Harem Streamer System: Every Crime I Broadcast Wins Me a Superheroine Chapter 28 Dealing with Elena Vargas, Surprise Guest

Elena's head felt heavy and slow, like she was swimming through thick syrup.

She blinked a few tis, but her vision was still blurry, with dark, shadowy shapes shifting around in front of her eyes tired eyes. A dull pain throbbed in her neck, making it clear she'd been unconscious for a while.

When her sight finally started to clear, she noticed she was in a dark, grimy warehouse, tied up tightly to a chair.

She shifted her eyes forward.

Soone was standing in front of her.

It was Scott, and he looked colder than she'd ever seen.

He just stood there with crossed arms and glare that made her feel he knew of all her cris.

"So, you're the one who tied ?" Elena asked.

"Yes…"

She smiled suggestively. "Kinky."

"…"

Scott didn't feel like responding this ti.

Elena let out a tired, humorless laugh, trying to shake off the strange pressure in the room.

"Could you stop staring at like that? Tell , what did you do to then?"

Scott lifted his wrist to show her his high-tech watch.

"This is my Titan Viper Tactical Wristwatch, or TV-TW. Over seven modes and thirty-six features."

He made it sound like a threat than an explanation.

"What I used on you was the Non-Lethal Defense Mode. One of its features deploys a high-dose stun dart that completely immobilizes the muscles and knocks out its target for about four hours."

She tried to hide her surprise.

"Four hours?"

She shook it off quickly and leaned forward as much as the restraints allowed.

Unexpectedly, her tone shifted to a sexy purr.

"Then… you've had all to yourself, haven't you?"

She bit her lip as her eyes turned vixen-like.

Never has she failed to flaunt her sexy side.

"Co on, David. I'm sure you've already… done as you pleased with my poor, defenseless body. But hey, I like it when a guy gets a little twisted."

Scott didn't crack a smile.

Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on her, cold and unamused.

"Let's be clear… since learning what you are, any attraction I might've had for you is completely gone."

His eyes narrowed.

"Frankly, I'd go as far as to say I find you disgusting."

"Says the man who ripped my panties straight out of my ass like a domineering beast. Ahhhh~ ♡♡!"

"..."

"Oh, so I'm the weird one."

Elena scoffed and casually shrugged it off as a soft chuckle pushed out of her tender, cherry lips.

"Well, that's your business."

But then, sothing caught her eye, and her smirk faded as she noticed the dark stains covering Scott's clothes.

Blood. A lot of it.

"What's with all the blood? Don't tell you actually killed soone back at the club. Please, you' re too much of a softie for that."

Elena asked with genuine surprise.

Scott raised his wrist again.

"NLD Mode has another feature: the Amnesia Dart. It deploys a fast-acting amnesia-inducing agent that erases the last thirty minutes to two hours of mory. I used it on Shockstrike to make him forget seeing you… so I could get you out without him knowing your whereabouts."

Elena let out a faux gasp and pressed a hand to her chest.

"How thoughtful~ ♡ Keeping my identity a secret just for little old ? I didn't know you cared so much."

Scott's expression didn't soften. "Not in that way."

Elena blinked; she was a bit thrown off by how calmly he brushed her off.

For once, her teasing wasn't hitting the mark.

Sothing felt off.

She went quiet and watched his face more closely, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What… what happened?"

Scott calmly pointed to the side, and Elena's eyes followed his finger.

Her smirk faded, and she nearly went pale.

"No..."

Lying there in a twisted, bloody heap was what was left of Shockstrike's body.

Just a ss of flesh and bone that looked like it had been put through a grinder.

"What the hell…?"

Her stomach churned, but she made herself keep looking at the mangled corpse, doing her best to hide her surprise.

Scott swallowed painfully then looked down at the floor.

He was trying to hold his composure while fighting back the vomit stuck at the back his throat.

"I was trying to get answers from him about Black chanica. But then I heard this beeping sound, and all of a sudden, he started begging for rcy."

Scott's gnashed his teeth as he recalled the scene.

"Then… he just… exploded. Blood everywhere."

Elena forced out a sigh of pity, but it sounded hollow.

"Tragic…"

The word ca out with none of her usual edge.

Scott shot her a fierce look.

"We both know you're too selfish to think that's tragic. So drop the act, and start answering my questions."

Elena shifted in the chair and let a slow smirk creep back onto her face. She sexily spread her legs slightly then leaned forward as her voice beca more seductive.

"Or… maybe you'd rather just plow instead? Be honest. It's a lot more fun than playing twenty questions."

Scott's hands clenched into fists.

His knuckles whitened as he stared her down, unfazed by her attempts.

"Enough jokes…"

For a mont, it was dead silent.

Elena sighed as her teasing smile slowly faded away.

She leaned back in her chair.

"Tch, honestly…"

Her eyes drifting to the side as her expression grew thoughtful and, for the first ti, genuinely serious.

