Line #119 Literature/TheVillainsSeries


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_12_00.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Main/RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver]]
3
4	->''But these words people threw around--humans, monsters, heroes, villains--to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain '''for''' trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.''
5	-->-- '''Victor Vale'''
6
7	The ''Villains'' series is a duology of books by Creator/VESchwab which includes ''Vicious (2013)'' and ''Vengeful (2018)''.
8
9	''Vicious'' begins the story of Victor Vale and Eliot "Eli" Cardale, two academic rivals and best friends, who are working on their senior theses when a shared research interest leads them to a working theory about the adrenaline response of near-death experiences as a possible origin of super-powered individuals [[note]](called [=EOs=] in this setting, short for [=ExtraOrdinary=])[[/note]]. [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy In a fit of drunken impulsiveness]], they decide to test the theory on themselves, with predictably tragic results. Ten years later, Victor escapes prison with his cellmate, a talented hacker named Mitch Turner, and embarks on a revenge-fueled quest to hunt down his former friend, now known as [[MeaningfulRename Eli Ever]]. On the outskirts of a city called [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Merit]], their path crosses with Sydney Clarke, an almost-thirteen-year-old with a bullet wound in her arm, a personal interest in seeing Eli Ever pay for his crimes, and the ability to raise the dead, sending them all speeding down a path towards an explosive showdown.
10
11	''Vengeful'' picks up five years later, with the surviving characters dealing with the aftermath of the first book and the choices they all made that fateful night. Meanwhile, things are once again shaking up in Merit, with the sudden rise of a powerful and ambitious new [=EO=] named Marcella Morgan. The wife of a recently deceased mob boss, Marcella has been biding her time at her husband's side and formulating her own ideas about how the city should be run... ideas that put her on the radar of a shadowy new organization known as [=EON=].
12
13	Schwab has announced plans for a third entry in the series -- tentatively titled ''Victorious'' -- with an unknown release date.
14
15	A ComicBook series set in the five years between ''Vicious'' and ''Vengeful'' called ''ComicBook/{{ExtraOrdinary}}'' was published by Titan Comics in 2021.
16
17	'''This article contains unmarked spoilers for ''Vicious''.'''
18	----
19	!!There are no Good Tropes in this game:
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder:A-L]]
24	* AbuseMistake: After learning that [[spoiler:Victor's power is hurting people, June asks Sydney if Victor has ever hurt ''her'', and Sydney initially says "no" before amending it to "not on purpose". Sydney is being literal: Victor's powers have caused her pain on a few occasions, but it's due to his PowerIncontinence going off while she's in the room. She doesn't clarify the situation though, so June interprets it as Sydney making apologies for a man who is physically abusing her]].
25	* AbusiveParents: Eli suffered a violent childhood at the hands of his father, a preacher, who justified his constant beatings by claiming it was necessary to cleanse him of sin.
26	* AffablyEvil: Victor Vale is calm, methodical and polite to everyone around him and genuinely cares about his loved ones but he has a very devious mind and is TheUnfettered when it comes to getting revenge.
27	* AlliterativeName:
28	** '''V'''ictor '''V'''ale.
29	** '''E'''li '''E'''ver, though this is an assumed name.
30	** '''M'''arcella '''M'''organ, which is her maiden name and she reclaims it after [[spoiler:she murders her cheating husband]].
31	* AllForNothing: Eli succeeds in killing Victor, but thanks to Sydney, it doesn't stick. He ends the first novel in jail, without Serena, and everything he worked for being for naught.
32	* AmbiguouslyBi: Eli and Victor both had romantic feelings for Angie Knight in the past, but their relationship with each other is ''very'' intense, both when they're best friends and when they're trying to kill each other.
33	* AnachronicOrder: The first book's narrative jumps all over the timeline, in all covering a span of about ten years. The second book is told in a similar style, but the main story-line takes place over five years, not including the flashbacks of Eli's childhood.
34	* AntiVillain: Victor is not a good person, but he's not all bad, either... and he's miles better than Eli (at least, in the first book; he loses most of whatever moral high ground existed between the two of them in the second book).
35	* BadassBoast: Two very good ones, in rapid succession.
