My apologies for the lack of updates, school has really gotten in the way there. Hopefully the next chapter won't take near as much time to get out.
Also, if you'll follow the link below, the ever-awesome Ponythekidrs has created a bit of promo art for this fic! It's awesome, you should check it out!
deviantart art/TINAFAITIWB-510645605
Enjoy!
Evil One had a very set, strict guideline to his day. First things first, he would drop by the local coffee shop and order his usual latte, a necessity throughout the day. Second, he would take the transit system to the ETOD, where he would take the elevator up to the top floor, where Max had made his domain. Then, he would sort through paperwork with about five other unlucky souls designated to that job. Every hour or so they'd see someone falling from the tower, likely for displeasing Max. Max always made sure that he never had to see his handiwork up close. Then, once they were finished with the day and Max's shenanigans had been taken care of, Evil One would return to his apartment and sleep.
Today, however, immediately struck him as different.
It started when he could hear voices before he'd even gotten up out of bed. Yawning, and rubbing the sleep out of his dopey eyes, Evil One looked outside to see protesting going on. It was pointless, really. Either it devolved into a full-scale riot or Max's drones came in and "persuaded" them to stop their protesting. Or both.
Evil One yawned as he walked into the coffee shop. "Hey, Gordon," he waved lazily as he walked to the counter. "The usual, if you would."
"Oh, right," Gordon said from behind the counter, glancing around nervously. "Uh, I'm afraid I can't serve you today."
Evil One looked confused. "Why not?"
"Well, James, you see-"
"Ah!" Evil One interrupted.
"Ah, sorry, Evil One...you see...er...um..." the owner put his hand in his pockets. "I'm afraid...that I can't serve you today!"
"What?"
The owner gulped. "And...I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Evil One furrowed his eyebrows, his entire world view shattered. "What? But...I've been a loyal customer for years! W-why?" His lip quivered, and Gordon cringed. Evil One always had a way of making him feel guilty. Whether it was intentional or not was another story.
Gordon sighed. "Well...today's...um...a..." Evil One narrowed his eyes at him. "I can't tell you."
"You can tell me!" Evil One protested. "I don't do much!"
"Ain't that the truth," Gordon muttered under his breath. "Er, yeah. I can't tell you and there's nothing you can do to..." He looked up to see that Evil One was giving him puppy eyes. "YOU'RE A GROWN MAN, JAMES, NOT A PUPPY! YOU ARE NOT CUTE! STOP IT!"
He didn't.
"STOP, I COMMAND YOU!"
Evil One did not oblige.
Gordon nearly tore his hair out at this. "OKAY, FINE! The resistance snuck into the city, okay? Word's traveled around that Moreau's here HIMSELF! We're not sure what he's after, but that's all I know! Just...just...STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT! IT'S WEIRD, OKAY?"
"Moreau..." Evil One trailed off, back to his usual self. "Okay...thank you. I'll be off now! Thanks!"
As he left, Gordon placed a hand to his temple, groaning. "My God, what have I done..."
Max remained in his usual grandiose room, fingers steepled as he observed the file documenting Owen's death. He'd attempted to run from authorities after stealing food for his family, and after a struggle had been gunned down in the street.
"Pity," he sniffed, before swiping his finger across the screen to something else.
"SIR!"
Max looked up as Evil One burst through the door, breathing heavily and chest heaving.
"Yes, minion? What is it?" Max asked, sounding concerned.
Evil One coughed. "Moreau...resistance...they're in the city!"
"WHAT?" Max yelled. "HOW DARE YOU BRING ME THIS NEWS? I SHOULD HAVE YOU EXECUTED FOR BRINGING ME THIS NEWS!" he bellowed, pulling out a death ray.
Evil One adopted a perplexed look. "...what?"
Max sighed. "It...um...it means that, well, isn't it expected of me to kill people who bring bad news?"
"It's not a good idea," Evil One said. "Plus, we've kinda been working together for a long time, so..."
Max sniffed. "Whatever. It's not important. EVIL ONE! FETCH DAVE, IZZY, AND MATHESON AT ONCE! WE MUST NOT LET THEIR PRESENCE HERE LINGER ANY LONGER!"
