The Stellar Sentinel had finally found it. An anonymous tip - perhaps a minion with a guilty conscience? - had pointed her to this warehouse as the secret lair of Doctor X, her villainous nemesis. The rest of the team had offered to come and help, but this was something the alien heroine had to handle herself. 

    Not wanting to make a scene and potentially attract bystanders that would be at risk in the battle, she went in through the ceiling. A short flight up onto the roof, a few seconds of laser eyes cutting a hole in it (who cared about the damage? It belonged to a supervillain), and a kick was all she needed to enter discreetly. 

    For a lair, it seemed remarkably empty. There were no minions on patrol, no big computers or screens with a meaningless jumble of numbers on them, or whatever else. Maybe the base was hidden and the top layer was just camouflage. It wasn’t all that abnormal for villain lairs! 

    Quietly moving through the rafters, the Stellar Sentinel kept an eye out, seeing if she could see any evidence of the Doctor’s presence… which, she was surprised to find, she could indeed see. Namely, the fact she could see Doctor X herself, in the power suit she used in order to be capable of putting up a fight against a superpowered alien heroine, standing in the middle of the warehouse looking around. Had she seen her on the surveillance? She’d been sure she hadn’t seen anything of the kind. 

    Well, enough of this stealth! They were in the warehouse now, and the police should have been arriving to clear out the bystanders if they listened to her advice. By the time they got through the opening banter they should have a clear field to fight in, if it didn’t end up going down into the base. 

    Stellar Sentinel leapt down from the rafters, doing a three-point landing right in front of Doctor X. “Ahah! Doctor X, I’ve found your lair at last! This will be our final battle!”

    The evil scientist looked down her nose at the heroine in a rather infuriating way. “You said that the last two times. The exact same way. Does your species not have any creativity at all?” 

    “...It’s hard to word ‘it’s the final battle’ in a unique way after a dozen final battles, alright? If you’d stay locked up then we wouldn’t have to come up with unique banter each time.” Stellar Sentinel said with a roll of her eyes.  

    “Besides, your statement is strange - what do you mean you’ve found my lair? Is this not yours?”

    Doctor X, or rather, CEO of X-Corp Catherine Xeni, had at last found the lair of her nemesis the Stellar Sentinel; the alien woman of course had a shared one with her team, but it was the personal one she really wanted to break. There wasn’t all that much impact to yet another attack on the Federation Tower; that was no different than any other villain’s modus operandi. And finally, she’d received a tipoff; someone had gone to the trouble of working it out mathematically and logically, and the idea seemed sound; her base was hidden under an abandoned warehouse, the sort of place one would have expected a villainess to have their base, not a heroine. Perhaps the informant hoped for a reward - and would certainly receive one if the information turned out good, and if it wasn’t then she’d have another X-Bot. Win-win, yeah? 

    She’d been waiting in the warehouse for about five minutes, having simply broken down the back door. She looked for a few moments for any obvious secret entrances; a scan of the area had shown that there was a fairly extensive underground facility beneath the warehouse, so it seemed to be the place. And yet, no alarm, no defenses, nothing. Perhaps Stella (the Sentinel’s real name; very creative dear) wasn’t home? But then any automatic defenses would be up. 

    Just when she was planning to try and break the ground to get in the hard way, the Stellar Sentinel leapt down in front of her with a silly superhero landing and went on her usual heroic rant, with a rather odd factor - she seemed to think she was in Doctor X’s lair, not the other way around. “I’ve never been in this building before in my life; it’s certainly a lair, going from the underground facilities, but it’s certainly not mine.”

    Stellar Sentinel looked very confused. “...Lies, villainous lies! It’s not my lair, so it logically has to be yours! Why would you be here otherwise?”

    “To destroy your lair, obviously. As you evidently are here for mine.” 

    “So you admit it!” Stella said, pointing dramatically. 

    Doctor X ignored her and moved on. “There is a lair here, and apparently it’s neither of ours. Whose…” she blinked. “Oh. Well that’s embarrassing.”

    “What, that I caught you in a lie? You’re a villain, that’s nothing to be embarrassed over.”  

    “No, that we’ve both been caught in a frankly obvious trap. Anonymous tip?”

    “...Yeah?” 

    “Me as well. If I’m correct, the gas will turn on in about six seconds.” As she said this, she staggered and fell over. 

    “Actually,” said a voice from everywhere, “It’s been going for the last minute. Why should poison gas be visible?”

    “Who- how…” Stellar Sentinel said as she fell to her knees. 

    “Power nullifying particles in the gas. Including nullifying your resistance.”

    “...I’ll… have to take notes on that…” Doctor X managed, before passing out. 

    When Stella returned to consciousness, her initial thought was that it had been an irritating dream - she didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable and she did feel surprisingly well rested for someone who had been gassed out rather than given a proper sleep. Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes she found that she wasn’t asleep in her bed but strapped to a table in a sterile white room. Looking around, she saw a glass window on one end of the room, as well as Doctor X strapped to a similar table not ten feet away. Above her, and above her nemesis, was a strange looking machine glowing softly. 