36	-->'''Eli:''' You can't kill me, Victor. You know that.\
37	'''Victor:''' I know. But you'll have to indulge me. I've waited ''so long'' to try.
38	* BadBoss: Due to the number of assassination attempts on her life, Marcella grows increasingly paranoid as the story progresses, leading her to start killing underlings for slight -- or even perceived -- insults.
39	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Eli tells Victor that his choice of last name, "Ever", is because he [[LegacySeeker doesn't want to be forgotten]]. He's going to be remembered forever as a SerialKiller.
40	* BestServedCold: Victor spends his ten years in prison dreaming of the day that he can finally look Eli in the eye and put three bullets into his chest, like Eli once did to him, and once he finally gets the opportunity to do so he's delighted to find out the experience lived up to his imagination.
41	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Sydney's a nice girl, but not one to cross. By the end of ''Vicious'', Eli's the target of her wrath, and she plans to leak the fact that he has a HealingFactor to whatever prison or hospital he ends up in -- so his fellow inmates can [[TheChewToy can have fun with him]].
42	* BlessedWithSuck:
43	** Serena finds that life isn't very fulfilling when everyone in the world is forced to obey/try to please her.
44	** As stated under BewareTheNiceOnes, Sydney's plan for Eli at the ending of the first book implies this fate awaits him in prison. Keep in mind, Eli's abilities don't prevent him from feeling pain, so while he will undoubtedly survive whatever punishment comes his way, he'll still feel all of it. In the second book, we find out the reality was even ''worse''; [[spoiler:a MadScientist got hold of him and studied him via vivisection. Without anesthesia.]]
45	* BodyguardingABadass:
46	** Mitch takes it upon himself to look out for his newest cellmate, a quiet and unassuming fellow named Victor Vale, only to see first-hand several days later that Victor is more than capable of taking care of himself. Victor, however, invites him to keep on watching his back so that other people don't realize what he's capable of as well.
47	** After EON starts sending hit squads after Marcella, June recommends hiring an EO named Jonathan as her personal bodyguard, just in case one of the goons ever manages to get lucky. Jonathan's powers? The ability to throw a deflector shield around himself and anyone in his line of sight. Marcella hires him immediately, and he's at her side for the rest of the book.
48	* BrokenPedestal: The events just before and during the novel ''shatter'' Sydney's respect and near-idolization of her older sister, Serena. Of course, your sister trying to have you killed tends to do that.
49	* CainAndAbel: Serena lures Sydney out to be murdered by Eli, despite their former close bond, because she agrees with him that something is very wrong with [=EOs=].
50	* CameBackWrong:
51	** Eli believes this is true of ''all'' [=EOs=]. He thinks they aren't really people, just pale imitations, and that he, as the only [=EO=] he knows whose power can only be used on himself, has been given a mission by God to destroy them. While the latter part is a delusion, he does have a point about the former; all [=EOs=] in ''Vicious'' except Sydney show a conspicuous {{Lack of Empathy}}. Both Serena and Victor agree that coming back takes something away from them, it's just that Victor doesn't care.
52	** This is an unfortunate side-effect for [=EO=]'s resurrected by Sydney, who experience difficulty controlling their powers, as they discover once she resurrects Barry Lynch. This is her biggest fear regarding [[spoiler: her resurrection of Victor; physically, he comes back fine, and his power initially appears to be intact, but a few weeks later it begins to go on the fritz. See the entry under PowerIncontinence for how that turns out.]]
53	* CanineCompanion: Dol, the massive black dog that Sydney and Victor rescue after it's hit by a car in ''Vicious''. The entire team is fond of him, but he's particularly attached to Sydney since she's the one who brought him back from the dead (three times now).
54	* CapeBusters: Most police departments have officers trained to deal with [=EOs=].
55	** Additionally, ''[=ExtraOrdinary=] Observation and Neutralization'' (EON) in the second book.
56	* CharmPerson: Even when Serena isn't talking, mere proximity to her causes people to want her to like them.
57	* ChurchgoingVillain: Eli is extremely religious, and views his quest as a holy MissionFromGod.
58	* CompellingVoice: People are forced to obey Serena's every command, even if that command is to jump off a bridge.
