"Sir?" The police officer called to Lawrence, who was too busy thinking "what in world is this bratt doing here?" to pay attention to him.
"Sir, are you Lawrence Lakewood?"
"Eh?" He suddenly remembered there was someone else besides Mika and turned back to the police officer. "Oh... Uhm, yes, that's me. Why?"
The policeman turned his head to her. "Do you know this girl?"
"Yes, she..." Suddenly, he shut up. This was too strange. Why would a police officer come for him when he hadn't done a thing with the girl who stole his wallet? After giving it some thought, he answered. "She's my girlfriend"
Her eyes widened. She was about to protest, but then she shut up. She put the pieces together and figured out the plan. Good, she was smart. That would be useful...
Without realization, a grin drew itself on his face. The policeman gave him a confused look, but then he shook his head.
"Oh, I get it now." He took a key out of his pocket, turning Mika around. Lawrence hadn't noticed she was handcuffed up until now. The officer slid the key in the handcuffs, and with a "click" they came out smoothly. "Well, I was here to warn you a thief had robbed your wallet. She dropped it right in front of me and an ID with the name Lawrence Lakewood came out, so I figured it was stolen. Looks like you just borrowed it to her and forgot to take your ID out."
Just as he thought.
"I told you I didn't steal a thing!" Mika yelled to the cop as soon as she was free. Lawrence glared at her, pointing it would be better if she just shut up. She saw him, and sunk back a little.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. It's my duty to watch out for potential crime. I apologize for the inconveniences" the police lowered his head in an apology of sorts. "Here's your wallet, Mr. Lakewood."
"Well don't say that!" Lawrence took his wallet from the policeman's hand. "Any honest police officer would've done the same in your place! Besides, honey, you don't exactly look like the straightest person around the block with that weird hoodie and scarf of yours." It was Mika's time to glare at him, but he simply ignored her. It had to be said and so it was said.
"Anyways, officer, thanks for your service. I'm glad to know we have good people watching our backs. The newspapers kind of spooked me a little yesterday."
"Oh, you mean that? Don't worry about it. While that article wasn't entirely wrong, the violence boom always happens in the central neighborhoods. Nothing to worry about here, Plaza is an honest, quiet neighborhood almost outside Worne. The worst that could happen here is a low-time villain trying to steal a vending machine or something like that."
Lawrence couldn't help but feeling a bit offended by that last thing, but looking at the girl he was now holding by the hand he figured the cop was just about right.
"That's nice to know. By the way, would you like to come in and drink some coffee?" Lawrence wasn't particularly found of having an officer in the mess that was his house (he was 21 and single after all) but, the more cooperative he appeared with the police, the less suspicious he would look. The cop would probably refuse anyways.
"I'd like to, but I have to finish my round and I'm late. Thanks for the offer. Anyways, take care, Mr. Lakewood..."
Suddenly, the policeman eyed his hand. Where the patch covering his metahuman mark was placed.
"Coffee burn. Happens all the time" he said quickly, avoiding to draw more suspicion to him. "Well, honey, it's time we move inside. Thanks for your time, officer!"
And with that's he shoved Mika in the house before she had any time to protest, snuck back in a hurry, and closed the door behind him.
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"What the hell is this?"
They were both sitting in Lawrence"s living room, facing each other. Mika had now taken off the scarf and the hood (on Lawrence's request, it was hard to speak with someone so ridiculously dressed without seeing their face). He noticed that, aside from the fact she had a girly voice (even behind the scarf) and the hoodie was puffed out around the chest zone, he had no actual fact to prove she was a girl until now. Her silky chestnut hair fell on her back, and her eyes (a tad bigger than the usual) were deep brown... she looked like any other normal girl would.
Wallet-stealing aside.
"I should be the one asking. Why did you steal my money?" Well, it didn't take a genius to figure out she wanted quick cash. But the conversation had to start somewhere.
"Because it looked nice."
"Seriously?" That was unexpected.
"No. I wanted quick cash." A vein popped on Lawrence's forehead, but he ignored it and continued the interrogation.
"I see... So you are low on cash? You look like you just barely turned 18, so how does a girl like you end up with no cash and no one to cover for her expenses? No mother or father to look out for you?"
"I'm from a downtown orphanage."
Hmm. That explained a lot. Being in her position, he would get out of the orphanage as soon as possible. It was also true that with no education and no money in her pockets, she would have to steal her way out of trouble until she found another way of making stable cash.
"Is that so..." Lawrence got up, walked around thinking how to tell her what he had in mind.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Well then, that makes things all the more easier."
"What do you mean?"
"You say you have nowhere to go, no one to maintain you and no way of making cash?"
Mika nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I might have the solution for that..." He put some emphasis in the word "solution" as he sit on the couch again, crossed his legs, rested his arm over his knees and leaned back, pulling up the typical "charismatic villain" act he had seen in hero movies. God, he always wanted to do that...
He succeeded. Mika opened her eyes, leaning forward. Then she looked aside, as if considering things. Lawrence knew she had absolutely nothing to lose, and potential lot to win. She wouldn't refuse to at least hear him out. And, worst came to be, he could still use the fact that he saved her from jail as a leverage.
"I'm listening."
Lawrence grinned again. "The solution for all your problems is simple..."
He leaned forward slowly, maintaining the suspense, until he was a breath away from Mika's face.
"All you have to do is... Become my minion."
... There was a bit of silence. The tension was growing in the room, and Mika's breath was growing slower. She closed her eyes, opened them, looked at Lawrence. Her mouth opened and closed, as she tried to find the right words to express her thoughts.