    “Ah, good, you’re awake.” said a crackly voice over an intercom. Stellar Sentinel refocused on the window, and saw that behind the glass was a young man in a black-stained labcoat.

    Her first reaction was an attempt to use laser eyes. Not to kill the dude, mind, but maybe to see if she could hit some controls or scare him or something. Make him mess up. After a few moments the young man laughed. “You look very silly straining your face like that, Stellar Sentinel. Unfortunately for you - and fortunately for my eyebrows, I should think - the room strips you of your powers. Terribly sorry, dear, but well, heroes can be so volatile sometimes.” 

    Struggling against her restraints, Stellar Sentinel found the man wasn’t joking; even her innate superstrength had been sapped by whatever magic-like science the man had used to create the room. “I’ve never heard of you - you’re not on the supervillain registry!” she said. 

    “Or the registered hero list, for that matter,” said a voice to her side - Doctor X had woken up at some point. “You are a man of science, it is clear; what possible purpose would you have for capturing a hero and a villain?” It sounded less like panic, and more like calculation and a bit of curiosity. As Stella would have expected from her nemesis. 

    “Every purpose dear, every purpose!” The man said, “I’ve come up with a theory, and I seek to confirm! As every scientist should, I plan to test it!”

    “And what theory is this?” Doctor X asked. 

    “An evil one! I’m sure!” Stella added. 

    “Yes, it is,” the mad scientist admitted, “And a good one. A neutral one, as science should be. I believe I have discovered the physical essence of good and evil! A measurable quantity, something we can determine with a mere test! And something that can be molded and changed!” The man shouted, the certainty of the mad in his voice. A smaller man behind him clapped obligingly, and Stellla mentally labeled him Igor. “You need not know my name; call me the Scientist, if you must call me anything, not that you’ll remember me for long.” 

    “So why do you need us? I’m sure you could’ve just asked for funding if you had proof, could you not?” Doctor X continued. “So you must have something else in mind.” 

    “Ah, it’s nice having a scientific mind around…” the Scientist said, “Yes, I do. I hope you’re not attached to your alignment; I’d like to prove that good and evil can be transferred between individuals.” 

    “What are you -” Stella started, “You’re a madman! You can’t do this to people!”

    “Indeed, I’ve been diagnosed with several different forms of insanity! How astute! I don’t think that should stand in the way of science though; how many breakthroughs would the greats have made if they weren’t just a little nuts?” The man grinned madly. “Assistant, please pull lever 1.”

    Doctor X watched with curiosity as the machine to which Stellar Sentinel was strapped started to glow. Stella shrieked, although it seemed a fearful scream rather than pained. After a moment, a jar attached to the machine started to fill with a thick, golden substance. The scream started to die off as the color seemed to drain from Stella; her blonde hair and tanned skin first, turning white and pale. Her eyes themselves seemed to fade, turning silver as her expression dulled and lost it’s emotion. Even her clothes, the tight spandex-like material in yellow and blue, seemed to fade out to a grayscale. As the jar seemed to be topped off, Stella was left staring blankly at the ceiling.

     “Fascinating… Scientist, I could potentially fund research into this matter further. It seems like it would be quite useful.” Doctor X said as it seemed her nemesis had had the goodness drained from her. “Can that ‘essence of good’ perhaps be replaced? Is there an equivalent for loyalty, or broader evil?” She had quite a few ideas for what she could do with the alien given the chance…

    “Why yes it can! However, we need to gather it from someone else. And it just so happens, that we have another person right here! Assistant, Lever 2 please!”

    Before Doctor X could get another word out, the process began and she was forced to scream. It didn’t hurt, quite, but the force ripping the evil from her body was intense all the same. She screamed and shouted, her calm demeanor broken instantly. But as the color was drained from her, she found it harder and harder to care. So what if she wasn’t evil anymore? It didn’t matter. None of that mattered. Nothing did, really. She could see clearly now, with all that ambition and attitude and desire drained from her.

    Catherine had been left blank, just like Stella. The two stared straight up into space, unmoving and uncaring, all their identity, morality, ambition, everything drained into little jars. 

    For a moment, the Scientist considered taking the jars and leaving them like this, perhaps repainting them into his lovely assistants; as blank as they were they’d be eager for anything to fill the void, even service to him. But he had a duty to scientific rigor, and couldn’t change the experiment just because it had been even more successful than expected. It had gone beyond just their good and evil, it had drained out their whole identities. 

    “Right then. Time to commence the switch. Assistant, lever 3 now.”