59	* CreateYourOwnVillain:
60	** Victor's accidental killing of Angie is what sets Eli on his path, though Eli clearly had a screw loose from the word "go."
61	** On the flip-side, Eli getting Victor sent to jail sets Victor on ''his'' path.
62	* CreatorInJoke: At the Halloween party Sydney tries to go to in the second book, she spots a boy in a red coat making out with a girl in a horned mask, a reference to [[Literature/ShadesOfMagic Kell and Lila]]
63	* DeadPersonConversation: Subverted. [[spoiler:Eli ''thinks'' he's having these with Victor in prison, going so far as to think Victor's ghost may be haunting him. Then he finds out Victor is alive...]]
64	* DeathGlare: Victor's is assisted by his ability to generate physical discomfort in the person he's glaring at, which makes it especially effective.
65	* DeathIsCheap: If Sydney is around, the first death is, anyway. Anything over one is much harder. And maybe not so cheap after all if you're already an EO when she resurrects you.
66	* DeathSeeker: Marcella's bodyguard, Jonathan, is suidically depressed but the nature of his powers makes him unable to kill himself. He mainly agrees to the job in the hope that someone or something will find a weakness that he hasn't and do the job for him.
67	* DestructiveRomance: Well, "romance" is the wrong word for it, but Eli and Serena are sleeping together, and it just adds another layer of screwed-up to their already thoroughly screwed-up relationship. Nothing like having to order your partner not to kill you to spice things up in the bedroom.
68	* DifferentlyPoweredIndividual: Referred to as [=EOs=], short for Extra Ordinary.
69	* DragonWithAnAgenda: Serena is Eli's right hand only because she knows that if she doesn't help him with his crusade, and isn't always around so she can continually order him to not kill her, she's going to find herself on the wrong end of his gun. (Multiple characters note that, although it seems like Eli is using the police, in actuality ''she'' is using them, just for him.) Needless to say, the second she finds a way she can get rid of him, she turns on him.
70	* DrivenToSuicide: Eli's mother killed herself when he was young.
71	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
72	** Victor genuinely cares about Mitch and Sydney, especially the latter. And, at one point, he and Eli were best friends.
73	** Just about Serena's only saving grace is that she truly loves Sydney. Not that it stops her from letting Eli try to kill her.
74	** Eli genuinely loved his mother, as well as his aunt and uncle. If they hadn't all died, he might have gone down a better path.
75	** Marcella did love her husband... which is why she's so, ''so'' utterly pissed when she finds out he's cheating, as she's always been faithful to him. [[spoiler:And then he tries to kill her, which pretty much ends the romance for good.]]
76	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Stell isn't a good guy, but he finds Dr. Haverty's actions in [[spoiler:imprisoning and experimenting on Eli]] to be morally reprehensible, and [[spoiler:pulls strings to get Eli assigned to work for him, instead. Eli's still a prisoner, but at least he's not being tortured anymore.]]
77	* ExactWords: Near the end of ''Vicious'', Serena orders Sydney to go somewhere "safe", meaning out of the way of whatever blowup Victor and Eli are heading for. Unbeknownst to Serena, the only place Sydney feels safe anymore is with Victor...
78	* {{Expy}}: Victor and Eli for Dr. Doom and Reed Richards -- two brilliant former best friends who clash over science theories and a girl. Except for the fact that they're ''both'' bad guys, with Victor actually being slightly better.
79	* FamilyOfChoice: Mitch, Victor, and Sydney are this by the second book, with Dominic as their extended family. (Good luck getting Victor to admit it, of course.) Mitch and Dominic have no living family, and Victor and Sydney aren't really on good terms with theirs, but they all stick together and act like an odd combination of two dads and their daughter, and two older siblings raising their younger sister (with Dominic as the long-distance uncle). Sydney even calls the guys her family multiple times.
80	** June is also a firm believer in this trope, saying families that are chosen are more valuable than ones forced on you by blood, and she wants [[spoiler:Sydney]] to choose to be part of her family.
81	* FaceOfAThug: Mitch ''looks'' like he's up to no good, which makes everyone assume that that's actually in the case, when in reality, he's a nice guy with an unfortunate habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
82	* FeelNoPain: Victor's powers give him the ability to [[MasterOfYourDomain modulate or fully shut down his level of pain]]. He can extend this to either increase or reduce pain levels in other people as well.
