AN- This story is almost entirely things that actually happened to me in my time at Cap Au Diable. There is a slight amount of embellishment, simply because even the wonderfully detailed world of City of Villains doesn't make a very good story if you don't give it just an extra nudge. After all, not often do you see people speaking in floating word bubbles in real life. This story features my character from Infinity server, Kandosii. He is merely there as a facilitator for the overheard and easily misinterpreted collection of conversations. Some things may not actually occur in the game, but simply my angle of observation made it appear as such.

Disclaimer- Oh, how I wish I could own City of Villains! Then I could have Lord Recluse all to myself... grins insanely And I could make that alternate version that has been discussed with a friend of mine... But alas, I don't own City of Villains. All I own is my copy of the game, which included a two inch tall figure of Captain Mako, as well as a spiffy poster. Oh, and I own the poster that came with the pre-order box, which is infinitely more spiffy. I also own a jacket made for the US Naval Academy, a watch with a chipped face, and a pair of stripey socks. I feel so happy.

Kandosii, an up and coming member of the wave of villains that Arachnos had freed from the Zig, flew over the edges of the Vagabond Woods, highly pleased with himself. The days had been very productive since the breakout, and he was heading back to his current contact with yet another report of a successful mission. It wouldn't be long before he could advance to threat level 20, and the extended access that it would give to other areas of the Rouge Isles. With enough power, he would be able to afford to fix his crashed ship, and escape this little planet. Then, with the powers that had manifested themselves with the crash, he would be an unstoppable force in the galaxy at large. He alone would-

This increasingly narcissistic train of thought was violently derailed by a scream from below. He stopped, hovering in midair, searching for the source of the scream- its originator might have something valuable to be taken from them. But upon locating the source of the shriek, it didn't seem to be much out of the ordinary- a group of Circle of Thorns cultists clustered around an Elite Arachnos trooper. His uniform was ripped open in several places, showing the signs of the man's desperate struggle to escape, which continued even now, as whatever free will that had escaped his indoctrination into the Wolf Spider Huntsmen was crushed by the magic of the cultists. The robed figures encircling the man were all chanting some unintelligible spell, waving their arms in what they seemed to hope were meaningful patterns. Maybe it was just his position above the scene, but Kanodsii was prepared to swear that one of them seemed just a little too close to the Arachnos trooper to just be performing your typical mind control magic…

The trooper, who had been struggling and making small strangled sounds of distress, suddenly seemed to find his voice, and spoke in a pleading, almost pathetic tone as he fought more violently to escape. "No… please, no!" It was rather hard to tell which one of the figures around him spoke, but the voice seemed to come from the one looming over the doomed disciple of Lord Recluse. "Submit to our will!" the figure yelled, laughing insanely as their captive's thrashing became all the more panicked.

Kandosii, who suddenly felt much less confident and in control of things, decided at this point to exit the area as fast as possible. As he was flying away, however, he heard a loud pained gasp, and, without consulting his brain, his head turned to focus his clouded white eyes on the scene behind him. The Wolf Spider was sobbing incoherently, his body jerking brokenly as the cultist looming over him continued to cackle insanely. His eyes widened in shock- Once again, the angle made it difficult to see, but it looked almost like that cultist was…

……..

…….

Oh, my feking Gods....

Kanodsii, a villain who still had quite a ways to go before he could become an unstoppable force in the galaxy at large, spent the next four hours on top of the tallest Arachnos building in Aeon City, and refused to come down.