Villain has been robbed, a task that should have been impossible, but worst of all they have no idea who, how, or even what was taken.
Based in the OC World of a bigger project
CW: Swearing, fight, blunt weapons, knives, blood, death/killing, control against will, threats
Villain sat at their desk and stared at the note in front of them, folded in half and propped up like a little tent, words drawn neatly on its side. If you were to pick it up and look inside you would see more letters, words Villain already had burned in their brain.
They had to admit their hand writing was pretty, educated, crafted even. Someone had taken the time to write these letters perfectly, or perhaps it was a skill they had simply mastered.
On the outside of the note was the word sorry, and inside read: Had to borrow a couple of things, hope you don’t mind!
Of course Villain would mind and the writer knew that, why else would they leave a note? Why else would they say those words? They knew exactly how pissed off Villain would be and they wanted to just add a cherry on top. Villain had been robbed, and to make it worse they had, had no idea until they found the note, sitting on their desk likes this.
Not only had someone stolen from them, undetected, but the thief made it all the way into Villain’s office and left a fucking note without activating a single alarm, without a single security guard noticing them. Part of Villain was impressed, it was a feat previously thought impossible, that not even Heroes had achieved. The other part burned with a rage hotter and more deadly then any fire in hell.
And the worst part, because this only gets worse, Villain had no idea what was even taken. With no alarms to go off and no camera footage having caught sight of the supposed thief, Villain had to send people to search the vaults, to go through every logged opening and close of the gates, the doors and the vault itself.
Villain has no idea who, what or why, just a note of apology.
The door to Villain’s office opened and Right Hand walked in without hesitation.
“Please tell me you have something,” Villain said.
Right Hand stopped in front of the desk, crossed their arms.
“Well, they somehow managed to avoid every camera in the facility, which at least now we know we have blind spots.”
“We don’t have blind spots,” Villain said, “I designed this place myself. We have blind slivers, tiny moments in between camera movements, there is no possible way someone could have timed those up.”
“Well I think we may need to adjust what we believe is possible,” Right Hand said and pulled a folded piece of paper out of their pocket. Villain took, it unfolded it, read it once, then twice, looked up at Right Hand.
“Someone plugged it in, and yet we have no record of someone accessing it. Security was in the booth all night, no one asked them for it.”
“Alright I know what we just said but that is actually impossible. The code changes combinations every minute, the only people who can see it is security. Was there a breach in the firewall? Were we hacked?”
“No, none. And the Telepathic fields were up so no one could have read Security’s mind. As I said, the impossible is old news. Whoever this person is must have some ability for them to just… well I don’t even know what, but they used the code to open the vault, and they avoided every camera and alarm in the building.”
Villain studied Right Hand carefully. “You haven’t said what they’ve taken yet.”
“I don’t like that sigh,” Villain said.
“Well, they took one of our experimental explosives, which you know, not great.”
“But… they took Nathanial’s Grimoire and the Amulet of Gruel.”
Villain felt like laughing, felt like punching a wall, and biting an ear off. They took in a breath, steepled their hands and rested their lips against their fingers. Once again they were impressed, that’s a lot of important shit to take, some very important shit.
“And we have no idea who they are?”
“No, but we have teams working to track the book now as we speak.”
“If our thief knows what they are doing they won’t be able to track it for long, which means we have a very narrow window to find it before they undo everything I have worked for.”
Villain stood from their seat.
“Get Antony to send out teams across the city, give them all trackers and tell them to move as fast as possible.”
“Already on it, they are readying now. I was more here to see what you wanted me to do.”
“We are going to search a different way.”
Right Hand nodded and followed Villain out of the room.
Civilian felt like they were trying to dislocate their jaw. No matter how much they had squished down the sandwich every time they bit into it, they had to open their mouth as wide as possible and then some to fit it in. It wasn’t helping that they were trying to eat it with one hand, and when bits started falling out they resorted to taking smaller bites, getting bits and pieces at a time. Still tasted good.
With their other hand, covered in a thick glove, they reached over to the book in front of them and flipped a page. The book was big, and old, and beautiful, covered in sigils and gold leafing, leather binding its sides. The pages were all delicately painted, pained over to get every picture and letter right. Civilian appreciated the effort and was careful to keep their sandwich away.
They licked mayo from the corner of their mouth, flipping over another page. It was all fascinating stuff, but not what they wanted.
The hotel room they were in was small, ridiculously so for the price, not to mention to state of it. Civilian was sat on the faded carpet, coughing table dragged over to the window the catch the evening light. Civilian had tried using the lights inside the apartment but they were so yellow they could barely see the details on the pages. They scanned over another two pages before turning them again, brows knitted together in concentration. It was hurting their head. Usually, it didn’t take them much effort to get what they want but something about this book was making it difficult.
