Accidental Villainy 53 (Patreon)

Once I finished reading the reports, I decided to start working on my grand plan to take down one of the most dangerous heroines — albeit somewhat diminished — in the world. 

My first step … finding her cover identity. 

A villain trying to attack a hero in their home never ends well. Doing so often triggered a devastating retaliation. Luckily for me, I wasn’t planning on doing anything violent; not that I would have succeeded even if I tried. 

Just because she wasn’t wearing her costume didn’t mean her forcefields stopped working. She would be just as capable, and angrier because someone dared to attack her during her time of rest. 

No, I had a different plan in mind than attacking her. An opportunity that had been created by her unique brand of infiltration … though, thinking about it, her reaction after I upped my seduction game made a lot of sense. 

She was not used to it. Who would dare to flirt with the Lady of Destruction aggressively, knowing that a wrong step might result in the decimation of the building they were in, and possibly a few surrounding ones? 

Me, as it turned out… Worse, even as I tried to come up with a way to arrange a meeting, I wasn’t feeling fear like a normal person was supposed to be feeling, but arousal. 

The idea of receiving another lap dance from her, this time with the full awareness of her identity, was too tempting. Tempting enough to make me shiver even as I turned on her social media — who had been helpfully identified by Emily the last night, before I realized her true identity. 

Ordinarily, identifying where she lived from her social media accounts was supposed to be easy … but, a more detailed examination of the details showed that most of them were fakes. Good fakes, excellent even, but I felt like they were made by a very skilled individual and limited hardware rather than an organization with cutting-edge computers. There were too many small details that would have been fixed otherwise. 

Of course, when I said very good, I meant it. I would have never pinned them as fakes without my power. 

Still, it was my first real clue about her current establishment. It implied that she wasn’t here on behalf of a large guild, or a government organization of similar stature. 

My next action, pin down the real photos she had shared from the city, and search for a pattern. The fake photos went back for about four months, while her real photos started just a week ago. Meaning, they had been planning for that for a long time. 

I wondered whether her real photos were a very clever bait, or just her arrogance. From any other undercover operator, it would inevitably be the former, but she had a reputation for arrogance. I could easily imagine her ignoring the reasonable advice of others in her team and posting some additional photos. Nothing that I had seen during her attempt at my bar suggested anything else. 

And, I saw a lot. 

Of course, while it was an arrogant move, I couldn’t blame her too much. With her power set, she had the ability to be arrogant. So, rather than wasting my time analyzing her mentality, I started to pin down every photo she had shared on a city map, and tag them based on the time of the day and other factors, trying to create a pattern. 

I didn’t ask Emily, because I didn’t want her to realize I was looking into her further. Ironically, it was because of her impulsive decision to steal the confidential files of her guide. She was starting to act recklessly to prove herself, and I didn’t want her to repeat that with someone who could throw buildings with her mind. 

Also, there was a little trick I used that Emily couldn’t replicate, at least not easily. I mapped the timeline not by the timeline of the photos, but based on the position of the natural light. It was surprisingly challenging to do for the photos that were taken inside, some even requiring overdriving my power momentarily. 

As a consequence, it took quite some time, but I was able to create a rough timeline of her movements. Her early morning photos, taken in a number of cafes, gave me a good idea of where she lived. 

A neighborhood at the edge of the city. Not exactly an affluent location, but not a ghetto either. It was not a place where a rich girl — as her cover story implied — would live, which seemed like an interesting oversight. 

So, either her actual residence and cover residence were separate, or she couldn’t afford an expensive house … two different situations, with two wildly different implications for the organization that supported her mission. 

Another detail I could discover later. For the moment, I continued to map her daily movements with an expertise that would make a stalker die of jealousy. Certainly, something to be proud of, right? 

Once that was done, I started working on arranging the ideal way to ‘accidentally’ encounter her. One good thing about my current task, the Syndicate was aware of her presence, so I could play my plans in a straightforward manner, and meet her as the dubious bar owner. 

Without her powers, I might have been afraid of bringing the Syndicate’s attention to her, but with them — even if they were weaker — there were no risks. Also, even if there was, from the way she moved around the city, the Syndicate had many ways of finding her that didn’t rely on following me. 

She wasn’t exactly subtle in maintaining her cover. 

My first step, selecting a wardrobe. I wasn’t under the impression that I was a great handsome man. Even my complicated and impressive love life didn’t change that fact. Emily was attracted to me because of her repressed feelings, and Tara was a submissive who wanted someone to control her. 

As for Blue Princess — her real name still a mystery — she was clearly overtaken by the illicit nature of the situation, and then lost control as the arousal overcame her common sense. Meaning, she reacted well to the idea of a bad boy. 

The idea of wearing a gaudy leather jacket to complete the sensation with the bike was tempting, but I chose against it. Instead, I deliberately wore a simpler set. Still a leather jacket and shirt combo, but kept both more utilitarian and understated, completing it with jeans. 

Then, I strapped a combat knife around my ankle, and put a shoulder holster that would keep the gun hidden. Having two functional weapons turned my bad-boy disguise far more realistic. I thought about maybe acquiring a more destructive set of equipment, but I decided against it. 

Too much, and I stopped being a bad boy and turned into a gun nut. 

Then, there was one last touch. I went downstairs and found Tara. “How do I look?” 

“A-amazing, sir,” she whispered, her blush tempting. Too bad my mission was vital. Still, I had time for a quick kiss. I leaned forward for a taste of her lips … which turned into hot and heavy. 

“Unfortunately, I need to leave,” I said, then gave her the usual set of instructions about security. Once she went back to cleaning, I looked at the bar mirror to wipe off her lipstick … but my hand stopped halfway as an idea hit. I still wiped it off, but softer than I initially planned, making sure I left some residue that would be noticed by a careful eye. 

A nice little challenge for her. I thought about another lipstick mark … but I decided against it. I needed to see her reaction to a subtler bait first. 

With everything done, I rode my bike toward where I hoped to find her. She didn’t share any recent photos, but her pattern suggested a general location, which then could be turned into an ‘accidental’ encounter. 

Then, I rode my bike. I didn’t have a game plan about how to play it once we met … I would have to play by ear based on her reaction. After all, she couldn't believe that it was actually a coincidence. 

Or, she might realize that I actually tracked her and engineered an encounter. 

Luckily, the latter was still acceptable. After all, I was supposed to be the bad boy criminal … and, a little stalking was certainly acceptable. 

And, if I miscalculated … at least her reputation was about wanton destruction, and not murder…