Villain (Book 1): Villain 1

by Laddusaw, Cole

  Sasha glanced at Aria and smiled.

  “Yes,” she said, turning back to General Katō. “We need to pull everyone back.”

  General Katō exhaled angrily.

  “Unbelievable,” he muttered. “How many times have I told him I need to be informed on this? Somebody could have died!” He pulled out a walkie and angrily shouted into it in Japanese, “All ranks pull back! Report to your officers at base. Reset for drill protocol.”

  He slammed the walkie down on the table beside him, startling the medics in the room. The medics turned to each other and silently agreed to excuse themselves. They left and General Katō returned his attention to The Twins.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper. I have been running drills from this base for eight months and am starting to get cabin fever. I was looking forward to going out on a real mission.”

  Sasha walked to the general and tenderly placed her hand on his cheek. He looked up at her, and her face was the last thing he ever saw. The skin on Sasha’s palm hardened into a spike, piercing the tender muscle between General Katō’s ear and jaw. She pressed her palm firmly into the side of his head and he collapsed to the floor, dead.

  Sasha’s spiked hand returned to normal and she wiped it off on the general’s jacket.

  “Come on, Aria. Let’s hunt them down! You know you want to,” Sasha said whimsically.

  “But Papa said to only kill the people at the base,” Aria argued.

  “We still will!” Sasha pleaded. “But Papa also said to hide until he comes for us. Why not hide in the forest? If we happen to stumble across these dangerous criminals, we’d have no choice but to kill them.”

  Aria scrunched her eyebrows, ruminating on the possibility that there was a loophole in Doctor Isaac’s orders. She had never done anything against her ‘Papa’s’ wishes. However, he wasn’t there, and it did sound really fun.

  “Let’s do it,” she said finally.

  Sasha grinned from ear to ear like an obese child in an unsupervised candy store. She tossed the tablet aside and they both exited the room, setting to their first task.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  Captain C had been leading his crew through the tight forest trail for an hour before deciding to call a break. Progress had been slow, mainly due to the fact that the man leading the hike had a two hundred-pound cannon for a leg. Yet despite the difficulty of the journey, Captain C seemed more invigorated than he had been on the ship. He even led his crew in a few sea shanties along the way to bolster their spirits.

  As for Deimos, Siren, and Eve, they were itching to get to the damn museum already. The long ship ride followed by the excruciatingly slow trek through the forest was beginning to wear even on Siren, who had kept her spirits up through the dullest parts of their journey. Eve’s mood had soured long ago when she was disconnected from the ship’s Wi-Fi. She had never gone this long without cell service, a fact which she was sure to inform anyone within speaking distance every five minutes. Deimos, though bored, may have had the easiest time out of all of them due to the fact he wasn’t actually doing any walking. His robotic legs did all the work, all he had to do was balance on top of them like a scoop of ice cream sitting on two autonomous spoons.

  When Captain C called for a rest, the three groaned in protest but ultimately conceded. They took a seat on a rock outcropping and watched the pirates who were carrying Yasuke awkwardly wedge him between two trees like a human hammock.

  Wanting to feel productive, Deimos went to examine the sleeping samurai. He was looking well enough for a guy who had been knocked unconscious and tied to a chair. It was a good sign that he was able to stay asleep during the hike, but if Deimos was being honest with himself he didn’t really care. This guy had threatened to kill him and he wanted to know who he was.

  Deimos shouted to Captain C, “Hey, mind if I interrogate the prisoner a bit?”

  “Only if I can join,” Captain C replied with a grin.

  Deimos administered the second injection from Wake Me Up Before My Brain Goes. In an instant, Yasuke sputtered awake, shouting obscenities in Japanese such as “Shinjimae!” and “Kuso!” Use those with discretion around your Japanese friends.

  Captain C approached the strung up samurai and laughed heartily.

  “How ya feelin’, matey?”

  Yasuke growled angrily, “You bastard! Untie me!”

  Deimos forced Yasuke’s left eye open and examined it with a flashlight.