83	* FreudianExcuse: Eli's father was physically and emotionally abusive, which might explain a lot of his issues.
84	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
85	** In ''Vicious'' one of Victor's blackout poems results in the phrase "We...ruin...all...we touch." In ''Vengeful'', he meets Marcella, a woman with the power to literally bring ruin to anything she touches.
86	** June tells Marcella she should really try to figure out the limits of her powers, and Marcella speculates that she might not actually have any. [[spoiler: In the end, she really seems not to, but that actually gets her killed because she doesn't realize she needs to rein herself in.]]
87	** At the end of ''Vicious'', Sydney decides to leak information about Eli's HealingFactor to whatever prison he ends up in, figuring that that'll turn him into a human pincushion. [[spoiler:In ''Vengeful'', Eli ends up as the sole guinea pig of a MadScientist, who continually operates on and even ''vivisects'' him... which is more or less exactly what Sydney hoped for. Though what Dr. Haverty does to Eli is so horrible, it's unlikely that Sydney would've wished it on ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor anyone]]''.]]
88	* GambitPileup: Marcella's gala at the Old Courthouse serves as the climax of ''Vengeful'', with all the major characters and their various motivations colliding all at once. [[spoiler:Marcella plans to unveil her vision for the future of Merit at the event, while a team from EON is there to finally put a stop to her growing body count -- with Eli in tow to land the killing blow, since he's the only person alive who has a chance to withstand her powers. Eli, however, is planning to use the chaos of the event to make his escape instead. Meanwhile, Victor gate-crashes the party with the single-minded goal of killing Eli, but is first intercepted by June who blackmails him into helping her take Marcella down to keep Sydney safe. The whole situation results in a MeleeATrois, with Eli and Marcella locked in a battle to the death, Victor and Stell briefly teaming up to [[EnemyMine take down her EO bodyguard]], all while Victor is also simultaneously ducking various EON goons and keeping an eye open for a chance to take his shot at Eli]].
89	* GentleTouchVsFirmHand: Mitch and Victor, respectively, when it comes to Sydney. Mitch is in general extremely kind to her, focusing on her education and trying to be understanding when she's being rebellious. Victor, though he does genuinely care for Sydney, is quite harsh and doesn't hesitate to lay down the law, or spell out unpleasant realities.
90	* GrayAndGreyMorality: The entire plot. No one's fully good or fully bad, and everyone is in it for their own selfish reasons (except maybe Sydney, since she got dragged into this mess by circumstance).
91	* GreenEyedMonster: One of Victor's flaws. He was irritated by and envious of Eli and Angie's romantic relationship, because they made him feel left out. This also bleeds into his jealousy over Eli discovering how to create superpowers, and drove him to even more reckless risks in an attempt to get some for himself.
92	--> ''[[ItsAllAboutMe Victor Vale was not a fucking sidekick.]]''
93	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Sydney is blonde and kindhearted, in stark contrast to her sister and Victor.
94	* HairTriggerTemper: Marcella responds to evidence of her husband's infidelity by immediately grabbing the nearest steak knife and trying to kill him. After waking up in the hospital with superpowers that are fueled by her rage, her temper grows progressively shorter as a lifetime of being underestimated and overlooked finally catches up to her, and she proceeds to carve a path of death and destruction through the city of Merit.
95	* HappilyAdopted: Eli's various foster families are all an improvement over his abusive birth family, but he's at his happiest during his time with his aunt and uncle.
96	* HealingFactor: Eli's power. He is able to heal from injuries almost instantaneously, unless the object causing the injury isn't removed or it's too large for his body to heal around.
97	* HighOnHomicide: Eli experiences a feeling of peace after dispatching other [=EOs=], a feeling he believes is a sign of God's blessing.
98	* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
99	** After Eli's fight with Victor at the Falcon Price, the police refuse to believe that Eli acted in self defense, because he's completely uninjured.
100	** Also, when Marcella goes up against Eli, she [[spoiler:cuts loose and ends up destroying ''everything'' around them, including the floor, which allows Eli to break it and send them both falling a fatal distance...for her.]]