It wasn’t that they didn’t know the language, that’s never been an obstacle before, nor that their knowledge of magic was limited, they would simple just expand that limit. But there was some sort of interference from the book itself, a static that buzzed in their mind.
They sat back and took another bite of their sandwich, shifting their eyes away to try and alleviate the pressure in their head. It didn’t really work. After a couple more minutes trying Civilian closed the book, the pressure in their head becoming almost unbearable. They turned and opened the window, letting in a wash of fresh air as they stood in the sunlight, taking a deep and calming breath.
A phone to their left rung and they placed the sandwich down onto some paper wrap, wiping their hand against their shirt. Caller ID unknown.
“Hello,” Civilian answered sweetly.
“Where the fuck is my bomb?”
They flinched and held the phone away from their ear.
“Really Gerard there is no need to yell, your voice is coming across fine.”
“You lied to me, and you stole from me.”
“I didn’t lie to you Gerard, and I didn’t steal from you, you just gave me information you didn’t know you were giving me.” Civilian took a bite of their sandwich. “And let’s be real here, I have a much better use for the bomb then you do.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Come now, your plan is as plain as day. You were going to detonate it in the School of Word because that’s where half the council’s kids go. I mean really man, kids? You think people are going to side with you over the council after you kill a bunch of school kids? You’re just giving the council more fuel for the fire, not to mention the fact that morally, once I know that, I have to stop you.”
“You want to talk morals with me? How about-”
“Kids are a different story man, you don’t hurt kids, they have no part in any of this. Asswipes like you however I have no issue with harming. Which is something you should keep in mind.”
“You should know by this point, I do in fact know what I am talking about, and I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. Now maybe we can rethink this plan of yours into something a little more productive.”
“No I will tell you what I am going to do. I am going to find you and I am going to make you regret betraying me.”
“I didn’t betray you Gerard, I was never loyal to you in the first place. I just had a nice conversation with you and now you’re butt hurt because my plan was better. See, much less dramatic.”
“I am going to tear you limb from limb, you will beg-”
“Ok good luck with that.”
They sighed, leaning forward until their head rested against the cool glass of the window, knuckles whitening against the phone.
“I don’t have time for this.”
They stood their a moment, trying to think their way around the situation but every path they went down met with a wall until there was only one path remaining. The one path they didn’t really want to go down.
Civilian turned and picked up the book, moving it over to a an almost equally as old looking brown leather satchel, tying it in firmly. They stood, piking up their plate and walking it over to the kitchen bench where an even more ancient looking Gold amulet, its centre adorned with a transparent black crystal that held a mummified human eye inside of it, sat. And next to it was a glass box, inside a perfectly spherical metal ball with knobs and buttons across one side.
Civilian placed the plate down, picked up the amulet and hung it around their neck before nestling the glass case under one arm.
The polluted night sky was nothing but a black void. Villain had never liked cities, this reason among many. Being separated from the stars felt like being separated from a lover, from a friend, even a parent. The stars had been with them longer then any human had. Watched over them in their childhood, watched them grow into the horrible person they were today. But they didn’t judge, in fact they couldn’t give less of a fuck, and Villain appreciated that.
But here in the light polluted city, Villain couldn’t see a single one, just a black void stretching out above skyscrapers and towers. The roof Villain stood upon was much shorter then those, though still a towering fortress.
“Staring at them isn’t going to make them suddenly appear,” a voice said behind Villain.
Villain did not move, just continued looking up.
“Perhaps, but in my minds eye I can paint them out.”
“What’s your obsession with them anyway? They’re cool and all but like they’re just lights, I don’t get it.” Hero stepped beside Villain, looking up at the void.
“That’s because you grew up in the city. Seeing them for you was a treat, for me its home.”
“You could always go back home, stop being a pain in my ass.”
Villain grinned, looked down and at Hero.
“Oh no, I have way too much fun here. Besides there is too much work for me to still do before I can think about retiring.”
“Yeah, so you keep saying, not that you ever tell me what your work is.”
“You will know when the time is right.”
Hero just rolled their eyes.
“Enough chit chat, why did you summon me here.”
Villain turned away from the edge of the building to face Hero completely.
“Don’t play dumb, you know why I brought you here.”
Hero raised their brows. “Well that’s news to me.”
Villain eyed them, frowned.
Villain laughed, it startled even them, but they laughed at the absolute absurdity of it. There is no way it was another Villain, they would know about that, so it had to have been the Heroes, but if Hero doesn’t even know… Who the fuck broke into their facility?
“I was robbed last night,” Villain said.
Hero’s face almost split itself in half their jaw dropped so fast.
“What?! How? That’s impossible.”
“So I thought, but clear as day someone stole from me, even left me a little note.”
Villain took the note out and handed it to Hero. They kept talking as Hero examined it.
“I had assumed it was the heroes’ doing since no Villain had, but apparently not.”