"Alright, fine. I'll talk, but…"

She sounded really reluctant.

But it's not like she had a choice.

"You should know… gangs like Black chanica? They're slippery. No matter how many tis you think you've got them pinned down, they'll always slip through the cracks. Black chanica is everywhere, in every major city, under a hundred different nas. Heroes might keep them suppressed, but no one's ever defeated them. Not truly."

Scott rolled his eyes, arms still crossed.

"Yeah, duh. That much is obvious. Now stop the dick riding and talk already."

He sounded almost bored.

Elena let out a soft, humorless laugh.

"Fine, keep that attitude if it makes you feel better."

She paused to consider him carefully.

"I ran away from Black chanica years ago. Pulled off a major heist that got so serious alien tech—enough to set up shop in a warehouse I found in Fremont. I sold a bunch of it to a ga corporation. That's how I got my start and the funds to move the rest of the containers loaded with alien tech. So if you hate because of what happened in Fremont… well, that one wasn't my fault."

Scott stayed quiet, his expression neutral, but inside, he was panicking.

『What the fuck happened in Fremont?』

He had questions, but he knew better than to show that he didn't understand. He took a step forward and gave her a look that seed confident, even if it wasn't.

"I still can't believe you were responsible for that!"

He dramatically pointed at her.

Elena's eyes narrowed, and her jaw set as she t his eyes.

"Whatever my custors do with the tech I sell them is their business. When I sold parts to TitanTech Industries, how was I supposed to know they'd shove a sick, nuclear-radiated old man inside one of their suits of armor?"

Scott's breath caught as her words connected.

『Radion…』

He rembered the one-ti villain that Pulsar and Lady Fortress had faced──the deranged man trapped in a containnt suit that was supposed to contain the unstable nuclear energy pulsing from his deteriorating body.

It was all starting to make sense!

His expression darkened, giving him a natural intensity as he pointed a finger at her.

"Stop acting like you've got any right to defend yourself! Half the country would've been wiped out if it wasn't for Lady Fortress and Ma-, PULSAR!"

He felt a pang of guilt, but there was no ti to dwell on it.

『At least she's doing so good…』

He did his best to hide this weak mont of thought.

Elena's lips curled into a sneer, but her eyes showed a sense of resignation.

"You think I wanted that?"

She sounded genuine.

"I thought TitanTech would use the tech to actually improve things for Fremont. You know, boost the standard of living. Make so good money on the side."

The woman huffed.

"How was I supposed to know they'd use it as a PR stunt to welco their new favorite hero into town?"

Scott blinked, taken aback.

"Wait—you're telling … it was staged?"

"Not the threat, idiot. Not that part."

Elena tilted her head as her smirk returned, but her voice was still heavy with so bitterness.

"But the setup? The villain? That was preditated. TitanTech wanted a real A-rank threat, sothing that would make headlines and get people talking about how great their new hero is. I'll admit… it's a smart idea. But twisted. Twisted as hell."

Scott gave her an irritated side-eye.

"Yeah, like you get to judge them…"

Elena laughed, the sound softer but sharper, like glass breaking.

"Oh, I think I do. After all, I only sell my tech to corporations I believe are good—or to street-level bad guys who can't do much worse than knocking over a bank or two."

She shrugged as her smile beca playful again.

"The friggin' world's advancing, David. Even convenience store robbers need an upgrade now and then."

Scott's eyes beca half-lidded. "Definitely not."

She giggled and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, boy scout."

There was a heavy silence as their eyes locked.

For the first ti, Elena's usual smug grin and defiant attitude faltered, just a bit.

Behind the tough exterior, Scott caught a glimpse of sothing tired, almost broken—a sign of the strain that ca with balancing between doing evil and simply trying to survive.

He saw it, just for a mont, before she quickly built her walls back up.

Scott stood still for a long mont.

『The pain in her eyes… it's…』

He sighed heavily.

『All of a sudden I… I don't know… sigh~』

She hadn't said much about herself, but the more he heard, the more his usual irritation faded, replaced by sothing else—sothing almost like guilt.

She wasn't what she seed.

Elena's tough persona wasn't just a front; there was more to her than the smart-ass comnts and the teasing grin.

『I saw it…』

That crack in her armor. For just a second, he could see how much she was carrying on her shoulders, how much she'd been through.

Finally, he couldn't hold it back anymore.

"How… how did you even end up like this?"

Elena tensed at the question as her eyes narrowed just a bit.

For a mont, sothing—resentnt, fear, or maybe even pain—flashed across her face, but she quickly hid it. She stared at him for a while, as if deciding whether or not to respond.

After a few seconds, her eyes shifted away, and her fingers began tapping nervously on the armrest of her chair.

Scott frowned at the silence.

He wasn't going to let her brush him off again.

"So, you're not gonna tell ?"

Elena muttered under her breath, curses barely audible, before groaning heavily.