101	* HunterOfHisOwnKind:
102	** Eli's an EO on a killing spree against all other [=EOs=].
103	** [[spoiler: Stell's second, Rios]] turns out to be an EO working for EON.
104	* {{Hypocrite}}: Eli is thoroughly convinced [=EOs=] are an affront against God and need to be put down... except him. He's fine, and in fact, has been chosen to carry out His bloody crusade.
105	* IconicOutfit: You will be hard-pressed to find fan art of Victor Vale in which he is ''not'' dressed in head-to-toe black and wearing a BadassLongcoat.
106	* IHaveYourWife: A variant, as June doesn't need to kidnap someone to hurt them--all she needs to do is be able to assume their form, and then hurt ''herself'', as injuries are always transferred to the original. [[spoiler: She forces Victor to help her take down Marcella by turning into Mitch and holding a gun to her own head.]]
107	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: In a way. Why doesn't June [[spoiler:just force Sydney away from Victor]], as she clearly thinks would be best for her, and she later demonstrates she ''is'' capable of doing? Because June wants her to ''choose'' to come with her, of her own free will, not be forced into it.
108	* IWarnedYou: In ''Vengeful'', Eli is unsympathetic when [[spoiler:EON has difficulty capturing Victor -- as he continually points out, he ''told'' them to burn his body five years ago.]]
109	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Marcella's]] husband tries to kill her. She winds up coming back as an EO, and kills ''him'' instead. Very, ''very'' painfully.
110	* KillItWithFire: With Sydney around, burning a corpse is the only way to ensure that a person will actually stay dead. Victor and Mitch dispose of Serena's body in this fashion specifically to prevent Sydney from resurrecting her, and Eli begs his arresting officers to burn Victor's body for this same reason (luckily for Victor, they don't listen).
111	* KilledOffForReal: So far, [[spoiler:Eli, Marcella, Stell, Dominic, and Serena are all dead-for-real. Eli, Stell, and Dominic still have bodies intact as of the end of ''Vengeful'', meaning they conceivably ''could'' come back in any future installments, but Serena and Marcella aren't so lucky.]]
112	* KnightTemplar: Eli sees other [=EOs=] as evil by definition. He sees his killings as not just good, but holy.
113	* LackOfEmpathy: It's what [=EOs=] give up for power, along with compassion and a general ability to care about others. Victor and Eli are the most glaring examples and both have routines or rules they follow to emulate empathy. However, it is not complete as the {{Even Evil Has Loved Ones}} examples above show.
114	* LadyMacbeth: Marcella was a classic example to her mobster husband, pushing him to get further into the business so they (or rather, ''she'') could gain more power. [[spoiler:After becoming an EO, she kills him and seizes control herself.]]
115	* LonelyRichKid: Victor's parents are bestselling authors and quite wealthy, but they were distant and rarely around while he was growing up, resulting in a strained relationship -- at best -- with their son. He's also naturally a loner, which means he has very few friends. He doesn't dwell on it much.
116	* LostLenore: Angie, for both Victor and Eli.
117	[[/folder]]
118	[[folder:M-Z]]
119	* MadScientist: Victor and Eli, technically. Their process for discovering [=EO=]s is very scientific, as well as very dangerous and quite insane. Dr Haverty is a more straight example.
120	* MafiaPrincess: Subverted by Marcella. She's not content with letting her husband run the mob while she enjoys the benefits -- she wants the power and prestige that comes with being the boss.
121	* ManipulativeBastard: Victor Vale is an expert at getting under people's skins and then manipulating them like puppets in his grand schemes. See the ThanatosGambit listed below for his ultimate example.
122	* MeaningfulName:
123	** Victor shares his first name with ComicBook/DoctorDoom, of whom he is an {{Expy}}.
124	** Dominic ''Rusher'' has powers that make him appear as though he's teleporting.
125	** "Serena" is very close to "Sirena," a Greek name that references the sirens -- beautiful women who used their {{Compelling Voice}}s to lure people to their doom. Just like Serena Clarke.
126	** "Angie," as in "Angelica," which, of course, means "Angel." Angie Knight dies.
127	** "Marcella" ultimately derives from "Mars", the Roman god of war. You do ''not'' want to mess with her.
