“I want to make a pause here and talk about a topic not many soon-to-be masterminds and / or criminal organization leaders pay attention to; despite the criticality of the matter.

I’m talking, of course, of one’s minions’ development.

I cannot make enough emphasis on this: a weak minion means a weak link in the chain. Link which your foes will not hesitate to attack with all of their strength. On the other side, an army of strong minions is a very powerful asset. What most people mostly fail in, once they start with the… Career, if you may, is in ensuring their underlings’ strength.

Of course, that doesn’t mean every single member of your organization, familia, creed, cult, dark army of annihilation or what have you should at the very least be able to stand one of your hits. Cannon fodder is also important, mind you!

In the end, what I’m trying to say is: you don’t need a one man army. But make sure you look after your minions’ development…

Or you could end up regretting it very much.”

* ••••

“[Status: Features]”

[Conqueror’s Spark]

Gran Charisma:

- You emit a subtle aura of charisma, making others slightly more attracted towards you. This effect can be greatly boosted for a short period of time, resulting in a mindwash-like effect that lasts for 20 seconds. The effects will not apply after this period is over.

- Semi-Passive Skill (permanent effect; 24h cooldown)

- Boosted by the Conqueror’s Spark

Chaos Borne:

- Renders any attempts of tracking, mind reading or foretelling effects useless. If so wished, one can conceal their identity. Turns intangible for a short period of time

- Semi-Passive Skill (permanent effect; switch effect, no cooldown; switch effect, 2h cooldown)

- Boosted by the Conqueror’s Spark

Evileye of Truth:

- Boosts your natural sight and turns you immune to vision attacks. You can see things the normal eye cannot perceive. Display meta-humans’ Status. Forces others to answer the absolute truth to one question, punishing lies with unbearable pain.

- Semi-Passive Skill (permanent effect; switch effect, 2m cooldown)

- Boosted by the Conqueror’s Spark

Lawrence whistled.

“Man, the system is downright refusing to grant me any combat-based skills huh?”

Even so, the upgrades were amazing. A permanent boost to his charisma, mindwash effect, feature radar block, and lies detector. Not to talk about how cool all those features sounded. The cooldowns were acceptable at very least, what with the overpowered skills. Lawrence couldn’t complain, even though he was by now sure the system was actively avoiding to grant him any combat-related skills.

Not to talk about the general improvement in his overall performance. Lawrence felt… lighter. Stronger, quicker, smarter. Generally speaking, better. If he were to put it in other words, he assumed this was what leveling up felt. He felt full of energy, perfectly aware of his surroundings, and more than capable of processing a packload of information all at once.

Almost immediately he felt the need to test his new self. He looked around.

After the incident in the sewers, Lawrence’s house felt cozier than ever. He had even hired a Meta construction company for the reparations, which meant it was done in less than two hours. It was expensive as hell, and it took a serious toll on Lawrence’s savings… But he could afford it.

Not the Quickbrick company, mind you. For personal reasons he would later think about.

In the end, he left Red Beard & Co. back in the sewers. After giving it a lot of thought, he decided he had no way of handling them, so leaving them was for the best.

But, back to my business…

Lawrence scouted around, looking for the thing he would miss the less in case he broke something accidentally. It was a hard shot, since not many of the things that remained from the explosion were exactly inexpensive. At last, he settled for an old chair that did not quite match with the rest of the living room.

Lawrence gripped one of the chair’s legs and pulled…

“Whoah!!!”

It turned out, he hadn’t just imagined growing stronger. Before, with as much force he would have barely managed to completely lift the chair for a second. Now, however, he could hold it up the air with nothing but one hand. True, not without effort. But it was a major improvement over his previous self. Certainly a great help in case he got in melee combat like before. Still not anywhere near super-strength Meta-Abilities but it felt refreshing.

“Next up is… Ah, yes, dexterity check.”

There was one thing he had always wanted to do. Before, it seemed like an impossible dream. Childish, even. Now, however…

But could he do it?

“No pain, no gain” he said. He took a couple of steps back, then sprinted to gain impulse…

He had made a little miscalculation: Forgetting he was now faster, he was near to crash the wall by the time he had realized. Fortunately enough, his sense were sharper too now, and so, he managed to jump just in time…

Lawrence kicked the wall lightly. He launched himself to the middle of the air spinning… And then, in one swift motion, he round-kicked the air before him at an air-whistling speed, before backflipping and graciously falling to the ground.

He stood up and dusted his shoulders… and then jumped of joy, fist raised to the air.

“Who-hoo! Now that’s what I call an awesome kick! Hell yeah!”

Just to be sure, he tried other things of acrobatic nature, including sidestepping, rolling, and even a swift kick combo. Before, he would have gotten nothing but a cramp on his legs, a couple of days of limping, and a hurt self-esteem. Now, he performed to perfection.