    The minion nodded, and pulled the switch. The golden fluid that had been drained from Stella flowed through a pipe towards Catherine, and the reverse as well; both women groaned as they were filled up with the morality of their nemesis…

    
    Stellar Sentinel had been born on an alien planet, not that she particularly remembered it. As a child, she’d been sent away by her parents to save her from the evil authoritarian regime that had begun to conquer the planet, and she’d been raised on Earth by a loving set of parents who had done their best to give their apparently invulnerable, super strong, laser-shooting child the best upbringing they could. They’d made sure she was, before anything else, a good person… and this core aspect of her personality had been torn out of her, and replaced with a selfish ambition. 

    The idea didn’t square with her past. But as the dark black that was the physical essence of Doctor X’s evil pumped into her and replaced the emptiness where her heroism had been, the fact she was a frankly rather terrible person was certain. Therefore, it must have been her history that was wrong. 

    She’d never ‘escaped’ the regime. Her parents had been traitors, executed before they could carry out their plot. And then she’d been raised by the Emperor himself. He had doted on her, yes - but he’d also been harsh. The carrot and stick, as the human saying goes. When she succeeded and followed his vision for her, she was rewarded lavishly. When she failed or strayed from the path, she was punished harshly. Her adoptive father had decided she would lead the life of a conquerer, his greatest enforcer and warrior. 

    She hadn’t been punished in a very long time. 

    She started to gain color again - but not that which she’d lost. Her hair was dark as a raven, to match her blackened heart. She was pale from the lifetime spent on a world where the sun was so harsh that life underground was the only way to survive. Her clothing wasn’t the bright reassuring colors of a hero, but a dark, bloody red. She was the Scarlet Soldier, an alien warrior bent on conquering the planet in the name of her beloved father. 

    Meanwhile, Doctor X was having a similar void filled with distilled heroism. A genius and something of a sociopath, she’d always been shunned by her peers, no matter what she did, no matter how she tried to get attention. Then, just when she thought things sucked but was getting past it, her father had kicked the bucket, leaving her with her abusive mother. ‘Why won’t you be normal?’ she’d been asked again and again, beaten again and again. Her experiences had led her to a disdain for humanity. But she was a patient woman. She bided her time. When her mother passed, she invested most of the inheritance, and reaped major rewards as she subtly took actions to force their competitors out of business. Once she had the capital, she started her own company, and did the same to those she’d helped rise to the top before. Now with essentially infinite cash, she’d worked single mindedly to the goal of replacing humanity with machines, far more comprehensible to her. 

    Or that had been her history… but it made her out to be such a horrible person, it couldn’t be right for such a goody two shoes. Sure, she’d been bullied, but after her abusive mother had left them, her father had taken care to raise her right and encourage her genius. She got mental help. By the time she graduated college at sixteen, she… still didn’t understand people at all, but liked them all the same. Sure, she still couldn’t get most of the empathy stuff herself, but they were so much fun to be around anyway due to their unpredictable nature. People were the only thing she couldn’t predict, so she loved them. When her inventions started bringing in the cash, she heard about people who took on heroic roles despite their mundane natures, and aspired to join their ranks - and after a few years of work, she did. The Great Machina had been eager to help people, and maybe understand them better in doing so. 

    The Scientist made some additions while he worked; the experiment itself was already a success, so may as well give them a reward. Namely… both of them now had some minor reality altering powers, distilled from the subject of his first test (who was helpfully pulling levers for him, now). Enough that so far as the world was concerned, this would be how they’d always been. At least until some hero or villain with the power to be resistant to reality shifts noticed something was up, but that was far from his concerns. Scarlet Soldier would be converting some people into the soldiers she’d of course brought with her to this world; the robotic drones The Great Machina had built were terminal patients who’d voluntarily taken her deal to preserve themselves, and kept their identities. 

    The women would snap awake standing upright in the warehouse, as if no time had passed at all. For a half second, their minds were blank, wondering what they were doing. Then they remembered why they were there. 

    “So why did you take my invitation to a fight, soldier?” The Great Machina said to her nemesis. “Bored?” 

    “Somewhat.” The Scarlet Soldier admitted. “There is no honor in assaulting the helpless. My only goal here is to destroy the world’s defenses; that includes you. This is a far simpler way of getting into a fight than going on a rampage to draw you out.” 

    “I mean, let’s be real, there’s gonna be bystanders that get hurt once I blow you through the wall or vice versa.” The Great Machina said with a shrug, charging her weapons. 

    “You seem remarkably nonchalant about that.” The Soldier pointed out. 

    “What happens happens. Can’t stop it short of not fighting you. Can always bot them and bring them back later, yeah?” 

    The Scarlet Soldier cracked her knuckles. “I suppose so. Shall I begin, then? Can’t have a hero cause the first collateral, can we?” 

    “Oh, thanks!” Machina said, just before she was punched through a wall. 

    The city would be witness to the first battle between the Scarlet Soldier and the Great Machina. Or the fiftieth? Nobody would remember for sure, after a few days...