Brainwash is a hero.

Beacon likes to talk this big talk with this self righteous attitude, but a hero is a hero.

You save good people. You stop bad people.

Those are the only stipulations Brainwash goes by.

Exposing Beacon for her hypocrisy was only the beginning. Since he knows she killed Ink Spill. While he doesn’t have a problem with it (it’s just another bad person off the streets), her lecturing him about what a hero is got super irritating. She is not this innocent person she claims to be.

So he mentally suggested her true nature to come out and play. It unfolded exactly how he wanted it to. Messy and chaotic.

He calculated the vengeance that Beacon will set against him. Even if he didn’t have his psychic powers, he can sense the bonfire he sparked within her.

She reminds him of Nightfall in that way.

Nightfall, his former….acquaintance, despises him now. She chose a side. And he chose his.

They both act like they know better than him. His way of thinking is just simpler than theirs. More refined.

It makes it easier to focus on the two goals. Save the good. Take down the bad.

They overcomplicate things.

Watching Beacon and Water Craze is funny. They can’t see him since he created this mental illusion, but he’s there, seeing his work in progress.

Water Craze loves the girl behind the hero. Trust Brainwash, that doesn’t go well. He almost feels bad for the guy.

He can tell even without the mind powers how much Water Craze is trying not to hurt Beacon. It’s obvious in his jagged movements and defensive use of his powers.

Beacon, under his control, is ruthless, much closer to what he knows lies beneath the good girl persona. She throws burning hot light at Water Craze and evaporates any form of a shield by him. It’s a beautiful sight.

He wasn’t paying attention to any spoken words, but seeing that Beacon has drawn blood, he knows it is time to let her witness what she’s done.

The look on her face is priceless. The confusion, the fake innocence, and the fear.

The blood literally dripping from her hands brings an unexpected joy to Brainwash. Like it is the tangible evidence of her true nature. There is a small part of him that wonders if that makes him bad for the enjoyment.

Maybe it’s a matter of perspective.

But to him, she’s the real villain.

And villains get conquered.

———

(Brainwash was introduced in _Hero and Villain, Villain and Hero_.