“There is one final thing I want to try, though…”

He looked greedily at the longest wall around. It was practically begging him to run on it. Lawrence was more than happy to oblige.

“Here we go!” Without even taking impulse, he jumped to the wall and then ran as fast as he could… And, to his utter surprise, he crashed with the contiguous wall before even falling to the ground.

He cracked his neck and patted himself in the back a few times. All in place.

“Looks like I won’t be an easy prey from now on- at leat not for cannon fodder.” He shuddered. He didn’t imagine fighting against anything put petty criminals up until now…

But, taking in consideration the big mess he was in, that was most certainly about to change.

Lawrence shook his head. He would give a thought at it later. Right now, and being done with the dexterity check…

“Next up, skills check. Right… The brainwash one is pretty obvious, and too valuable to use on a test ride. Let’s go for the ‘conceal identity’ one. It doesn’t state how it conceals my identity, so… Maybe a mind effect?”

Instead of trying to guess the correct answer, of which he had as much chance as to watch a hippo walking tiptoes in the middle of the street with a tutu, he concentrated and called forth his new skill.

Immediately, he had the stupid urge of posing elegantly and snapping his fingers in the air. As a perfectly reasonable being, he refused to such show of childishness and exaggeration.

He refused, right?

Which was why he couldn’t understand how he had ended up in that exact same pose.

You have got to be fucking kidding me!

There was a burst of dark amethyst smoke, which coiled upon Lawence and hid his body from undesired public. Then, he felt the ridiculous sensation of being washed in dark stars, and felt as something gently stroked his whole body, leaving a feeling of… differentness wherever it touched. At the very last, this something gathered on his face, more exactly, right between his eyes, and stretched both sides, somehow not obscuring his vision at all.

Then, as suddenly as it started, the mist vanished with a trail of twinkling darkness.

Lawrence looked at himself in the living room’s mirror.

“Nope. Nononononono, I’m definitively not going to accept this! Hey, System! I demand a change of outfit! I am absolutely refusing to do this every time I want to conceal my identity!”

Lawrence now wore a very expensive-looking black tailcoat tuxedo, with golden buttons and fine embroidery in the sleeves. His pants looked like something a president would keep on his wardrobe for very special occasions. The shoes, a couple of black derby shoes, didn’t fall behind in classy looks… And expensiveness. Fine pure-white butler gloves that looked alien to the concept of ‘dust’ or ‘filth’ dressed his hands.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

And, of course, no mastermind outfit was complete without a suitable hat. In this case, the fanciest of black fedoras, topped with a purple strap. And, the cherry of the cake: a pitch-dark domino mask.

Am I some kind of joke magical girl for you, huh?! Lawrence cursed the system. This was precisely the thing he mocked the most about superhero cartoons: How they just seemed to stop time and magically change into their super-outfit. Were it real life, the villains would have killed everyone by the time they were done changing into their colored pajamas.

Granted, though: his clothes were as far from pajamas as they could be. He took another look at himself. He looked like he was dressed to attend to Her Majesty’s birthday party… to dance with Her in person. Also granted that it took less than a second to change to that from his casual homewear…

Alright, maybe it wasn’t as bad as he made it look.

Still, the whole posing and snapping was… Awfully ridiculous. He wouldn’t stand the shame of getting seen by someone…-

*Clap clap clap clap clap!*

Fuck. Me.

He turned around. Mikaella was clapping, her eyes so open and bright it looked like two big stars had taken vacations on them. She looked astounded.

“That’s cheating, Chief! You never said you had a classy villain suit! Aw dang, I want one too…! Can you buy me one? Please?! Puh-leeaaaashe??!!”

She was drooling a bit. And hugging his knees. It would stain his pants. He internally tch-ed. Once again, thanks god for… No, was it Chaos Borne now? Anyways.

“Mikaella. Calm down. And stop drooling on my pants, you’re ruining them.” He shook his leg a bit, and she finally let go. She still looked enthralled with the outfit.

“I didn’t buy it. Nor it was gifted to me, in any case. Or maybe yes. Whatver. It’s only part of one of my Features.” He wondered if he should tell her about the Conqueror’s Spark… Then decided against it. He was past wondering if trusting her was the right thing, but that didn’t mean the less anyone knew about him the better. “I got a Feature that boosts some of my skills. I can now conceal my identity… albeit at the cost of looking like a blasphemous cross over between El Zorro and the Godfather.” He did wear the suit better than both of them, he had to admit.

“Awesome! Do I get one of those too?”

“No idea. Did you check your Status? It appears a couple of Quests triggered after our little incident.”

