Wretched Joy 34 (Patreon)

Commissioned by southmonk

Wretched Joy

Chapter 34

-VB-

Vista glared at Joe.

And Joe stared back impassively. 

“I’m surprised they let you out, Vista,” he hummed and she nearly flinched. 

“I’m not here because the PRT sent me,” she replied as evenly as she could. Even though her hands shook from how terrified she was. She was standing up to Everyday Joe alone with no one coming to reinforce her. 

But she had to try nonetheless. 

“I’m not interested in hurting you,” he said out loud as he took a step back. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“But I’m a hero,” she said as she gave him a lopsided grin. “I have to stop you from hurting other people when I see it happening in front of my eyes.” 

He stared at her.

Then, from out of nowhere, his chained sickles fell into his hands while the bat vanished. 

And staring at the sickles, Vista felt a sickness well up inside of her even as fear retched up a few notches. 

“Are you sure you are willing to fight me?” he asked again. 

She gritted her teeth. “You think just because you ask me nicely, I’ll just stop being a hero!?” she snapped at him and prepared to fight. Her hold over space tightened and …

…

Nothing happened. 

Or rather, Joe didn’t move against her. 

“... Why aren’t you attacking?” she asked him.

“Because it’s funny?”

She glared. 

“No, like legitimately,” he said with a smile. “You think you can stop me. I think that’s both cute and funny!” 

“You’re starting to sound like a particularly stale villain, Joe,” she replied tersely. 

He paused, looked slightly up, and huh’ed. “You know what? That sounds about right. ‘You think you can stop me?!’” he roared half-heartedly and definitely overdramatically. Then he burst out into giggles. 

Giggles.

She stared at him, confused. “Are you high?” she asked incredulously. 

“Nope,” he shook his head before he grinned. 

He took a few steps to the left and then a few steps to the right. But all actions led him right back to where he stood now. 

She grinned. 

‘Once I have someone in my space trap, then they can’t leave if I don’t want them to -.’

Then he was gone. 

“Because I can teleport, remember?”

She whirled around and found Everyday Joe staring down at her. 

She froze. 

He shouldn’t have been able to get so close to her, not if his teleportation still interacted with regular physics at least to some degree. The space around her was also extremely bloated right now; what looked like an inch was closer to a hundred yards! 

But here was Joe, standing in a place nothing should be able to with a soft smug grin.

He didn’t move to hit her or anything. He just stared down at her, creepily. His wide eyes bore into hers like a cat looking down at a bird. 

Then he smacked her over the top of her helmet. 

“Ow!” she shouted more from the fact that she got hit than the actual pain.

“Stay safe, Little Hero. You’re one of the few I’d rather not hurt,” he hummed before he teleported away. 

The twisted space trap she’d set up as soon as she saw him had been ignored.

She gawked at the spot where he’d just stood.

Then stomped her foot with indignation, anger, and frustration. Then with a hiss, she reached up to her comm button built into her helmet. 

“This is Vista. Everyday Joe escaped my trap,” she reported. “Where is he going next?”

-VB-

Despite Vista’s attempt to keep up with Everyday Joe, she couldn’t stop his rampage across the city.

By the new dawn came, every single person on Everyday Joe’s list that had not submitted themselves to the authorities for their unanswered past crimes were found in various shapes and conditions. 

Some escaped with a beating. 

Others lost fingers and limbs. 

And many had been found dead. 

Of course, the media got wind of the “Joe’s List” and the lack of attention and seriousness the PRT, the Protectorate, and the police needed to give to what amounted to a hitlist of the most infamous villain of Brockton Bay. 

The police actually had little to do with it but got lumped in, which pissed them off. Not wanting to do with any of the controversy, they outright stated in a press conference that the PRT had not warned them of the existence of such a list and that they only found out about it a literal day before Joe went on his rampage. 

But the anger was mostly not directed at Everyday Joe, despite how the big news outlets tried to turn this to. 

Why? 

Because copies of Joe’s List got published online, and everyone got to see what his supposed victims did. 

Everything from scamming and murder to state-level embezzlement and pedophilic murderorgy. 

The fact that such individuals lived among them was a bigger shock than Joe’s actions.

Hell, people started protesting that the survivors should be jailed and tried.

One unlucky man got lynched by his neighbors! 

And personally, Danny felt that they deserved what Joe gave them. As much as he was a man who advocated for proper law and order with blind justice and due process, some people needed to be taken care of now and not in the future. 

Especially for many of the crimes he was reading. 

Taylor sat across from him. Today, because of what had happened yesterday night, all schools across the city had closed. Some of it was because several of the dead were highschoolers. Highschoolers with a rep sheet a mile long who had stolen, assaulted, and murdered, yes, but highschoolers nonetheless. 

“Are you okay, Taylor?” he asked her, and she looked up, slightly bewildered. 

“Um. Yeah. I’m okay,” she muttered and went back to staring at her copy of the newspaper. He could see that she was focused on the victim list. 

He wondered if one of her friends was on it or their parents were. 

-VB-

Piggot felt exhausted and defeated. 

Everyday Joe had run circles around the PRT and the Protectrate, and when they had finally caught up to him, he revealed it all to be nothing but bait. Why else would Joe, according to his victim, sit on top of the victim for a full ten minutes after he had finished assaulting the man? All so he could temporarily cripple Armsmaster?

Panacea healed him, of course. The dutiful healer discharged Armsmaster with a clean bill of health, but Armsmaster’s own readiness was under question. 

The man had become even more withdrawn than before. 

Not weaker.

But less hungry. Less focused. 

Mentioning Joe in his presence also seemed to cause him phantom pains. 

Piggot could sympathize. 

The same thing happened to her whenever Nilbog came up, either in her mind or from those around her. 

There were talks even among the troopers that Armsmaster might step down.

Then someone leaked the list of Everyday Joe’s victims, and the PRT ENE came under assault from the public for their perceived failures. 

They weren’t vigilantes! They followed laws, and laws stated clearly that they couldn’t afford to just arrest someone based on suspicion! 

The public didn’t care. All they saw was a pedophile next door, an unrepentant murderer teaching their children, a corrupt politician embezzling city funds, and the dead littering the streets. 

And of course, this became a national issue. 

Which meant, of course, the bitch who never gave her reinforcement was going to blame her.

“Director Piggot,” Chief Director Brown spoke from her end of the video call. “I believe you know why I am calling.”

Piggot wanted to sigh.

Should she resign? 

Hell, Joe was after her, too. 

“Yes, I am aware,” she replied with a grimace.

Unfortunately for Brown and Joe, she was made up of too much vinegar and piss to just give up right now.

“And how do you intend on fixing this?”

“Considering what happened to Alexandria, I am unaware that this was an issue our branch could fix by itself.”

There was no response for a moment. 

“Director, you could have alerted the city, state, or even the national PRT regarding this list that is now floating all over the internet,” she replied. 

And so the arguing began.