128	* MeaningfulRename:
129	** Eli changed his last name from Cardale to Ever, partially to [[ShedTheFamilyName shed his connection to his abusive family]] and partially because he thinks all the best superheroes have alliterative names.
130	** Marcella goes back to using her maiden name of Morgan after [[spoiler: her husband's attempt to murder her]].
131	* MissionFromGod: Eli thinks he's on one, but he's hopelessly deluded.
132	* MistakenForSuicidal: Victor's first attempt at a near death experience in order to gain superpowers ends up landing him in therapy, under the belief that he's become suicidal.
133	* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler:June turns on Marcella when the latter threatens Sydney's life, which ultimately gets Marcella killed.]]
134	* MoralityPet:
135	** Sydney is pretty much the heart of the series because of this trope.
136	*** She brings out whatever good is left in Victor. He even admits to her that he won't tell her exactly what he's up to, because he's afraid it'd make her lose respect in him.
137	*** Serena also truly loves her... though it's subverted in that she agrees to let Eli kill her. She does have some reservations about it, though, and does try to protect her in the climax. Ultimately, she loves Sydney, but not enough for it to make any real difference in the end.
138	*** In the second book, she also wins June's affection and protection.
139	** It's less obvious, but Victor does genuinely care quite a bit about Mitch, and [[spoiler:he realizes too late that he should have appreciated Dominic more]].
140	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate:
141	** Victor ''would'' be this, except the prison sentence prevented him from getting his doctorate. He's a touch bitter about this.
142	** Dr. Haverty, who [[spoiler:experiments on and vivisects Eli, among others, in the second book.]]
143	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Serena gets hit with this about a half-second before Eli tries to kill Sydney.
144	* NiceGuy: Mitch is a genuinely friendly, nice person who just so happens to have phenomenally bad luck. It's very telling that even when he decided ThenLetMeBeEvil, he chose a crime in which no one would be hurt.
145	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished:
146	** Angie gets a text from Victor asking for help, and without a second thought, drops everything to help her friend. This sets off a chain of events that gets her killed.
147	** [[spoiler:Dominic]] blows his cover at [=EON=] to save Victor's life and suffers a fatal gunshot wound during their ensuing escape.
148	* NotGrowingUpSucks: Well, Sydney ''does'' age, but very, very slowly. By the second book, [[spoiler:she's pretty sick of being treated like a child by everyone who looks at her, even though she's now eighteen years old.]]
149	* OlderThanTheyLook: Eli hasn't physically aged since the night he gained his powers, meaning that he still looks like a 22 year old college student fifteen years later.
150	** As noted above Sydney does age, but at a much slower rate than normal, meaning she still appears to be in her early teens and probably will for quite a while.
151	* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Eli and Victor are both very insistent that ''they'' take the other out. In a twist, [[spoiler: Sydney is the one who ultimately pulls the trigger on Eli in ''Vengeful'', putting him down (at least for now). Fitting, considering that he tried to execute her when she was only twelve and she's been haunted by nightmares about it ever since.]]
152	* OpportunisticBastard: Eli, as demonstrated in ''Vengeful'', had to be this way in order to make his way in life, because he started with basically nothing. While he's willing to callously dump his girlfriend in exchange for a bribe from her father and has other displays of LackOfEmpathy, it's somewhat understandable, at least up to a point.
153	* ParentalNeglect: Sydney's parents were absent for most of her childhood, to the point that Serena used to comfort Sydney by making up stories about them being adopted. She tells Victor in the present day that they left her alone at the hospital ''after she drowned'' because they had to work, and that they won't notice or care that she's missing. It's one of the first things she and [[LonelyRichKid Victor]] are able to bond over.
154	** ParentalSubstitute: Sydney cuts ties with her parents and remains with Mitch and Victor after the events of the first book, with them both filling the parent role. Mitch looks after her the closest, even taking it upon himself to home-school her, while Victor is parental towards her in his own way, but is a significantly less... nurturing presence.
155	* PlotTriggeringDeath: Poor Angie. Her death is what begins this entire shitshow.
