throwing their head back as they did so.

"Alright alright, just make sure to get comfortable because it's going to be long." with that K began to talk about all and what had happened from the day they joined the villains officially to today. They left some stuff out which Loki was understanding of.

Loki had to admit, he was a bit surprised hearing K had a new family. Though who the new parents and siblings were was an even bigger surprise as well but a welcomed one because K had found a family that wanted them after losing the other one.

"Wow, you've had a helluva adventure so far." Loki said when K finished talking. K laughed at that, "Fuck yeah, mom's powers and demon contacts are definitely a prime example. It's weird having a demon as a friend like Gomorrah is." They admitted making Loki pause for a split second.

K noticed it immediately, "You okay?" They asked him. Loki sighed, "Yeah I remember that demon name from a book I read one time." He explained making K tilt their head at him. "What was it called?" They asked, "The Truth of the Umbra Witch's and Lumen Sage's by Luka Redgrave." At the name K immediately sat up at that.

"Wait wait wait, someone made a book on the history behind the Umbra and Lumen? And I'm just now finding this out?" K asked as Loki sat up. "Yeah, the author admits he was somewhat friends with an Umbra Witch he helped aid on her adventures and she supplied him with information on what he didn't find." Loki explained moving his locks back from his face showing the familiar mark on his forehead K had come to know was a part of him.

"I see, maybe lend me a copy so me and mom can learn more of it. There's only so much Madama Butterfly remembers from the centuries she was a demon after she was a witch." K told him while fixing their ponytail while using one of their locks to hold it together.

With their distraction Loki paused again at the mention of Madama Butterfly. 'How similar is that Serena lady to her?' He thought to himself.

"So how are Alix and Aubrey doing after all these years?" K asked him as they continued to tie off their ponytail.

Loki focused back on their best friend. "They divorced a few months after Cameron and Luna died, but it was on peaceful terms their still great friends. Dad found a new husband and he's a nice stepdad, his name's Robbie and he actually works back and forth at Mekron City, they even invited mom to be a Bridesmaid. Mom's pretty happy while single and running her hair salon." Loki explained as he stretched his back out by stretching his arms backwards.

K whistled at that. "Damn a lot changed. How's school holding up? Still teaching useless stuff?" K asked, finishing tying their unbraided hair back.

"As always, some popular kids you know, the ones that'll end peeked in highschool ones, are asses to me but I'm relatively liked by a lot of people there." Loki admitted as he leaned back, using the palms of his hands pressed against the concrete roof below them to support him with his arms behind him.

K gave a sad smile at that. "That was always the difference between us," they said sadly making Loki look at them seeing K undo the buckles that secured their gauntlet claw gloves on. "People always immediately liked you, meanwhile everyone always wanted me dead like it would better the world when I'm dead." They continued finally getting one gauntlet off then beginning to do the same for the other.

"It's not like I asked for this damn third eye." K ranted undoing the other buckle to the left gauntlet and throwing the gauntlets aside on the concrete rooftop next to them then pulled their knees to their chest and rested their chin on them.

Loki gave them a sad smile as he leaned forward and hugged K from behind causing the non-binary preteen to tense up. "Well from what you gathered on your birth family you would've been miserable with their opinions and goals if you were normal, I think you got a great life now. Sure a lot of bad shit happened but you've got the best adoptive family of parents and siblings possible, sure you're a criminal rolling with Hero Factory's most wanted but they got your back." Loki said as he hugged K.

"Plus," Loki began again moving a hand up to hold K's chin in his palm and make them look at him. "You still got me, your best friend in the whole galaxy staying by your side until the end of time." He finished giving one of his beaming and charming smiles.

K felt their heart flutter seeing that smile again after so many years. The preteen villain pulled him closer in the hug while wrapping their arms around his shoulders.

K buried their face in his shoulder inhaling his scent they found so comforting deeply. "Thank you... I wouldn't have it any other way." They thanked him making Loki smile and adjust his arms around their waist while burying his face in their hair. "You and me both love."

💙🔷🧿💜

When the non-binary preteen woke up in their bed back at the villain base with a smaller Gomorrah still in their arms like a plushed toy still snoozing away, they wondered if last night was a dream.

But when they turned over and saw the familiar tarot card which had The Fool on it and yet a hole made in the card to be seen through, they knew immediately it wasn't making them smile so bright it made the sun like a dull light bulb in comparison.

"Here, before you head off take this at least." Loki told K as he took out one of his cards and handed it to them.

K raised a brow at the familiar card in their gauntlets claws. "Your lucky trump card?" They asked him as they looked up at him. "Figured with all the bad luck you've had over the years you could use it more than me, plus with my stuff with my own abilities and my card it'll let me know when you need me." He explained crossing his arms over his chest.

K raised a brow at that but didn't ask further as they smiled while opening a compartment on their mask which fit the card inside perfectly. "Thanks, I'll keep it safe."

K sat up in their bed and stretched themselves awake. "Alright come on Gommorah, let's get the day over with." They told the snoozing demon making him grumble a bit as K got out of bed.

With somehow knowing they'll be seeing their best friend again soon and more times, the Non-binary preteen villain felt as if they could take on the whole galaxy to keep him around.

And it gave them the best strength they missed so dearly like him.