Rehab for SuperVillains (18+)-Chapter 123: EEEEE!

"I don’t want the Haven to close," Rhea continued, her voice softer now, almost vulnerable. "Not after all the time I spent over there."

Freya’s gaze softened, her blue eyes meeting Rhea’s amber ones. "I don’t want that either," she admitted, her voice low, the confession carrying a weight she hadn’t expected.

Rhea chuckled again, the sound tinged with irony. "Weren’t you always itching to run from it? First chance you got, you’d be gone."

Freya’s lips curved into a rare, genuine smile. "Guess it wasn’t much different for you, was it?"

"Got me there," Rhea murmured, her smile widening, a shared truth binding them in the suffocating dark.

Their clothes were battered, scorched, and soaked, their bodies pushed to the brink, but in that fleeting pause, they were just two fighters, bound by shared struggle.

Then Rhea’s voice dropped, her tone shifting to something raw. "You know, I’ve always hated you... It got worse when you joined the Haven. You just... you walked in, and everything changed."

Freya raised an eyebrow, unfazed. "Because I was the third wheel between you and Kael?"

Rhea’s amber eyes widened, caught off guard. "How did you—? Yeah, that was... the biggest reason. That, and how you’re so damn confident. Tall, maybe a bit better looking, flawless skin, a better cook, not carrying the kind of baggage I do. You’re like some... real superhero potential, and I... I’m just me, I am afraid I will let Kael down."

"Rhea," Freya said, her voice steady, cutting through Rhea’s self-deprecation. Rhea looked at her, expectant. "Trust me... You are plenty strong, I have seen you today, and I am honestly impressed. If you were still the Flame-warden, you would have been a threat ranking A for sure."

Rhea laughed softly, "Thank you, you are flattering me."

Freya continued, "As for your baggage. We all carry our own, Rhea. I had mine, I don’t know what was yours, maybe better or worse but... Kael helped me through, same as he did for you, and I am very grateful for what he did, now... I look at everything with a different perspective and honestly, I like the new me, I feel more live... And yeah, I hate you too—you are annoying as hell."

Rhea snorted, a faint grin breaking through. "Oh really? I never noticed it." Her word were laced with sarcasm.

"I hate how honest you are," Freya continued, her voice quieter now, introspective, as if peeling back layers she’d long kept hidden.

"You wear what you want, no filter, no shame. You say what you feel, show every crack. I thought it was reckless, weak even, living like hooligans. But deep down... I envied it. I’ve spent my life building walls, locking everything away. And Kael, helped me start to tear them down, but I’m still not there, I feel like I need one more push, I need to be a superhero. And now... I hate you because how close you are to Kael, how much time you both spend together, how he seems to prioritize you because you are a hero, even after everything, I can’t help but feel like the third wheel sometimes. It stings."

Rhea’s grin faded, replaced by a look of quiet understanding, her amber eyes searching Freya’s face.

"So we’ve both got reasons to hate each other," she said, her voice soft, a thread of warmth weaving through the words. "But... I don’t know. Sitting here, hiding from those damn rats, it feels different. Like maybe I don’t hate you as much as I thought."

Freya’s lips quirked into a faint smirk, her blue eyes glinting with a mix of amusement and respect. "Same. I hate you a little less right now. Don’t get used to it."

Rhea’s low chuckle was warm, a shared moment of levity in the oppressive dark, their words a bridge over years of resentment.

The alcove felt smaller, the air heavier with the weight of their confessions, they weren’t just allies of necessity—they were something closer, something real.

The moment shattered as the rats’ pounding footsteps grew louder, their claws scraping the ice wall sealing their alcove.

A low, guttural chitter echoed, followed by the sharp sniff of noses catching their scent.

The rats had found them.

A heavy thud reverberated as a rat slammed its fist against the ice, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface with a sound like breaking bones.

More chittering followed, urgent and excited, as backup arrived, their blows intensifying, the ice groaning under the assault.

"I’ve got a bad feeling we’re gonna die here," Rhea said, her voice low, a vain smile curling her lips as she grunted, pushing herself to her feet.

Her amber eyes flickered with a mix of defiance and resignation, her body trembling but unbowed.