  “He looks alright. It’s a good sign he’s able to differentiate between languages. I think he should have the cognitive ability to answer any questions.”

  “Good,” Captain C said. “Why don’t we start by asking why he attacked us fer no reason?”

  “You are villains!” Yasuke shouted. “That’s the only reason I need. You killed innocent people.”

  Captain C looked offended.

  “I don’t kill people. I have a guy for that.”

  “And I can honestly say I’ve never killed anyone, even by proxy,” Deimos added. “Hospitalized? Sure, loads of times. But never killed.”

  “I don’t believe you!” Yasuke shouted.

  Captain C laughed, “We aren’t asking ya ta believe us, but didn’t ya just threaten ta kill us yerself? What are ya, some kind of hypocritical vigilante?”

  Yasuke averted his eyes and blushed angrily. Captain C beamed.

  “Ah, I see.” He turned and bellowed to his crew, “Me thinks the lassie’s bark is worse than his bite. He’s a murder virgin!”

  His crew responded with hearty laughter despite the mediocrity of their captain’s jest. It was done as a courtesy, for a pirate captain should always be the funniest man in the room.

  Once the laughter had died down, Yasuke muttered, “Why don’t you untie me and find out?”

  “No thanks,” Captain C stated. “Me da never trusted a ninja and neither will I. You’re just goin’ ta be stuck with us until we get our golden turtle.”

  Yasuke’s face scrunched in confusion.

  “You are here to steal Gōrudo Kame?”

  “Oh, ya know of it?” Captain C asked.

  “Yes, but I will never tell you where it is!” Yasuke yelled back.

  This brought out a bellowed laughter from Captain C, which was respectfully mimicked by his crew.

  Captain C jested, “We know where it is, lassie. We’re on our way there now. Why would we need ya ta tell us? It’s not like we seeked ya out and kidnapped ya for information. We were out mindin’ our own business when ya attacked us, remember?” He turned to his first mate with a grin. “Jesus, Marty, how hard did ya hit this guy?”

  The crew laughed and Yasuke blushed a fiery red.

  “Okay, that’s enough messin’ around,” Captain C chortled. “Let’s get moving. We got a lot of ground ta cover and this dummy ain’t getting any lighter.”

  The two pirates tasked with carrying Yasuke groaned in acknowledgment as they hoisted him back onto their shoulders. Captain C made his way to the front of his crew and led the march forward.

  Deimos, Siren, and Eve remained walking behind the two pirates carrying Yasuke. Glancing up, Eve saw Yasuke staring directly at her. The moment she made eye contact he hurriedly looked away. This was a typical interaction Eve had with young men that were around Yasuke’s age. Of course, back in Los Rebeldes, the guys making awkward eye contact were usually trying to take a picture up her skirt, one of the many reasons why she always traveled with a posse. However, Eve felt this guy’s look was different than that. There was a sincerity in Yasuke’s eyes that Eve wasn’t accustomed to seeing.

  Eve separated from Deimos and Siren and kept her pace next to Yasuke.

  “So, what’s your deal?” Eve asked Yasuke bluntly. “Why did you let yourself get knocked out like that?”

  Yasuke looked down at Eve and immediately looked away, tu
rning an even brighter shade of red.

  “Deimos said you were spouting a bunch of nonsense and threatening to kill him before I got there,” Eve said. “You had the jump on him, so why not go for it?”

  Yasuke stole a glance at Eve before averting his eyes again. Eve smiled warmly up at him.

  “That’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me,” she said sweetly. “This is actually kind of nice. People usually crowd me wanting a million different things all at once. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who hasn’t wanted to say anything to me.”

  Eve looked up at Yasuke, who was now staring intently back at her. It wasn’t threatening, or even awkward, he was simply soaking in her presence.

  “I understand you’re probably pretty pissed at us,” Eve whispered, “but that guy behind me saved your life while you were unconscious. Twice, actually.”

  Yasuke glanced behind Eve and Deimos waved awkwardly to him. Yasuke grimaced.