"...your minion? Why should I do that? Who are you, in the first place...?"
Hook, line and sinker!
"As I said. Become my minion. There's nothing else to it. You do know what a minion is, right?"
"That's not what I mean! Why should I bother being your minion? The way I see it, you're no mafia leader or anything of the sort. You don't look important at all. Actually, wow, you're really plain aren't you..." His eyebrow twitched at that "So how would I profit out of this? Besides, what makes you think you should be the boss and not the other way around"
"What makes you think you should be the one in charge? You couldn't even steal a wallet properly."
Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She stood up, her arms rigid against her sides. "Shut up! I can be a better leader!"
"Please do show me how" he said with a sarcastic smile on his face. "You lack the leadership skills to order around my bedridden grandmother and you are as subtle as an elephant in a chinashop. And the way I'm seeing it now, you have just the same amount of patience I did when I was five."
"Hey!"
"It's the truth. Now, show me a single aspect of your life where you are superior to me in any way and I will consider naming you my sidekick instead of minion."
She shut up, sit back in the sofa too. Then, she smiled. "Are you sure? I don't want you to think you're too lame later" she said.
"Go ahead." If Lawrence had any doubts, he never showed them
"Alright. Then watch this" she concentrated. Then, her whole silhouette blurred and puffed in a cloud of black mist. A second later, she reappeared right next to Lawrence with another puff and another black cloud.
"Can you do that?"
Lawrence said nothing. Not externally, anyways. On the inside, he was contemplating the big jackpot he had just hit.
"So you're a metahuman too, huh?"
"Haha, impressed? I'm the coolest Villain in the whole block...! ...Wait, too?"
"What a shame. Seems like you're no longer the only Villain around he said, taking off his makeshift patch and showing the QR Code to Mika.
She stared at it in silence. "What... But... I thought..."
"Now, let me ask once again. Do you want to keep living in poverty? To steal every day to have something to eat? In the best of the cases, you end up captured and put in a jail for powered people for a long, long time. The worst case, you end up being pressured into joining a gang, and then... Well, let's say dying with a bullet inside your brain would be one of the best ways to die."
She shivered. It was working.
"Or... You can join me. Become my loyal minion. You do everything I say without complaining, and I give you a life worth living in return. A single Villain would have it hard on its own, but two? That poses a threat on it's own. Why do you think heroes are hellbent on catching new villains before they group...?"
She looked at him with a... Strange face. Half wary, half excited. The only thing left was to deal the finishing blow.
"...Plus, I have a side job that could perfectly finance is both until my plans bear their fruit. And this house is big enough to fit six people comfortably. I reckon you don't want to go back to sleeping in the streets?"
... More silence. He'd have to give her some time to think it through...
He turned his back on her, heading upstairs. "I'll leave you to think about it–"
"Wait!" She called to him. Controlling his urge to grin once again, he turned around. She was standing up once again. "Alright, alright, I get it! I accept! But this is only a test run, alright? If things look too bad, I'm out!
"Is that so? Good." He made her way to her, extending his hand. "Then we have a deal."
She looked at his hand as if it could suddenly stretch up and bite her, but eventually decided he had no reason to do so, and so she shook his hand. "We have a deal..."
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Lawrence sighed. "Well that came out nicely." Mika was currently taking a shower in his bathroom. Her clothes were spinning in the laundry machine, and her shoes had been completely discarded (he found several holes on the soles).
He, on the other hand, was looking at his own status.
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Lawrence Lakewood --- Villain
Meta-ability:
Criminal Mastermind --- Certain actions you make trigger a chain of coincidences that will eventually act on your favor. (Grade: C)
---
Features:
-Facade: While interacting with others, unless purposefully avoided, your thoughts will be unreadable. Affects language and body language as well.
-Silver Tongue: Become an excellent negotiator. Effect wears off after negotiations are done. Cooldown: 2 hours.
---
Pending Tasks:
-First Stain
---
20 FP
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Why, yes. Why would one ever think Lawrence was such a good actor? No, he was a regular person. Fortunately, from the moment he first lied to that cop, the goals for the Embrace Evil task were fulfilled, and he accidentally claimed the reward. The "Facade" feature was the result of that. Then, after getting back his wallet, the requirements for that Payback task kicked in too, and he invested those five feature points on unlocking another feature from his main meta-ability. Which let him with Silver Tongue.
About why such convenient features appeared in such convenient time, he didn't know. He had studied a phenomenon in his meta-society class, called the Hero Effect. It consisted in that, if a powered person found himself in a distressful situation... Like, for example, inside a fire; then unlocking a new feature at that time would have big chances of that feature being somewhat helpful in that situation... Say, in the previous example, it would be something like fire resistance or teleportation of some sorts. Undoubtedly, the same happened here.
He sighed. "Everything turned out alright..." He had fulfilled three tasks and unlocked two features on his first day. That was some big progress. And since the next goal for unlocking was 25 FP, he was five points away from the third feature...
Good. Very, very good. There was only one problem...
What on earth was he thinking when he invited an orphan girl to stay on his house for indefinite time?!
"Hey chief? Can I borrow some of your clothes?" A figure appeared from the bathroom. It was Mika... wearing nothing but a bath towel and dripping water all the way from the bathroom to the living room. "I didn't find any on the bathroom."
"What the hell are you doing naked?!"
"Huh? I told you, I didn't find any clothes. Why?" She looked at him as if saying "isn't it obvious?"
"Jesus Christ..."
Dear lord. He was regretting his decision already.