System Supervillain, Chapter 71 (Patreon)

Chapter 71 – Easy?

“It shouldn’t be this easy.”

Lady Victory—No, she was ‘Stolen Victory’, now, thanks to her damned Master—sighed as she looked over the scene in front of her. The fight with Serafina had been over before it even began. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be fair to call it a fight. It wasn’t even a beating.

“Guagh.”

Victory shuddered at the moaning mumble that were the only sounds that the former Lord Fate could make. Except, of course, when using his magic at Bloodmoon’s command. But that wasn’t his voice, then. It was more like Bloodmoon using him as a puppet, and pressing ‘play’ on a pre-recorded message.

Honestly, she pitied the man, even in her own lamentable position. Even with him being a villain. Because it was clear that, despite there being no life in his eyes, and his body moving only according to Bloodmoon’s commands, that the poor bastard was trapped in there, watching everything.

Oh, she would have liked to believe that he was simply erased, but that clearly wasn’t the case. She knew enough about mages and the like to know that if his personality, his soul, had been destroyed, or removed from his body, then the magic he commanded would be flat, and lifeless, if it could be used at all. No, he was still in there, somewhere, locked down so tightly that he couldn’t do anything without permission.

Lord Fate aside, Serafina had been disturbingly easy to draw out. A bus of teenagers from a Catholic girl’s boarding school had been retracing the Allied advance through Sicily from the Second World War. Lord Fate had ambushed their bus as they’d stopped at Patti, not far from Messina, to walk through the battlefield where General Patton had fought Reinheit, super-soldier to super-soldier, before Reinheit was forced to retreat as Patton’s army overwhelmed the German forces.

Well, ‘ambushed’ was a strong word. Bloodmoon made Lord Fate use his powers to knock the teacher out with his Visions of Hell spell, which was a mental attack of some kind. The kids were all packed in their bus, and Web Mistress locked them in. After that, all it took was a fabricated ‘ransom message’ with Lord Fate calling out Serafina and using the children as hostages, and the angel came flying out full of righteous fury.

And, right as she’d landed, Lord Fate had used his Unholy Shroud spell, turning the entire area into unholy ground. Serafina’s angelic radiance went out like a light, and she collapsed to one knee. Before she even knew what was happening, her Master had already bound her in place with ice. After that, it was simple to remove the goggles which helped shield the angel’s mind, and before long she was completely defenseless against her Master’s vile ring.

Once she was weakened, he had taken her mouth, first, forcing her to please him as he raped her throat. Forced her to swallow his seed, and join the rest of his slaves in damnation. It was quick, and brutally unfair, but she knew why he had done it like that. Serafina was too strong to be allowed her full power, but the unholy ground that weakened her also damaged her, so her Master wanted to complete her enslavement before she was overwhelmed, or even killed.

Now, though, the unholy ground was gone, and Serafina was a slave, like her. The once-proud angel was on her hands and knees, moaning like a common whore, as her Master plowed her from behind, using her golden hair as if it were a horse’s reigns. All while the schoolgirls in the bus looked on through the windows. While she was forced to just stand by and watch.

But the most disturbing part was not what was in front of her, but beside her. If she needed any more proof that Lord Fate was still trapped inside his prison of a body, the tent being pitched in his pants at watching his rival get defiled, and the beginnings of tears in his lifeless eyes told her all she needed to know. He was powerless, watching another man take the prize he had wanted for so long, and, despite himself, and all the controls put upon him, he could not help but be aroused at the sight. Truly pitiable.

She sighed again, looking back at the scene in front of her. “It shouldn’t be this easy.”

“Who said it was easy?” Web Mistress breathed in her ear, her arms slipping around Victory’s waist. “What you are seeing is the result of preparation, research, and choosing the proper battlefield. It only looks easy because we purposefully controlled all the variables. We chose a site near Serafina’s known base in Messina. We chose a target and means that we knew would draw her out, and blind her to all else. And we chose a weapon that we knew would make her all too easy to control. That is not ‘easy’, it is putting in the work beforehand, so that you do not have to scramble at the last minute.”

Bloodmoon chuckled. “Master is emulating the words of Sun Tzu. If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

“Indeed,” Web Mistress said, approvingly. “And also, the good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease. Hence his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage. He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy. Thus, it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”

Victory sighed. “That sounds less impressive when people know you have the entire internet in your head, and can look quotes up at will.”

The technomancer just giggled, and said, “Actually, I have the full text of the Art of War bookmarked for regular review. While some of the terms are outdated, such as the cost of horses and men on the march, the core concepts are still sound, and can be applied to a lot of things outside the battlefield. But, in this case, the simple fact is that things look to be so easy for my brother because he plans ahead, and fights only when he chooses to. Actually, it was your former team that prompted him to focus more on that, you know.”

Victory frowned. “What do you mean? He handled the entire Squadron Supreme easily, even before the System. He even wounded Indomitable, which everyone thought was impossible!”

“Iceblade told me of that fight, the one right after he completed the contract of making you kill someone for hire. He was being reckless. Alchemy caught him by surprise. If it hadn’t been for the breaking glass as Alchemy burst through the door to the bank, that first firebomb he threw into the vault would have cooked him. He outmaneuvered Alchemy after that, stabbing him. He hadn’t even meant to steal the flask Alchemy was holding, but it would have been dangerous if the man had dropped it to try and burn both of them, so he stole it.

“Then Titan and Foxtrot found him. Titan tried using his big gun, and failed, miserably, which allowed Iceblade to throw the vial of alchemic fire into the works, taking him out of the fight. Foxtrot scored several hits, but Iceblade again managed to turn the fight around by using his weapons and talents. When Lucky Star showed up, he used Foxtrot as a shield before cheapshotting Star and burying them both under an ice block to keep them contained.

“Pyra was the next to attack, and forced Iceblade to start running, for obvious reasons. She forced him into the middle of a police pursuit, and the only reason getting hit by that car didn’t end the fight right there was because of the protections in his suit. But Pyra made a mistake. She got close, grappling Iceblade, which allowed him to use his ring’s powers on her, and put her under his control, even as she tried to burn him.

“And then, there was Indomitable. Honestly, that was the toughest part of the fight, to hear Iceblade tell it. While everyone else on the team was too lost to rage at what he had done to you, Indomitable actually managed to channel that rage, and used it to focus. If Iceblade’s sword didn’t allow him to attack the soul directly, then Indomitable would have either won, or forced him to flee, without being able to take Pyra.”

She paused, and said, “So you see, that whole series of events? Mostly luck, on Iceblade’s part, and a litany of mistakes by the Squadron. They were angry, and so they all came in separately, without any kind of organization or planning. What should have been a one-sided six-on-one beatdown became a series of individual fights. And, despite being unprepared, Iceblade remained focused on not letting himself get defeated, rather than beating the foes in front of him. Which meant he could take advantage of openings when they presented themselves.”

Victory groaned as she realized what the technomancer was saying. “Then, even in the warehouse earlier, when my team came for me. They should have been able to beat Iceblade, teaming up together, but he prepared for them, right? By bringing you and Bloodmoon in?”

“Exactly,” Web Mistress nodded. “You and I took Indomitable and Titan off the board, eliminating their ability to defend the group and soak up damage. Meanwhile Bloodmoon and Iceblade struck first at the targets that could cause the most potential damage, Alchemy and Pyra. That left only Lucky Star and Foxtrot to try and salvage things, once people started going down.”

“And that wouldn’t have been enough.”

“Oh, there was a chance they could have turned the tide. And, certainly, there were things they could have done differently. They had to know Iceblade was expecting them, but they rushed in blindly. It was foolish, and they paid for it.”

“How could they have beaten us?”

“Well, if they had focused their fire on me from the start, for instance, they might have knocked me out, making it so I couldn’t pop everyone into cyberspace. They might even have kept me from taking Titan out of the fight, which would have been a huge change. Or, if they had lead off with that bomb, using it as an alpha strike, rather than a dead man’s stick, that would have, at the very least, weakened all of us except you. Might even have killed us. Either way, they would be able to have a much easier time of it after that.”

Victory felt her mouth gape open at that last suggestion. “Heroes don’t act like that! We can’t just go around blowing up parts of the city as an opening gambit!”

“American heroes, maybe,” Bloodmoon smirked. “Jinlong was all too happy to start a fight like that. It is part of why people were careful not to get targeted by him, because he had no regard for collateral, and he never got a taste of consequences, until the end.”

Web Mistress nodded. “But it goes beyond simple disregard for collateral. Heroes are inherently reactive forces. Even if they are out on a patrol, looking for trouble, they are still only reacting to things they find. Villains, on the other hand, are inherently proactive forces. They are the ones that set things in motion.

“Most villains don’t make use of this natural advantage, of course. They can’t. The psychos might make a plan, but their madness will always get in the way. Mercenaries are there for a paycheck, and only do what the contract orders. Zealots get too caught up in their cause, which makes them blind to problems. The thrillseekers are generally harmless, and not ruthless enough to push things to the extreme, since it ruins their fun.

“No, the only villains who can truly make use of this advantage are the ‘adventurers’, like Iceblade and our team. We strike at a time and place of our choosing. We keep the initiative, and force the heroes to react to us. We aren’t blinded by madness, greed, or a cause. We’re not here just for kicks. And, if things are going bad, we fade away, rather than risk everything to try and get a win. Because you can’t do anything when you’re dead. Unless you’re undead, of course.”