Arc 12 Villainy 101

Chapter 12

“This way, My Queen,” said Xava giving a playful bow to me.

“What of the meeting?” I asked, looking back down the corridor.

“It can wait, they have entertainment. Light Fly needs to be dealt with before she gets any ideas.”

“Wait, could she harm me?”

“Perhaps, better safe than sorry. She will be studied before we bring her back to the main facility for breeding purposes,” replied Xava eyeing my abdomen where the wriggling and crying was coming from.

I looked over the unfamiliar corridors, “When will we be returning home? I miss my pets already. Glitter Kitten was getting rather plump as well. I enjoyed rubbing her belly.”

Xava began to walk ahead of me, “Unfortunately, until the Heroes are dealt with, we cannot risk the main facility’s discovery. I do not need to remind you of what could occur if they found the hatchery.”

I nodded, “Yes I know. I will be patient.”

“Good. Do not worry, I have brought a good number of my neon nurse model bodies to keep you company.”

“Model? Do you have other types of bodies?”

“I have some. Though they are more experimental.”

I leaned down, giving her head a nice kiss, and I pet her a few times, “Did I ever tell you that I find that big brain of yours to be the sexiest thing about you?”

“Oh?” she smiled, “Well I suppose I am all brains, huh?”

“Mmm~” I chuckled, “Yes~ big sexy brains. So now, what shall we do with our prisoner?”

“This way, there are some holding areas that she can be left in until we are ready to use her,” replied Xava turning a corner.

As the rest of this place was, the corridor was not designed for someone of my size. It is starting to get rather annoying. Since I must crawl everywhere, it vaguely reminded me of vents, tight, cramped, though unlike them, it was brightly lit. This section had doors arrayed opposite one another.

Xava opened one of the many doors, and I looked inside. It was a prison cell. Small, square, nothing within it was barren of any furniture, not even a bed or toilet. It seemed a little cruel, though now that I think of it when I had been held in one of these, it was the same.

I am sure she will be fine.

My abdomen plates opened up, revealing the wet and sticky captive as she flopped onto the floor. Light Fly angrily looked about her sterile prison. Her arms were very broken. They were limp to her sides and didn’t line up correctly. I suppose she was disarmed at the moment.

“What is this place?” she groaned as Xava dragged her away from the door.

“Your new home for a bit. Now then, let’s keep you out of trouble, shall we?” Replied the fake smile on Xava as she sedated the hapless hero.

She removed the needle as Light Fly went completely limp. She hummed as she began to strip the other woman and perform a medical examination, her glowing green eyes scanning over the curves and nooks. Xava’s eyes lingered in several spots, her fake pupil dilating as it zoomed in. She nodded from time to time, making a note of what needed to be done to Light Fly.

“So?” I asked, “How is she?”

“Damaged. Broken ribs, both arms fractured, severe trauma to her chest region, spinal fractures. Overall salvageable. Well, not like we need most of her to be intact for our purposes. I will remove her arms for safety concerns.”

“I suppose that would be smart.”

“Indeed. Can’t have her melting the door and escaping.”

“I will leave you to it, have fun.” I smiled.

“Of course, Vesper. The meeting should be concluding soon. You should check in with Nitro.”

“Thanks love, I will.”

I turned, walking away. The high pitched sound of a saw spinning to life radiating from the room got a little quieter as the door slid shut. That didn’t stop me from hearing the blade shift tone as it met flesh and severed bone. A brief flash entered my mind— a memory. Dr. Arbor’s face mask smeared with my yellow blood. The familiar tingle reminded me of what that felt like. Most things painful have become muted as of late. My pain threshold has grown high, and I have become desensitized as a result. If it was the old me, I get the feeling I might have had a panic attack hearing my cybernetic nurse operating. Now though, nothing. I felt only a twitchy tingle at that noise that used to induce terror.

Starting to think we are damaged.

We are fine. Just means we toughening up.

If you say so.

I do. After all, we need to be tougher, crueler, stronger for what lies ahead.