"Linger any longer?" Evil One asked, bemused at the choice of words.
Max opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He sighed. "Whatever! GO!" Evil One scrambled off, a squeak coming out of his mouth as he did so.
Max sighed and sat down. "Why is it so hard, being an evil overlord?"
A buzzing noise interrupted his thoughts. With a yawn, Max looked down to see that someone was calling him. Alejandro Burromuerto.
"Max?" the Spaniard's smooth voice came from the device. "It's been a while! We rarely do our business dealings in person any more."
"You were at the party," Max accused. "Acting VERY condescending towards your overlord. Why would you act like that?"
Alejandro had neglected to use the video option, so Max couldn't tell what his expression was, but a laugh filled the speakers. "I apologize, amigo. It would not do the public well to know that Signal Industries has nothing more than a grudging partnership with your enterprise. By making them think that we aren't close, we prevent them from targeting my company if rebellion should occur."
Max sniffed again. "Very well. You've convinced me. But regardless, this chat will have to be for another day. I'm going to personally lead a cleansing of my city! Those rotten rebels have INVADED my territory! They shall be crushed!" Max grinned evilly, before returning to his normal facial expression. "Oh, and once that's over with, I'll be happy to meet!"
"Excellent!" Alejandro replied. "I will look forward to it."
The transmission shut off, and Max narrowed his eyes. He didn't trust Al. Eel as he was.
"He thinks he's so smart," Max grumbled. "Well, he doesn't have an IQ of 367! At least I have that going for me."
Max had bullied the examiner into giving him that IQ, but he chose to ignore that particular fact.
Quickly, Max moved through the halls towards the elevator. Quickly, he got inside, and pressed the button which would lead to the airships. As the elevator went down, he quickly prepared himself with his usual death ray. The fact that he'd never really personally saw to the extermination of an enemy in the flesh seemed to slip his mind.
The elevator opened and Max quickly walked to the helicopter. Dave ran up beside him, clearly furious. "What do you think you're doing, Max?"
"Eliminating a threat," Max sniffed. "You coming?"
"You're not even wearing any armor!" Dave protested. "Come on, what's the point of this?"
Max pointed his death ray at Dave. "I AM wearing armor. Just underneath. I'm not a total moron, David. I know you think I am, but..." Max gestured around him, death ray in hand and smirked. "I got here somehow, didn't I?"
Dave grumbled to himself, and quickly pulled on the necessary gear for the job. He holstered his gun and sighed melodramatically.
Several airships sat down on the roof and Dave could see Matheson entering one, barking orders to his subordinates. Max took the largest airship for his own, closely followed by Izzy and Evil One. Dave looked to see that the final remaining ship was still open. Max didn't like huge missions, but he always wanted enough men to make a grand entrance. Sighing, Dave entered the helicopter.
"I pity you, you know," Noah's voice came from the cockpit. "It's a pretty shitty deal, getting stuck with him."
"It's my job," Dave sighed. "I was told to do it, so I plan on doing it."
Noah rolled his eyes and pressed several buttons as the helicopter's blades began to spin. "Yeah, I'm sure that's all it is."
As one, the three airships took to the sky.
Dave leaned back as he observed the twenty or so other men that had somehow managed to be fit into the airship. The mild chatter quieted down as the intercom turned on and Max's nasally voice came through.
"Listen well, all. It appears as though the resistance has decided that they can trespass on my turf. We plan to show them that we are NOT to be trifled with, and that our EVIL will defeat all who try to oppose us! Here is the plan."
In the middle of the room, a hologram fizzed to life, showing an old, rrun-down compound that appeared to have at one point been military.
"Our spies have determined that they are operating out of this hellhole. But don't let its rundown appearance fool you! They are VERY well-armed, and VERY dangerous. Show no mercy, and for Evil's sake, PLEASE be able to shoot accurately...that's one evil overlord tradition I DON'T want to follow. Max out."
Max sighed as he shut off the mic. He turned to see Izzy nodding and smiling, in gear as well. Evil One adjusted his body armor awkwardly. "Max, I'm not exactly...very good at shooting."
"True," Max replied. "But I trust you. So I want you to stay close to me."
Evil One's eyes widened. "You trust me?"