156	* PowerIncontinence: While Victor is able to keep a very tight reign on his powers while he's awake, he isn't able to maintain that same level of control while he's asleep, and this sometimes results in uncontrolled surges of pain that affect anyone close-by, as Sydney discovers when she accidentally wakes him while he's in the middle of a traumatic nightmare/flashback about the night Angie died. He doesn't sleep much as a result.
157	** In ''Vengeful'', [[spoiler:Victor's powers are on the fritz after his resurrection, causing episodes where they will suddenly overload and explode in violent bursts of energy that temporarily stop his heart and can cause serious damage to anyone in his immediate vicinity. His health suffers severely because of this.]]
158	* ProfessionalKiller: June. Her ability to shapeshift into anyone she's ever touched, plus the fact that ''she'' cannot be hurt while shapeshifted (the person whose face she's wearing sustains all damage she takes), makes her especially effective.
159	* PsychicAssistedSuicide: Serena attempts this on Mitch, but he knew that she would and had already triple checked to make sure his gun wasn't loaded before she arrived.
160	* PsychicNosebleed: Happens to Victor when he first tries out his powers. Of course, having just gotten them can't have helped.
161	* QuestionableConsent: Part of the reason Serena dislikes her powers so much is that she knows her passive "you want to please me" aura interferes with a person's agency even if she avoids imperatives -- so she can never be certain a sex partner is 100% willing. Since Eli will murder her if she goes too long without ordering him not to, however, she’s fine ignoring this issue when it comes to him.
162	* RapeAsBackstory: The details are left deliberately vague, but June is introduced near the end of her personal quest to hunt down the group of men who assaulted her and left her for dead.
163	* ScarsAreForever: Although Eli's healing factor prevents him from acquiring any new scars, it can't do anything about the web of scars that cover his back as a result of his father's beatings when he was a child.
164	** Sydney's resurrection of Victor at the end of ''Vicious'' erases all of the damage he sustained at Eli's hands during their battle at the Falcon Price, but he still has three bullet wound scars on his chest, courtesy of Eli's first attempt at killing him in their dorm room.
165	* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:His mother was already dead, but Eli finishes the job by shoving his father down a flight of stairs and waiting until his breathing stopped before calling for help. [[AssholeVictim It's hard to feel at all bad about this]].]]
166	* SelfMutilationDemonstration: Eli tests out his newfound healing abilities by repeatedly slitting his wrists.
167	* SerialKiller:
168	** Eli murders other people with powers as he views them as an affront to God, believing this to be his [[MissionFromGod divinely ordained duty]].
169	** After learning that [[spoiler:Stell is running an organization dedicated to hunting down [=EOs=], Victor immediately retraces his steps and eliminates everyone he sought assistance from during his quest to find a cure for his illness. He's not happy about it, but his justification for it to Sydney is that it's necessary to keep them safe.]]
170	** Marcella goes on a rampage through Merit in the second book, leaving piles of bodies in her wake.
171	* ShoutOut: Victor borrows [[Anime/CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel's]] iconic finger gun in ''Vengeful''. It's not even required for his super-power to work, he's clearly just showing off.
172	** Another key scene in ''Vengeful'' takes place at a hotel called [[Franchise/JohnWick "The Continental"]], which the author has confirmed is a deliberate nod.
173	* StrongFamilyResemblance: Sydney looks exactly like her older sister Serena, just seven years younger.
174	* ThanatosGambit: Knowing he has little chance of winning a head-on confrontation against Eli due to the latter's HealingFactor, Victor instead devises a complex scheme that uses that fact to his advantage. He first kills Serena to break her and Eli's hold over the Merit Police Department, and then lures Eli to the Falcon Price for a confrontation. During the ensuing fight, Eli instantly recovers from every injury Victor inflicts, while Victor is slowly beaten and stabbed to death, and the police arrive on the scene shortly after it's over to find Eli completely unharmed and drenched in Victor's blood. He is arrested on the spot, and the subsequent investigation uncovers evidence of his double-digit body count, sending him to jail for a ''very'' long time. Meanwhile, [[ResurrectionGambit Victor is resurrected by Sydney only days later]], with the full satisfaction of watching as his rival's entire life and public image is destroyed.
175	* TheTeamNormal: Mitch is abnormally unlucky, but this doesn't appear to have a supernatural cause.