"I still hate you so much, I refuse to die here with you," Freya shot back, standing, a fierce smile mirroring Rhea’s, her blue eyes blazing with a fire that matched her partner’s.

Their gazes locked, a shared defiance igniting between them, a silent vow to fight until the end.

Rhea raised her palms, and Freya mirrored her, their hands meeting in a silent pact, their fingers brushing with a fleeting warmth.

The moment their powers touched—ice and fire—a blinding surge of steam erupted, engulfing them both, the alcove vanishing in a swirling, ghostly fog.

_____

The rats’ relentless assault on the ice wall intensified, their fists hammering with a rhythmic fury that echoed like war drums.

A deep dent formed, the ice groaning under the strain, cracks splintering outward like lightning.

Multiple rats zeroed in on the weakened spot, their blows synchronized, punching to make a hole.

With a final, shattering CRASH, the wall gave way, a torrential burst of steam exploding outward with the force of a geyser.

The pressure hurled the rats backward, their massive bodies slamming into the tunnel walls with bone-crushing impact.

They hung there, limp as rag dolls, their glowing eyes dimming, blood trickling from cracked skulls, the air thick with the metallic tang of their defeat.

Rhea and Freya seized the moment, bursting from the alcove, their boots pounding the slick pavement in perfect sync.

The tunnel was a chaotic blur of steam and shadow, the scattered rats disoriented by the blast.

Freya’s hands flashed, sending shards of ice slicing through the air, each one finding a target with lethal precision, pinning rats to the walls or shattering their hides.

Rhea’s flames roared beside her, bursts of fire engulfing any rat that dared approach, their shrieks swallowed by the crackle of burning flesh.

The rats’ numbers were thinned, their coordination broken, their size larger, making them easier prey in the fog-choked tunnel.

They veered back toward the second left, the path half-clear but ominous, the distant chittering of more rats echoing from the depths.

The air grew heavier, the stench of decay and something fouler—something alive—clinging to their lungs.

"Rhea!" Freya yelled, her voice sharp, cutting through the din.

Rhea’s amber eyes flicked to her, understanding instantly.

She thrust her hands forward, conjuring a towering wall of fire that roared across the tunnel, its orange glow casting grotesque shadows.

Freya followed, her blue eyes narrowing as she summoned a volley of ice spears, each one gleaming with frost.

The spears shot through Rhea’s fire wall, their tips glowing molten red, and tore into the rats beyond.

The impact was devastating—spears pierced through their hides, splintering on impact, the collateral damage felling entire clusters of rats in a spray of blood and shattered meat.

Rhea grinned, catching the rhythm.

"Got it!" she shouted, her voice hoarse but fierce.

For the next wave, Freya crafted icicles with razor-sharp tips, and Rhea refined her fire, coating only the points in a thin, searing flame.

The technique conserved her dwindling energy and pierced the steam, giving them clearer visibility.

The icicles flew, their fiery tips slicing through the rats like hot knives through butter, each strike a symphony of precision and destruction.

The tunnel lit up with bursts of fire and frost, the rats’ shrieks fading as their numbers dwindled, the pavement slick with blood and ash.

"Nice one!" Freya called, a spark of camaraderie in her voice as they pressed forward, their synergy improving with every synchronized attack.

They emerged into a vast, cavernous chamber, the air stagnant, the silence oppressive.

Rhea raised her hands, her flames flaring to illuminate the space, the firelight revealing a grotesque tableau at the chamber’s center: a writhing bed of filth, where a massive rat queen, the size of a hand, her body swollen and grotesque, bred with a cluster of muscular rats.

Their glowing eyes locked onto Rhea and Freya, a mix of rage and perverse curiosity.

"EEEEEEEEEEEE!" They shrieked, taking a pause from the breeding session.

Freya and Rhea winced, their faces twisting in disgust.

"Ugh," Rhea muttered, her voice dripping with revulsion.

They didn’t hesitate.

Freya summoned a barrage of ice spears, their tips instantly coated in Rhea’s fire, and launched them at the writhing mass.

The spears struck true, piercing the queen and her consorts, the fire searing through flesh and stone.

The orgy collapsed in a heap of charred, frozen corpses, the queen’s glowing eyes extinguished, the chamber echoing with the finality of their deaths.

"That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen"