Accidental Villainy 64 (Patreon)

As I chatted with Emily, enjoying our drinks while waiting for our food, I was doing my best to give signals of distress I was trying to suppress. I wanted Emily to take the initiative to prompt me about the reason for the urgent meeting.

Asking about my distress first would give me the chance to exaggerate the situation as much as I wished without looking absurd. By asking first and ‘ruining’ the mood of the dinner I had ‘worked’ so hard to set, she would feel obligated to help me.

Naturally, it was not a trick that would work on anyone. Daria, for example, would have just laughed at it and ignored it, too strong-willed to be affected by such a trick.

Emily was not as strong.

However, it turned out to be harder than I expected. And, ironically, it was because I was too successful earlier. Still riding the high of the earlier experience, Emily missed a great number of nonverbal signals, to the point that, if it wasn’t for my power confirming her obliviousness, I would have assumed she was ignoring those deliberately.

Talk about being a victim of my own success.

We were halfway through the dinner — brought by a different waitress, with Eva choosing to stay away — when I decided to ignore any hint of subtlety and sighed loudly, like an old married couple’s passive-aggressive communication. That barely penetrated through Emily’s bubble of happiness. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing that’s worth ruining our incredible dinner,” I said. “I value this moment of calm too much to ruin…”

Like that wouldn’t have ruined.

Emily’s expression finally changed from her bliss, and a frown half-appeared, followed by an expression of realization. “You called me here for an emergency. Why didn’t you open with that?” she asked.

“Well, I was … but then that waitress disrespected you, and I wanted to help,” I said, trying to frame what I had done as a great sacrifice I had done for Emily’s sake.

Her flash of guilt was exactly what I had wanted. “I’m sorry. I was just annoyed by her disrespect. I shouldn’t have let it forget what’s important. I’m here to help you.”

“Really? Even if it could be risky? You know my situation, being forced to work for a villain,” I said, looking stoic, with just the right amount of pitiful mixed in even as I reminded her of my situation, including my work for my non-existent boss.

It was a good time to remind her about this fact. She was feeling a mixture of pleasure and pity, which would help her trivialize the threat and commit to helping me more easily, especially since what I was asking was a small thing. Then, the next time, it would be another small thing … until, she was entangled with my web.

Oh, it would be not without its rewards. I would offer her a far better life than what she could find working as a mere receptionist, but not without risks.

Risks that I was doing my best to minimize for the moment.

Not a nice thing, but hardly the worst misdirection a beautiful young woman might have encountered.

“I’m willing to take any risk for you,” she declared proudly. And, at this moment, she truly believed it, but I didn’t take it seriously. It was no different than declaring that she would run a marathon for me, without realizing the difficulty of it. It was easy to start, but hard to continue.

Luckily, what I needed was nothing more than an application of her power in a safe location. “Really?” I asked, hopeful and vulnerable; all artificial.

She nodded. “I … I will, no matter how tough,” she declared emptily.

I didn’t say anything, just grabbed her hand and kissed her palm gently. She blushed. “I need your help to set up a security system,” I said. “They were impressed with my abilities, and they want me to set a bigger one. They believed I could do it, since I didn’t need their help to gather information.”

“Oh, poor you,” Emily said, believing the underlying tragedy easily as she left her seat to hug me tightly, showing her sympathy. “Why didn’t you talk to me before things got overwhelming.”

“I didn’t want to bother you with my problems,” I whispered. She hugged me tighter. “I can’t ask you to always —”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering,” she said thoughtfully, which I appreciated. I murmured numbly as I hugged her tightly. We stayed like that for a moment. “Shall we leave?” she asked.

“Let’s walk,” I replied as I left the cash on the table, along with more than what I promised as a tip, hugged Emily, and together, we left the cafe.

Once we left, I started explaining exactly what I needed from a technical perspective, which took a while.

She smiled as she listened to details, which was a good sign. “Changing the way they work would be easy as long as they are not password-protected, especially since you bought a good computer for me to use as a vector,” she answered. “It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.”

An expression of surprise appeared on my face, which, unlike the earlier story of a tragedy, was a genuine one. I had expected it to take at least three hours with the sheer number she needed to handle. “Really, even with more than a thousand devices,” I said.

“Certainly,” she said, her expression smug.

“Your training with the computer going well, then?” I said.

“Yes,” she said as she hugged me. “Using computers as intermediaries is making things really easy. It’s all thanks to you that I can do it.”

That development surpassed my expectations, and made me glad that I was working hard to tie her to me. Her lack of strategic thought was working for me. All she needed was to go to the Guild and mention that she had discovered a new, wondrous application of her power, and she would be promoted.

Nothing truly fancy, but considering the nature of her power, and the ease she could probably bury traps to anything she manipulated with her tech power, but certainly comfortable and well-paying.

So, I better nip that in the bud, before she even considered it.

“It’s good news,” I said happily, then let my face flash with distress and fear.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Be careful never to reveal that to your bosses,” I said even as I grabbed her arms tightly.

“I - I won’t … but why?” she said, surprised.

“We know that the heroes are a paranoid bunch, and they are not as respectful to laws as they claim,” I explained. “What if they believe that you were aware of that capability all along, and infiltrated their guild to steal their information. What if…” I continued, then let my voice fade, cutting my words halfway just as her terror became palpable. “I’m sorry. I’m just reflecting on my own experiences. I’m sure it won’t go as badly for you,” I completed, my tone one of desperation covered with a layer of hope that even Emily could penetrate easily.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. You’re just worried for me,” Emily answered gently as she hugged me, and chose not to talk about it. I momentarily overcharged my powers, just to confirm her determination.

Everything I had seen confirmed that she had believed in my explanation. Admittedly, it was mostly because it had been a reasonable explanation. The New Giant Force was not above capturing and forcing a support hero to work for them, as the puzzle had implied.

“What, now?” she asked.

“Now, we’re going to shopping to get you some new clothes,” I said.

She quirked her eyebrow, surprised. “Is this the time for it? I thought that it was urgent.”

“It’s about it. We need to make sure you’re properly disguised before we go. It’s safer that way,” I said. “Unfortunately, it won’t be the sexy clothes that you deserve this time.”

“Oh, really?” she said, smiling once again. “And, what if I need those sexy clothing.”

I chuckled. “Why? You look much better-wearing nothing,” I answered, then kissed her, a perfect way to destroy the earlier gloom.

“And, how am I going to dress? Like a villain?” she whispered once she pulled back. “May we buy spandex. I’ll look amazing in spandex.”

“As much it’s tempting to watch you trying to stuff those into spandex,” I said as I squeezed her ass, enjoying her moan in response, “this time, your disguise will be rather boring, I’m afraid…”

“Hmm,” she muttered as she looked around, before her gaze pinned to the lingerie shop near us. “As long as I’m allowed to dress up underneath.”

She was treating the mission like a fun outing rather than a dangerous affair, which I had no problem with. After all, the whole point was to let her experience the illegal side without being scared. “You have a deal.”