176	* ThenLetMeBeEvil:
177	** After years of everyone assuming he was up to no good, despite him being a nice, upstanding sort of guy, Mitch decided to rob a bank. This lands him in jail... where he meets Victor.
178	** When Victor learns that the public considers Eli to be a hero and that opposing him would make Victor a villain, his response is basically, "Sure, why not?"
179	* TimeStandsStill: Dominic's power appears to be a form of teleportation, but it actually consists of him stopping time and walking somewhere else.
180	* TookALevelInJerkass: Victor was by no means a saint in the first book, but he was at least focusing his worst impulses on his rivalry with Eli and was still doing what he could to avoid harming civilians or innocent bystanders. In ''Vengeful'', the combined anxiety over his escalating health problems and the constant threat of being hunted down by EON sends him into darker territory, leading to his decision to [[spoiler:kill everyone he'd previously sought out for help in order to eliminate potential witnesses. Worse, when Sydney objects to his becoming a serial killer, he forces her to [[SadisticChoice choose between their safety or the lives of the people who could identify them]].]]
181	* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: A near death experience is required for someone to become an [=EO=], with their resulting superpower being linked to the final thought or desire that helped them to pull through.
182	** Eli and Victor ''invoke'' this by, respectively, drowning in an ice-bath (Eli), and being tortured with electricity until his body gave out (Victor).
183	** Sydney and Serena's powers are the result of falling through a frozen lake and drowning/freezing to death.
184	** Dominic spent weeks in a coma after surviving an IED blast that left him with severe chronic pain.
185	** Marcella's husband attempted to burn their house down with her inside after she discovered his infidelity and attacked him in a fit of rage.
186	** June's backstory is vague, but her powers are the result swearing that she would never be hurt again after surviving a violent assault.
187	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Sydney's near-death experience left her with the ability to bring people back from the dead, which leads to her doing things like testing her new powers on hospital cadavers (which she then has to make dead again) and attempting to resurrect small animals from long-dead and incomplete skeletons. Even without all of ''that'', Mitch notes gloomily in the first book that she's starting to sound like [[TheUnfettered Victor]] after spending only three days in his company.
188	--> ''"I hope Victor hurts him," she said cheerfully. "A lot."''
189	* VillainProtagonist: TheSeries! Mitch summed it up perfectly when he told Sydney "there are no good men in this game."
190	** Victor's a self-centered douche who has no qualms about manipulating people to get what he wants, and Eli's a SerialKiller with delusions of grandeur. Our protagonists, ladies and gentlemen!
191	** The second book introduces Marcella, who is a [[AmbitionIsEvil highly ambitious]] mob wife-turned-SerialKiller.
192	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Eli has this in the first book, thanks to Serena's influence over the Merit Police Department. Subverted once she's dispatched by Victor, nullifying her influence, and Eli's subsequently caught red-handed at a murder scene.
193	* WeUsedToBeFriends:
194	** Victor and Eli were once best friends. To say they're no longer on good terms is a massive understatement.
195	** Perhaps worse is Sydney and Serena. The two sisters were once thick as thieves. Now they're on opposing sides, and Serena attempts to have Eli kill Sydney.
196	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Eli genuinely believes he's doing the right thing by killing [=EOs=], seeing them as being against God.
197	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Eli doesn't see [=EOs=] as human, but as unholy abominations wearing human skin, and thus feels no guilt for killing them.
198	* WordSaladLyrics: Victor's favorite pastime is using his parent's self-help books for blackout poetry, with some of the results landing in this territory for maximum insult.
199	* WorthyOpponent: Victor and Eli's relationship is a little too personally fraught to really count -- they're so laser-focused on each other that nothing else was ever an option -- but Victor definitely sees Serena as this. Dominic expresses surprise after getting a good look at her the first time after helping Victor kill her, commenting that she's "just a girl", but Victor sharply contradicts him, telling him that far from being ''just'' anything, Serena is the most powerful woman in Merit.
200	* WouldHurtAChild: The way Eli sees it, if you're an EO, you have to die. Even if you're a defenseless twelve-year-old girl.
201	[[/folder]]
202	----
203	->''"To never dying."\
204	"To being remembered."\

Context Literature / TheVillainsSeries