She slouched back in her chair, clearly frustrated.

"Fine, fine, why not? It's not like I have anything left to lose anyway…"

Despite himself, Scott let out a breath and smiled, a small, relieved smile. He hadn't expected her to open up, but it seed like she was finally about to.

She exhaled sharply, as if gathering the strength to say what she was about to.

"It might sound like a lie if I say I never wanted to live this life, but…"

She hesitated deeply.

"I didn't really get a choice. I wasn't the favorite in my family, you know? They thought I was weird because of this… disease I had. And when you're the kind of kid who doesn't fit in anywhere, you get treated like shit. They'd beat up every day, and they hated the way I looked when I cried. My fangs, my eyes… so, one day, they did the worst thing they could think of—they sewed my eyes and mouth shut."

Scott's heart lurched at the words. He couldn't imagine what it was like for her, trapped in a world where even the people who should've loved her had abandoned her.

But Elena wasn't done.

"I ended up on the street after that. I don't even rember how long I was out there. I was just a kid. No one cared. Then, I t Dr. Eden."

Elena's voice softened, just a bit.

She felt grateful.

"She found , took to a Black chanica facility. She didn't care about my disease, she just… helped . Taught how to control it. Made feel like I wasn't broken."

Scott's eyebrows furrowed. "Black chanica, really? The sa group you've been running from."

Elena gave him a dead smile, but there was a sadness in her eyes.

"Yeah, well, they were the only ones who gave a damn. Dr. Eden was the only person who showed there was more than just pain out there. She wasn't like the others. She didn't just want to use ."

Scott took a step forward.

He could see it—the pieces were really falling into place.

He listened intently as she continued.

"By the ti I was starting to get better, starting to like myself more…"

She paused while her fingers twitched as if they were trying to grip onto sothing she could control.

"Dr. Eden was transferred. Probably to a different Black chanica facility. So secret place in tro City, I don't know. And after she left, everything went to shit. They used us. They treated us like experints and soldiers."

She clenched her fists as her eyes hardened.

"I had enough. I couldn't take it anymore. and a few of the others, we escaped. So of us didn't make it… but we managed to get out."

Scott didn't know what to say.

He didn't have the right words to fix it or make it better.

"I'm sorry…" he muttered.

Elena shook her head sharply.

Her lips pressed into a tight line.

"You don't need to be sorry… it's not your fault."

Her voice dropped, sothing unspoken passing between them. It was strange—Scott hadn't expected Elena, of all people, to look so… broken.

He swallowed, then asked the question that had been gnawing at him.

"This disease of yours… what is it?"

Before he even finished, the ropes were cut and Elena was on her feet.

"THIS!"

The movent was so fast it was almost a blur, and the sound that followed was like a sonic boom—her power unleashed in a wave that rattled the warehouse.

… TREMBLEEEEE!!

Scott barely had ti to react as the blast hit him, throwing him across the room and crashing into a pile of crates.

"Urrr-, Urgghhh~"

His head spun for a mont, but his training kicked in.

"Get up, idiot…"

He groaned and pushed himself up, only to find Elena standing near the window, her back to him.

But she wasn't the sa.

Her skin was so pale it almost seed transparent, and her red hair had turned an eerie white, standing out sharply in the dark room. Her eyes were a dark, blood-red, with black veins spreading around them.

… HIIIISSSSSSS!!

Her fangs glistened nacingly.

"A vampire?" Scott was paralyzed with shock.

Elena glanced back over her shoulder.

There was a wicked smile on her face.

"Still find cute, honey~? Don't worry—I'm not gonna kill you. Or drain you dry. You should be grateful."

Then, in an instant, she leaped toward the window with a force that shattered it into a thousand pieces.

Scott's heart pounded in his chest, and before he could even think, he was on his feet, tearing off his jacket to reveal his sleek, high-tech bodysuit.

"Not this ti, Night Bitch!"

He shouted, ready to chase her down.

But just as he was about to run, he heard a voice—one that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Nightwatch!"

Scott didn't break speed.

He didn't even look back and pretended he hadn't heard.

"Nightwatch!"

The voice rang louder this ti, more urgent.

But it wasn't the na that made him stop.

It was the third shout.

"Scott."

He froze.

His eyes quickly darted around as his heartbeat picked up and the ringing in his ears intensified.

In the shadows, he spotted a figure—tall and curvy… dressed in a white bodysuit and a hooded cloak.

Familiar. Too familiar.

The figure lowered the hood, to reveal their identity.

Scott's heart skipped a beat.

"Gwen...?"

Impossible.

"What're you doing he──!"

PAHHHH────!!

Before Scott could get his words out, he received a stinging slap to his cheek.

━ ━ ━ ━

Note: Yes, Vincent was also aware of the whole Radion thing being a set-up and he only convinced Pulsar not to go because he knew she's hardheaded and wouldn't listen (as such removes her suspicions that it was staged).