Oh? Is that so?

Of course. What, you think they will understand? We have our home and loved ones to protect at all costs.

Yes. I am not that foolish. Once we deal with these Heroes, then we can enjoy some peace and quiet for a change. Hopefully, these will be the last of them.

We both know they won’t be.

I didn’t bother replying; Sub was right.

I returned to the meeting room. The doors opened to chuckling villains plotting something… something tells me I don’t want to know. After a moment, I nestled into my spot at the table looking over them.

“Sorry for the distraction. So,” I said, “Where were we?”

“Welcome back, did you relieve yourself?” asked the Puppeteer.

“I suppose I did.”

“Good to hear. Itches can be rather annoying.”

“Yes, they can be.”

There was a slight nod, and then the hologram shifted subjects, “As we know, the Heroes are hunkered in their flying bunker as such, we can’t attack them and will have to wait until they make the next move. Until then, we will bide our time. The city is fully under our control, what is left of it. If you wish to set up traps, this would be a good time to set them up. Otherwise, do whatever you like until the Heroes make their next move.”

“Is that all?” I asked.

“Yes that is all. Nitro will inform you of what schemes you will perform. Have fun.” Replied the glowing mask before it faded out of the room.

I leveled my gaze at the black-clad woman, “Our plans?”

“For now,” Nitro replied, “I need to know how powerful you are. To properly make use of your abilities.”

“So you want to test me?”

“Yes. We should take this outside, wouldn’t want to blow up the base.”

I recalled the explosion she was responsible for and nodded.

***

Xava, Nitro, and I arrived at a secluded spot near the Slums. It wouldn’t particularly matter if things here got destroyed. Nitro rolled her shoulders as she did a couple of stretches. After a moment, she was finished and looked up at me.

“Not gonna stretch?”

“Should I?”

“You gotta get limber before a fight. It is only proper. I take it you don’t fight much.”

“Not usually. Though been fighting more recently.”

“That is good. Force is one way to get things done. The more you do it, the better you will get at it.”

I squared up, looking down at her slim form. “So, what should we do here?”

Nitro gave me an assessing look, “For now, I want to gauge your power.”

“How?”

“Simple, hit me.” Replied the eccentric person.

I was gonna ask, you sure, but that thought was crushed under the memory of what this person had survived early today. She says, hit, well I hit. I reach back my arm and, with a single stride forward, closed the gap between us. I bent low and thrust my right arm forward, jabbing her as hard as I could. Nitro stood her ground, taking the hit. Her body felt weird when I punched it. Almost like it wasn’t solid like it was made of liquid or something. My momentum stopped instantly, and my arm snapped. Bending and breaking due to it staying where the fist had hit her while the rest of me carried on past her. I pushed it back into place after a moment letting the tendons and muscles reconnect.

There was a sound coming from Nitro, a gurgling sort of noise, and the mechanical thumping that I had started to get accustomed to had reached a fevered pitch for several seconds before it slowed again. Nitro turned, revealing that she was very much unhurt.

“Needs work. I do hope your regeneration is much stronger than your punch. If not, you will die to the Heroes.”

I wiggled my fingers, “It is. Though I have no delusions of being invincible.”

“That is good. It is best to know your limits.” Nitro said, “Now then, let us do some limit testing. Try again.”

She stood imposingly, yet open, ready to receive whatever I threw at her. Hmm. Punching her won’t really do much. I wonder, can she be stabbed? I approached her, stopping right before her. From between my legs, my abdomen lunged forward, slamming into her. Stinger glistened as it impacted against her. It pushed at her all the momentum, having been dissipated. No penetration; instead, I was the one to hurt. My stinger jammed back into myself, and I felt something within me tear. I winced, retreating.

“Owe. What are you made of?”

“Good question. I don’t know. Good try, though, tried to pierce me?”

The tank on her back thumped away steadily.

“I did. Felt like hitting a brick wall.”

“Well I absorb kinetic energy, so that is understandable. Do you have any non-physical powers?”