“No, an operation like that would have definitely reached my ears, your place is a fortress.”
“And yet someone got in, completely undetected. If they hadn’t left a note, then I wouldn’t have known until next time I opened the vault.”
“Interesting,” Hero said.
“Why would they alert you if they could have gotten away scott free?”
“Well since no ransom or deal has been proposed my current theory is they just wanted to show off. Or tell me they’re about to destroy the world.”
Hero cocked their head as they looked at the note.
“Hmm, no I don’t think so. I am not getting end the world vibes from this.”
“What are you getting from it?”
Hero placed a hand over the note, pressed it between their palms and a flash of green went through their eyes.
“Desperation, anger but very aimed anger. This person was on a mission, a goal, but not to end the world. To… find something? It’s a bit hard to tell, I’m getting a lot of interference.”
“Can you tell if they’re a witch or a mage?”
Hero took a second before slowly shaking their head.
“No, but definitely one of the two and definitely strong, as strong as you perhaps.”
“Mm, I figured they’d have to be at least somewhat powerful to pull this off.”
“Yeah, just what we need, another you or superhero to play gods in this world.”
“Be careful now, I’m sensitive about that subject,” Villain warned, voice low.
“And we have a deal that you won’t play mind games with me, so I can say what I like and you will let me go or I rat out this whole operation to the other Heroes.”
Hero went to put the note in their pocket but Villain snatched their wrist. Hero gasped as their body seized, eyes stuck staring into the darkness of Villain’s.
“Tsk, tsk, come now Hero I have treated you so well up until this point. You’re going to try and blackmail me now?”
Villain pried the paper from Hero’s gasp.
They sighed, “I should have seen this coming, you types always get cocking at some point, never able to stay on your own level.”
Villain moved, still holding Hero’s wrist, Hero’s body walking itself along side them.
“Do you want to know why I always meet people on the roof? And no its not just so I can look at the stars.”
Villain stopped a metre away from the buildings edge but Hero’s body kept going, walking in front of Villain, turning so their back is to the drop and they are facing Villain.
“I know you are hoping that this is just a warning, and once upon a time when I was young and hopeful I would have given you a warning. But experience has told me that once this spark is present there is not putting it out.”
Tears ran down Hero’s face, their body still stiff, mouth unable to move while their mind screamed and begged. Villain smiled softly.
“You were a good pawn, I will miss you.”
Villain let go of Hero’s wrist and Hero gasped a scream about to pass their lips when Villain struck out with their other hand and pushed them off the building. Villain peered over the edge, watching and waiting for the thud, the screams. Their phone vibrated and they pulled it out, just as a woman screamed below.
“Yes?” They said, turning and walking away from the edge.
“We found something, not the thief but where they stayed.”
“Just that this was a one person job and they like chicken, cheese and mayo sandwiches.”
“Well, that’s not exactly useful, but I’ll take it, can any of the trackers get anything from the sandwich?”
“There is some interference, but they think they might be able to.”
“Mm, that seems to keep happening. All hands on deck when we do find this person.”
Civilian sat on a chair in the middle of a warehouse. Night had fallen and everything was dark bar the single LED lantern in their lap and light spilling in from the street outside. For anyone else it made for a difficult place to see in, for Civilian, eh.
They watched the silhouettes arrive, a small army by the looks of it. Of course Gerard might have been a pain in the ass, but he was smart. Civilian hit a button on the remote in their hand the the large roller door began to open, stopping the the army in their stride. Gerard stood in front of them.
“Well you took your time,” Civilian said, standing, holding the lantern in their hand. “I only left you like 20 messages.”
“You think you’re so smart don’t you,” Gerard said, walking in.
“Just a little?” Civilian shrugged. “I mean I tricked you, didn’t I? Though if I am honest that was not very hard at all.”
The small army spread out as they walked in, surrounding Civilian, armed with bats and crowbars and knives and other quite unpleasant ways to die.
“You are messing with things you can’t even begin to imagine. I didn’t get to where I am by letting idiots like you punk me around.”
“Punk you around? Who even says that anymore? Is that even a saying?”
“Shut your fucking mouth or so help me I will cut out your tongue and make you eat it.”
“You have two options here, either-”
“No, you have two options here,” Civilian cut in. “Well, your people do. You Gerard are going to die here to night one way or another, but everyone else, if you don’t want to have a short end to your life this is your one and only chance to leave.”
A few chuckles went through the crowd, a couple of uncertain glances but no one moved.
“Who do you think you are?” Gerard laughed. “You think you stand any sort of chance against all this?”
Civilian smiled, “I don’t know Gerard, do you? Why did you bring so many people?”