“Right. [Toggle: Status]”

-----

Villain: Mikaella Brown

[ Status ]

Rank: D

(6) Quests before rank-up

Reputation: None

Feature Points: 1 (Next Feature costs 25 Feature Point)

-You have a Free Feature Voucher

[ Meta-Ability ]

Shadowbender: Enter a dimension of shadows frozen in time for a short time. Distance you traverse in said dimension applies to the real world. (Cooldown, 2min)

[ Features ]

Dark Vision:

- Allows you to see in the dark, and perceive things common eyes can’t

- Pasive skill

Shadow Storage:

- Allows to store an endless amount of items in your Shadow Dimension

- Semi-Passive Skill

[ Quests ]

– First Stain:

Fear! Respect! Appreciation! And more fear! When a villain’s deeds grow famous, so does the villain’s name! And who doesn’t want to see people flicker at the sole mention of his name? And so, it is your turn to make this meek neighborhood to know your name!

Goal: Make your name grow famous around the local area (2%)

Reward: Free Feature Voucher

– Evil Lord’s Right Hand:

Goal: Gain the respect of your chief (45%)

Reward: 25 Feature Points

– Unparalleled Lackey:

Goal: Help your chief with his evil plans (1/1)

Reward: 50 Feature Points

This Quest is completed. Claim Reward?

– Thou Shall Not Pass! (*2):

As a good minion, it is your job to make sure those who harm you or your Chief pay the cost dearly. So, Roll Them Bones.

Goal: Defeat the Chief’s foes: (2/2)

(Bonus) You Gotta Get Through Me: Defeat the Chief’s foes without him interfering in the fight (FAILED)

Reward: Free Feature Voucher (+25 Feature Points)

-----

“Claim all rewards and…”

He briefly considered telling her to use both Feature Vouchers at once, like he had. Somehow, though, he felt like it wouldn’t end as well as it did with him.

“Purchase one Feature, and use one of the Vouchers for another one. Save the last one for a dire situation. Also…” He guessed telling her that last bit wouldn’t do any harm. “Try to visualize what you want. It helps, somewhat.”

“So you wanted it? That classy outfit and cool sparkly eyes.”

Guh-! Right in the guts! Curse you child!

“Nonsense. Now, do your thing.”

She did so. At first, she looked weirdly at the place where Lawerence guessed the System boxes displayed… And then she jumped from joy as well.

“Yeah! I got a cool supersuit too!”

“Villain suit. Remember your place. Now, show me.”

She toggled her new features on.

Lurker in the Dark:

- You can hide in shadow. Your sense will merge with the shadow’s caster. Effect lasts little when hiding in other people’s shadows.

- Semi-Passive skill

Shade:

- You are one with the Shadows. The Shadows are one with you. And thus they will bend to your will.

- Temporary covers the caster in a cloack of darkness. For as long as the effect is active, the caster can forge simple weapons out of shadows. Said weapons vanish when struck by sunlight.

- Active Skill (2h cooldown)

And once again, she gets cooler powers. To this point I suspect it is the System bullying me. Why, Gods why?!

That said…

She just went up from ‘agent in the dark’ to ‘Shade Shinobi’. Holy fuck. So, she can basically shadowjump, store things in a parallel dimension, hide in other people’s shadows to spy them, and temporarily become an actual ninja of the shadows.

This girl… I’m glad I scouted her. She’s one hell of a force to be reckoned…

“Can I try? Please? Pretty please?”

He was about to say yes but finally decided against it. The cooldown was precious. They didn’t know when they would have to use it.

“Not now. I will tell you when. For now, you will have to make do with the excitement.”

“Torture! Child abuse, I say!”

“Say what you will. Now scram, or I will give you something to complaint about Child abuse.” He smiled. “Here” he reached for his wallet and threw it to her “This time I’m giving it to you willingly. You can buy anything you want, just don’t run me dry on cash. There’s an excellent coffeeshop around, they sell more sweets than what you can fill up your belly with. It’s called the Cloudsweet, can’t miss it. Just make sure you don’t give Miss Emma a lot of trouble, allright? Take this as your reward for today. You did well.”

“Right’o!” She smiled too. It was that kind of pure, bright smile you only see in kids these days.

I still don’t get how someone that’s been through everything she has can smile like that…

I must be getting old.

I’m only 21, though?

“Alright, time to relax…”

He would now enjoy a very intimate session with the fluffiness of his custom-made, deluxe-quality mattress. Comfort first!

Then… He would have to decide what to do with the shipload of shit in front of him.

* ••••

Mika left the house humming happily. The Chief had given her his wallet! His wallet! To her! And he even said she could spend as much as she wanted! She couldn’t believe it! The Chief was even more awesome than what she thought!