  Eve chuckled, “Yeah, I didn’t like him when I first met him either. On the whole I try not to associate with old people, they smell weird and destroyed our planet, but he and his wife helped me through a really hard time. They aren’t bad people, they’re just people caught up in a bad situation. All of us are.”

  Eve pointed ahead to Captain C and said, “That guy’s parents got killed by some asshole.” She held her thumb back toward Deimos and Siren. “They lost almost everyone they knew from another asshole thirty years ago, and just yesterday my closest friend died from, you guessed it, an asshole. Funny thing is, the same asshole was behind the whole thing!”

  Deimos shouted up to them, “It is the asshole that binds us.”

  Eve rolled her eyes.

  “Anyway, what I’m saying is we are only trying to do right by our friends. If I were to take a guess on you, I’d say you are doing the same.” Eve patted Yasuke on his thigh and winked at him. “Something to think about while you’re stuck with us.”

  Eve slowed her pace to walk alongside Siren and Deimos again. Yasuke looked curiously back at her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Doctor Isaac was waiting patiently in his lab for the shitstorm that was sure to come. It had been long enough for The Twins to have completed the murderous game he sent them to play, meaning Hans would be receiving a strongly worded phone call from some government official on the matter any minute now. This would, at the very least, lead to Hans losing his contract with them, and more than likely result in an international investigation into his villain-hunting program.

  This was, of course, the outcome that Doctor Isaac had calculated. He cared too much about Sasha and Aria for them to get caught up in Hans’ mad quest for control. It had been far too long since he last used his genetic research for its intended purpose. He couldn’t remember the last time he cured a disease or fixed a birth defect. All that filled his memory was the innumerable failed experiments, the countless souls that gave their lives either willingly or unwillingly to this damned supervillain project. But no more. Today would be the day he finally put an end to it all.

  It was early in the morning when Hans entered the lab. Much to Doctor Isaac’s surprise, Hans wasn’t in the fit of mania he had expected. In fact, it seemed like any other Wednesday and Hans was simply joining him for a daily meeting. He sat down in the chair across from Doctor Isaac and crossed his arms uncomfortably over his stomach, which protruded slightly out from under his dark blazer.

  “I received a call from my contact in Japan,” Hans said after a brief pause.

  “Oh? How is the mission going?” Doctor Isaac asked as smoothly as a puppy’s tummy.

  “There has been a minor hiccup. Nothing I can’t fix, but it will likely cost us our contract with the Japanese government.”

  “Are Sasha and Aria alright?”

  “The Twins? Oh yeah, they’re fine. It’s the receiving general and a few medical officers who aren’t doing so hot. The girls killed them upon arrival.”

  Doctor Isaac feigned shock, summoning the semester of drama he took while he was an undergrad at Columbia.

  “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. I was worried they weren’t ready.”

  “Nothing to apologize for. They are still on target,” Hans replied with a wicked smile.

  He pulled out his cellphone and showed Doctor Isaac the screen. Two red dots were slowly moving along a detailed map of the Takaoko District in Japan.

  “I had trackers implanted in them before they left, just in case. It appears they are still going after Deimos.”

  Now Doctor Isaac didn’t need to fake his shock. His face went as white as a sheet. A white sheet, obviously.

  “You didn’t tell me you were tracking them,” Doctor Isaac mumbled.

  Hans smirked, “I don’t tell you everything I’m doing, Isaac. What would be the point in that?”

  Doctor Isaac couldn’t respond. He stared wide-eyed at the two red dots moving along the map on Hans’ phone.

  Dammit, he thought. Why don’t those girls ever listen to me?

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  It was nearly 1:00 a.m. Japan Standard Time when Captain C motioned for his crew to halt. For the past few minutes, everyone had been traveling in silence as they neared their destination. Now that the museum was over the next ridge, they needed to group up to review the plan one last time.

  Captain C huddled in the middle of his crew next to Siren and Eve. His first mate Marty plopped down on all fours and Captain C laid out the blueprints on his back.

  “This here is yer best point of entry,” Captain C whispered. “It should be a straight shot down this here ridge.” He pointed to the blueprints, a yellow line zigzagged through the museum’s interior. “Eve, do ya remember yer path?”