“I broke into the most secure facility in the world and stole from one of the most feared and you think I am afraid of a gang of non-magical, non-gifted humans? My dear boy I may be a nobody, but that doesn’t mean I’m helpless.” They pulled off their sunglasses, “and you know full well I’m not human.” Silver eyes shined in the dim light.
“Fuck this,” Gerard snarled, “kill them.”
“Good luck,” Civilian said and closed the lamp. Darkness descended and the swing of the bat by their head went wide, easy for them to dodge and grab. The bat came into their grip, and they slammed the end into the owner’s stomach, stepping back to dodge another’s swing and parrying another.
Everything quickly turned into a flurry of movement, a blur of swings and kicks and punches, blood and broken bones. As their eyes adjusted the enemy’s swings became more accurate, someone grabbed Civilian’s hair and pulled them back, opening up a moment for a swing to the ribs. Civilian broke the hold and was free again, at some point they got punched in the face, which they returned.
Civilian moved with incredibly speed, like a cloud of smoke manoeuvring itself around attacks, flitting through the air. But they were much more solid then smoke, and despite their speed and ability the sheer number of people around them was enough to fail them. Hands and weapons were everywhere, like a crowd of children all reaching in to grab the one toy. Someone got a solid hit to Civilian’s knee and as they dropped a blade found their shoulder. Hands grabbed them and pulled them up, wrapping around their arms and several somethings cracked against their ribs.
Civilian kicked back against them, making enough space to dislodge their arm, remove the blade from their shoulder and stab it through someone’s throat.
Gerard watched from the back, moments of victory, of ego and triumph rising, as he watched each hit to Civilian. But the longer he watched the more the triumph began to die. Despite the seemingly winning blows Civilian did not go down, and one by one Gerard watched his people fall, until Civilian snapped the neck of the very last person.
Civilian did not look good. Blood spread across their shirt, dripped down their arm and onto the floor. Their breathing was ragged, bruises were forming and as they reached down to pick up their sunglasses a sharp breath stopped them. They used a bat to ease themself down, pluck the glasses from the ground and then ease themself back up. Gerard should have taken the time to run, to fight, to do something. Instead he just kept staring, and watched them turn to him.
“Well would you look at that,” Civilian said. “I was right. Who would have guessed it.”
Survival instincts kicked in and Gerard span on his heal and bolted for the exit but before he could make it even a step something hard and fast took out his legs. The bat clattered to the ground beside him as he tripped and fell with it. His head smacked against the ground, black dots dancing in his vision. Civilian appeared beside him, picked up the bat.
“You had so much potential Gerard, could have done so many things with your life and instead you chose this.”
“I gave you ample opportunities, this is your own doing.”
They brought it down on his head.
Their shoulder wailed in agony.
“Fuck,” Civilian cried as they let go of the bat.
Their whole body screamed, if their ribs weren’t broken it was a fucking miracle, something was definitely wrong with their knee, and if they don’t act soon, they might just bleed out.
They grit their teeth as they walked towards the door.
“Fuck this,” they groaned, reaching the door and collapsing against the door frame.
They didn’t have time to be injured, time to find somewhere to patch themself up. They had to finish the book, do the ritual, they had too..
Civilian lowered themself to the ground, panting.
“Fuck,” they growled. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
They used the wall to pull themself back up, but their legs shook.
And if things couldn’t get worse, they looked up.
“Well this is interesting,” Villain said, standing a bit away on the street, a few other people coming into place around them. “Not the state I expected to find my master thief in.”
Civilian gripped the wall to hold themself up.
“Not really a master, just kind of lucky.” Their hand is slick with blood. “Not that I feel very lucky right now.”
“You don’t look very lucky either,” Villain said, “Piss someone else off I take it?”
“You could say that.” Civilian was struggling to see straight.
“Well, I was preparing to have to fight you but by the looks of it you’re going to fall over in a second. Do you want my medics to grab you before that happens?”
“I mean if that’s an option sure. Saves me the trouble of a concussion or something.”
Villain looked to their left and one of the people broke away, approaching Civilian. In the doorway of the warehouse Civilian was shrouded by shadows and as Medic approached and got a better look at them, a panic found their features.
“We need to take them in now,” Medic said.
“It’s only a little blood loss,” Civilian said, their grip slipping off the door frame. Medic grabbed them, the impact agonising but Civilian didn’t have the energy to react.
The Medic look up, looked in to the warehouse.
“Holy shit,” they breathed. “Sir, come look at this.”
Villain frowned and approached, eyeing Civilian before looking into the room. Their brows rose, absolute carnage.
“Well you missed the perfect opportunity to say, ‘you should see the other guy’,” Villain said.
“Mm, damn,” Civilian muttered.
Villain eyed them again, the blood.
Medic picked Civilian up bridal style and carried them behind Villain.
Even in this state Civilian seethed. What a fucking mess.
Let me know what you think! And if you folks have any recommendations of what I should write I am open to requests and the such.