Mika had her doubts at first. About him. Sure, he looked scary. But she could be scary too. And he was smart. But she had beaten smart people before. Then he had offered her a house to stay, for free. One where you didn’t risk to get sick or pregnant from sleeping in a different bed. Or yours.

She shivered. The orphanage was a hostile place to live.

But her time at the orphanage was gone now. Thanks to the Chief. And she was living like never before! For free! Well, not exactly. She also had to work for him. But he always tried to make sure she wasn’t hurt. He didn’t underestimate her either, like a lot of nasty people in the slums. So, it was less dangerous work for a much better profit!

And also, the Chief was special. And she didn’t mean normal special. Not everyone would offer you to stay in their house one night, let alone for as long as you did some lightweight work for them. But that wasn’t alien, even if pretty weird.

She had thought he was nut for a second.

But no, she didn’t mean that kind of special. Special special. Like, whenever she hanged around him, whenever he talked to her or others, even when he looked away to the horizon, she could feel an itchy tingling, like she knew he was doing something important and Chief-ish. He was destined for great things, she could feel that.

And he had given her cookies. That was a big point on his favor.

But then, the sewers thing happened. And she caught a glimpse of the Chief’s true self.

It had happened when she was watching the bad guys… Well, the bad bad guys, not the good bad guys like her and the Chief. She felt like really needing to pee all the sudden. She double-checked for the bad bad guys, made sure they wouldn’t break the ropes. The Chief was nearby. She knew he would be around in case the worst happened. He could notice people with superpowers, and had said nothing about any of the bad bad guys so far, so she reckoned it was fine for her to slip away for a second?

The toilets of her hideout were dirty again. She cleaned them whenever she could, case she had to lay low for a while. Like that time she pissed the Feline King of Destruction.

Shudders.

They were still dirty. She had given up at that point.

Then, as she left the bathroom, she could feel an omnious presence. She thought it was a pervert, trying to take a peek. It was the Chief. It was alright. She didn’t mind the Chief peeking. He wasn’t a pervert.

Then he told her he was checking on her and sounded somewhat angry at her, which didn’t make much sense, but the Chief always knew what he did so she probably did something wrong. She followed him to their dungeon (alright, maybe it was just a plain basement) and the he made that dramatic entrance he knew how to do…

And everything went wrong.

It was like boom! And then, smash! And all the sudden, she couldn’t see the tip of her nose. She felt something aiming at her, though, so she hid safe in her shadow world and away from the aggressor. That she jumped out just in front of him was a coincidence. Mika had learned to take profit from coincidences, so she hit him and sent him flying away…

Then, two amethyst stars gleamed fiercely, lighting the world.

It took her some time to understand it was the Chief. His eyes always seemed to gleam that eerie tone of purple when he felt something strong. Like wrath. The smoke cleared up. She saw the Chief with a bloodied fist in the bad bad guy’s face. He looked scary. Suddenly, she felt like she was locked in the room with a demon, but the thought disappeared almost immediately. It was the Chief. He wouldn’t hurt her... right?

She looked at him again. He looked… dignified, now. Completely calm. He had stopped beating the bad bad guy. She felt… something? About him. Like he was… different? In a wooshie kind of way.

Just to be sure, she hid away from the battle. Then she realized she couldn’t just stand and do nothing. The Chief would be fine, he was like… She felt he would be fine without her. So she left to check on the bald bad bad guy, the one the Chief was hard-talking to.

Sure enough, he was trying to escape. A kick in the balls and a gag in the face later, she was sure he wouldn’t try again. The orphanage had taught her there was no such thing as a fair fight.

By the time she was back with the baldy, the Chief had controlled the situation. He had one of the bad bad guys next to him with a sharp knife on his throat, forcing the other to stay quiet. She imagined he could probably fight both at the same time, but didn’t want to kill them, so he did that instead.

He had ordered her to tie them up for sure this time. She had used the chains they had bought earlier. She thought it was to hit someone. It seemed the Chief liked his fists more.

All the time, the Chief had handled the situation perfectly. She had screwed up, and instead of punishing her, she had rewarded her.

She felt bad, and good, all at the same time and it made her fuzzy and she was fine with it.

And now, both the Chief and her had gotten cool super- err, villain suits! Could this day get any better?

“Uhm, excuse me, Miss?”

Mika shook her head. It looked like she had lost herself in her mind and wandered around aimlessly.

“You look lost, are you fine?” A pretty lady was talking to her from the sidewalk.

“Yeah. I’m hungry, though” she patted her tummy.

“Oh my!” The pretty lady smiled. “It looks like you came to the right place, then. My name is Emma.”

The pretty lady stepped aside, revealing the entrance to what Mika couldn’t call anything but a piece of heaven on the Earth.

“Welcome to the Cloudsweet Café!”