  Eve took out her phone and snapped a picture of the blueprint. The flash from her phone caused everyone in proximity to wince and rub their eyes.

  “Ew. Who remembers things?” Eve sneered, scrunching her nose in disgust.

  “Okay then,” Captain C muttered. “Just be safe. Me crew will be in position ready to pull ya out if anyone spots ya. But by all accounts, this place should be completely empty. In fact, I don’t even think there is a guard on duty.”

  Suddenly, a firework exploded beyond the ridge. Everyone jumped in shock from the unexpected sound, save for the one member of Captain C’s crew who was hard of hearing. He instead jumped in shock from the sudden burst of light.

  Nobody spoke. All eyes turned wide-eyed to the ridge.

  Another firework exploded. Then another. Deimos, Siren, and Marty clambered to the top of the ridge and peered over the edge. Down the hill, nestled snugly in a valley surrounded by steep ridges and towering trees, stood the museum. It was lit up with decorative lights and surrounded by a semicircle of cars. Inside, a party was in full swing. Tipsy guests walked throughout the museum admiring its wares. A dance stage was set up in the lobby where scantily clad women entertained an audience of men and women alike. Several men in red suits were out front lighting off fireworks as a dozen well-dressed guests arrived in blacked-out SUVs. Deimos and Siren slid back down to Captain C and the waiting pirates.

  “The museum might not be as empty as we surmised,” Deimos stated flatly.

  “What’re we lookin’ at, Marty?” Captain C asked.

  Marty softly called down from the ridge, “One hundred, one fifteen tops. Mostly men. Seven armed guards. Guests are sufficiently inebriated, likely some kind of celebration.”

  “Blimey. Tonight of all nights,” Captain C growled. He turned angrily to Yasuke. “What the hell kind of people have a party at a museum?”

  Yasuke grimaced but didn’t respond. He actually had no idea how normal people spent their nights. He had never been to a party. He had never even been drunk. On one occasion he snuck a sip of cold sake from his Grandpa’s icebox, but that was the pinnacle of his rebelliousness.

  “So
what’s the big deal?” Eve asked, twirling her pigtails absentmindedly. “Who cares if there’s a party going on?”

  Captain C turned to her heatedly but caught himself. He paused, closed his eyes, took a deep inhale, then released. When he opened his eyes he spoke in a forcibly calm tone.

  “Well, dearie, this isn’t what we planned for. We can’t be stealing something surrounded by a bunch of civilians. We’ll have ta come back tomorrow.”

  “Screw that,” Eve declared. “I sneak into parties all the time. This will be even easier now.”

  Siren stepped in to mediate, feeling responsible for reeling in her protégé.

  “Eve, sweetheart, I think Captain C is right on this one. Strategically, I see no advantage in us going for the shell now.”

  Eve held up her fingers and counted off three points.

  “This way we won’t have to worry about setting off any alarms, nobody is going to question a couple of hot-ass bitches like us at a party, and I’ve already got a plan, so trust me. Besides, no way in hell am I walking back through that forest surrounded by a bunch of stinking pirates without that fucking turtle.”

  Siren couldn’t help but crack a smile. Eve’s confidence was her strongest attribute, and if she was ever going to grow as a villain then Siren needed to let her act on that confidence.

  “Okay then, looks like we’re still in,” Siren said to Captain C.

  Deimos worriedly tapped Siren on the shoulder.

  “Um, babe-”

  Siren cut him off, “You said Eve and I are taking the helm on this one. I don’t want to hear it.” She turned, expecting to see Deimos’ judgmental look, but was surprised when she saw genuine worry in his eyes. She kissed him tenderly on the cheek. “I can still take care of myself. You know that. Don’t worry.”

  Deimos nodded shakily and placed his hand supportively on her shoulder. He needed to accept the fact that this was a mission not suited for him. Plus, Siren and Eve were able to stand up against a raging Triceratop. They could easily handle a few armed guards at a party if things went south.