Accidental Villainy 40 (Patreon)

When I successfully returned to the bar, I was thoroughly exhausted, especially since I didn’t want to leave the bar unattended any longer than necessary, and didn’t even dare to take a nap. I had too many enemies for that to be a good idea. 

The exhaustion didn’t hurt my good mood. How could it, when I not only managed to convince a beautiful super to help me fix a laser cannon, but finally gave me a trump card I could use for emergencies … not to mention, the process of convincing her had been incredibly fun.  

Unfortunately, after I returned, I didn’t go upstairs, where my brunette bodyguard had been waiting for me to snuggle against her, but stayed downstairs. There were a lot of things to poke around. 

First, I had to set up a proper charger for the laser cannon. While its internal capacitors had been intact, after Emily’s adjustments, the cannon barely had enough for a dozen low-powered shots or one full-powered shot. 

And, it required a full day to refill, which was not something that could be solved as long as I relied on city electricity uninterrupted … which raised another problem. I was sure that, with their contacts, both the heroes and villains were observing various details. Expecting the electricity consumption not to be one of those details was absurd. 

I couldn’t afford to just plug it and charge it completely. 

A part of it was about keeping the benefit of surprise on our side. The next wave would have been much weaker if they were unaware that I turned that laser into something usable. However, if things went well, even after revealing it first, I wanted to keep that particular detail a secret longer, maybe even fashioning some kind of box with blinking green lights to look like a new reactor. 

The more intimidating I looked, the safer I would be. 

It was already morning when I managed to fashion some kind of home science project to regulate the power draw of the laser cannon even lower. Hopefully, it would be mistaken for a fridge or something. 

Tara walked in, carrying a nice hardy breakfast. Eggs, bacon, and freshly squeezed orange juice. “You’re a lifesaver, sweetie,” I said as I kissed her. 

“A pleasure, sir,” she said, her blush beautiful. “What are the plans for today.” 

“Nothing much other than staying in and waiting for an attack,” I said. I didn’t want to ruin the mood, but I felt like a follow-up attack was inevitable. It was better for her to be prepared. 

“Do you think the heroes would attack again?” she said. 

“No, villains this time,” I replied. “The slasher is the most likely candidate, but he’s far from the only candidate.” 

“Why?” she asked.  

“They don’t want to escalate,” I explained. “If they send a stronger hero immediately after their first one failed, other groups would start to pay attention here. And, while I had no idea what was going on in that depot, it’s clear that the last thing they want is scrutiny,” I said, then snorted.  That was an understatement. 

Neither the Syndicate nor the New Giant Forces wanted that to get public. 

“So, they will probably arrange for one of the independent villains to attack. Probably Slasher, maybe one of his allies to support,” I said.  

“Well, I can deal with the Slasher and another minor villain easily,” she answered, showing that she had started to feel confident after her victory. A mistake, which was why I interrupted her with a gentle slap at her hips. 

“You’re getting arrogant,” I warned her. 

She blushed immediately, her submissiveness far stronger than her budding arrogance. “I’m sorry sir,”  she said, accepting my conclusion immediately. 

I looked at her, sighing. “Come here,” I said as I pulled her on my lap, and opened my phone. “Watch this,” I said, and played one of the many videos that Slasher had publicly. He was armed with a blade, wore a mask, and with every swing, a fifty-foot energy crescent followed, leaving deep gashes on the road and the wall, each relatively uniform. Then, I played several videos in sequence. “Can you  see it?” I asked. 

She shrunk in my lap, clearly feeling self-conscious about what she was about to say. “N-no,” she whispered. “They all look the same. Fifty-foot energy attack, with enough power to kill a normal human, but not as damaging as a bullet,” she parroted, which was more or less the common consensus.  

“Look at this, then,” I said as I opened another video and froze it in the appropriate frame. She took my words seriously as she examined the picture, trying to find exactly what I was referring to. I didn’t blame her, as I doubted that I would have noticed it if it wasn’t for my power. 

“Check the blurred, dark parts,” I suggested. Even then, it took a minute for her to notice it. She gasped in shock. “O-one of the slashes is much deeper,” she said. 

“Exactly, and you can see that it’s not overlap,” I said, then turned to the earlier parts of the video, and showed her exactly which attack delivered that deeper cut. “The camera is bad, but it’s still possible to see the attack is slightly thicker and brighter,” I explained. “And, look at him. He doesn’t show any kind of exhaustion after attacking with it.” 

“But that means …” she gasped. 

“That means he might have a stronger attack that he kept hidden to deal with stronger enemies. It might have ended up painfully if you attacked him by assuming your powers would keep you safe,” I explained, and she shivered. “Keep that a secret, and don’t engage with him unless he’s near. We can’t be sure if he has other tricks he hasn’t revealed,” I said. 

“Yes, sir,” she said obediently. 

“Good, now. Watch the videos I arranged,” I asked her, though my smile slipped away once her attention turned. While showing her the videos, I noticed another detail. There were multiple times that he used that high-power slash, but that grainy video was the only evidence of its impact. 

I suspected that someone was helping him to keep that a secret. The most likely suspect was the Syndicate, and technically, the New Giant Force wasn’t above suspicion either. 

Still, ultimately, it didn’t matter. The more important thing was to discover, when the inevitable attack finally happened, who would be his support. Depending on the skill set, it could also be a very dangerous situation. 

I sent a message to Emily, requesting her help. Though, I didn’t make her a direct request, but instead asked her to compile a report, giving me not just every occasion when the minor villains attacked together, but also times when their attacks happened in a certain radius and time. 

It was a straightforward request, but for anyone else, it would take days to prepare. With her ability to interface with computers directly, she sent me a spreadsheet that included a report that covered the last decade, categorized based on those and many other details in less than five minutes. 

‘Did you prepare that yourself or pull out of a database,’ I asked. 

‘It was easy. I prepared myself. All the dates and locations were already there in the public reports. I just put them together,’ she wrote back … then attached a beautiful picture of hers, wearing pajama bottoms and nothing else. 

‘Impressive,’ I wrote back, though I was more impressed with the speed she put together that report over the speed. 

Her abilities meshed extremely well with mine. 

As much as flirting with her was fun, I had to go through the reports. A long and possibly boring task…

But preferable to the pain of the loss.