I shook my head, “Not really.”

“That is a shame. Go all out, hit me with everything you got.”

I looked around the ruins finding a solid concrete pillar and tore it from the ground, and the build that it had been holding up collapsed. I brandished the club and swung it hard into her like a baseball bat. The resounding thud from the impact echoed as my hands went numb. The pillar cracked. I pulled back and slammed the concrete into her again as hard as I could. She stumbled back several steps, and the bat’s end exploded, sending bits and pieces everywhere. Before her footing was settled, I brought the remaining chunk in my hand back and winding up a pitch. My foot rose and stomped down as I sent the chunk hurtling at her. It struck her in the chest, bursting into a cloud of dust.

There was a moment of silence, but then I could hear it; that thumping and a loud pop. From the dust, a yellow glow appeared before Nitro emerged flying towards me, a human missile. She used her body as a battering ram and bashed into my stomach. The strength was comparable to Boris. It was hard, hard enough to force all the air from me.

Everything went dark for a moment before my eyes snapped open, staring up into the sky. Nitro stood over me a little dirty from dust but otherwise completely unharmed. She gave me a hand, and I shifted from the ground pulling myself up. My midsection was dented in oozing my yellow blood. That one hurt.

I rubbed my head, “How did I do?”

“Not bad. Not too good either, though. I think against non-defensive powers, you will be alright, but you will have problems with Endurance supers. Physical stuff is weak to my power set after all, so not surprising. Unfortunately, you are limited in this capacity.”

“Is there anything you are not strong against?”

“Now why would I tell you that?”

“Fair point. Any idea how I can improve?”

“What are you trying to improve?” Nitro asked.

“Anything? Everything? I don’t know. Anything will help.”

“Well since you are a regenerator, being hurt over and over again will help that. As for strength, you need to exert yourself.” Nitro thought it over a little bit, “I believe there is a way to do both.”

“There is?”

“Certainly, well doesn’t hurt to try.”

“What is it?”

“Hit me over and over again when your limbs break, repair them, and keep hitting.”

“I see,” I replied, rubbing my chin, “So use you as my punching bag?”

“Funny, you say that the punching bag is Molotov’s nickname for me.”

Worth a shot, I guess. I jabbed Nitro. The carapace cracked, but I kept punching, using each of my arms. When one broke, I switched to the next, forming a rotation as the others regenerated. It was a rhythm of blows slamming into the immovable object. For the most part, Nitro stood her ground only on occasion, getting lifted off of the concrete floor from a particularly hard hit. Right, left, little right, little left. Hmmm, something was soothing about the monotonous and mindless swinging of fists. It was easy to get into the swing of things.

Nitro was astoundingly patient. She even gave me pointers on better posture and which ones were harder than others. It almost felt like she was good-natured. Somewhat surprising for a villain. Reminded me of Molotov, though instead of beating me, allowed me to beat her. Maybe she was a lawful evil sort?

Once my arms needed a break, I switched to kicks and tentacle attacks. Hitting her was fun, oddly enough. I couldn’t hurt her, so I could hit as hard as I liked. She was more sturdy than buildings. I would be hard-pressed to find a more suitable target to take my aggression out on; as such, I used the opportunity to vent my anger on her.

Knees weak, my arms are bloody, resent spent, and my body heavy. Miss mom's spaghetti?

Stop making me hungry Sub... I wonder what's for dinner?

I relented and sat down for a breather.

“Not bad. It seems you have good stamina. A good trait to have.” Nitro was unfazed by my assault.

“Vesper, we should return so that you can rest.” Said Xava observing from the side.

“Yeah, I could use a nap.” I stood shakily. My legs were sore.

“What are you going to do Nitro?”

“I am going to scout around the city to get a better lay of the land.”

“Ok, have fun,” I said, flapping my wings and carrying Xava with me.

As I flew, I felt a nagging of something. I feel like I had forgotten about something. I wonder what it could be? Well, guess it wasn’t that important if I can’t remember it.