"Is that a surprise?"
Evil One sputtered for a bit before taking a deep breath and sighing. "A bit."
"What about me?" Izzy asked. "Ya don't trust me?"
"You will also remain close to me," Max said with a scoff. "The more the eviler."
"I believe it's 'the more the merrier-"
"NO IT ISN'T SHUT UP."
Izzy shrugged. "Fine, fine, little gnome dude...yeesh."
Max scoffed again and held up his death ray, and looked outside to see that they were rapidly approaching the old building. Quickly, he turned on the intercom again. "Attention fools! We are nearing our target!"
"Max," Izzy began, but Max shushed her.
"Surround it, and take it by storm! Kill them ALL!"
"Max..." Izzy tried to warn again, but Max wouldn't listen.
"Leave no survivors! NOW GO!"
"MAX!" Izzy yelled, and Max spun to look at her.
"WHAT?" he replied in exactly the same tone.
"YOU JUST TURNED ON THE MIC FOR THE ENTIRE HELICOPTER!" Izzy screamed, and Max's eyes widened.
A second later, the airship swerved, sending Max flying to the ground as the pilot swerved to avoid the rockets that had just fired at the airships after Max had accidentally let them know as to their presence.
"GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!" Max ordered. "SET US DOWN SET US DOWN SET US DOWN!"
Evil One screamed as the pilot swerved again. Max looked up to see his protege flying directly towards him.
CRASH.
"Ow..." Max groaned from the ground.
"Setting you down now!" The pilot exclaimed, clearly panicked.
Quickly, the airship dropped, leading to more screaming.
"THIS IS WHY YOU WEAR A SEAT BELT!" Evil One yelled.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Izzy screamed, grinning.
The airship quickly sat down on the ground. If its tail could be between its legs, it probably would be.
The door opened and quickly the men started filing out, guns in hand. Max had taken the only death ray for his own. Evil One slowly crawled to his feet and proceeded to vomit all over the entrance to the ship.
"Delightful," Max sniffed, stepping over it. Izzy jumped over it and Evil One stumbled over it on the way out. Gross.
They could hear muffled yells from inside the compound, and Max ordered his men to advance. The sound of gunfire rang out through the air, and Max held up his death ray, ready to fire.
"Do I have to kill people?" Izzy asked nervously. "I may like yanking peoples' chains but I don't want to kill people."
"No, you just stay near me," Max reassured her. He nodded to Evil One. "Same with you."
Max held up his death ray and examined the metal door blocking their entrance, and quickly pulled the trigger. A blast of energy exited the death ray, blowing open the door. "Onward!" Max yelled as he entered. Izzy and Evil One followed reluctantly.
Max screamed and ducked as an enemy actually had the nerve to fire at him. "Danger, bad danger!" he yelled. "Somebody get rid of him! He's very mean!"
They heard a gunshot from the other end of the hallway. Izzy scowled at Max a bit. "You're kind of a coward."
Max raised his death ray instinctively before remembering that he actually somewhat liked Izzy. He poked his head around the corner to see Dave with a gun in his hand, looking bored as all hell.
Max stood up and started walking towards him. "Where is everyone?" He asked.
"Matheson's plane got shot down," Dave replied. "They're all dead except for the man himself. Come on, we need to keep moving."
Evil One's eyes widened. "They're dead?"
"Keep moving," Dave growled. "I'm not hanging around you guys. My men are tearing through theirs. Just go. Their main room is...five floors above us."
Max grinned and kept going. A group of enemy soldiers fired at them. Max raised his death ray and quickly blasted them to smithereens. No blood, merely ashes. Max ran over them, laughing maniacally, his fancy contraptions once again allowing him to dehumanize his targets.
"Is he okay?" Izzy asked Evil One nervously, who scratched his head.
"I...don't know," he admitted. "He doesn't like seeing blood. Which is why I'm kinda worried about him being here."
Izzy nodded and ran after him, while Evil One walked more slowly.
"Holy..." the voice came from behind Evil One, and he whipped around, pointing his gun at the figure.
Evil Two stood before him, looking completely bewildered to see him there.
"Evil Two?" the former partner asked. "It's been forever!"
The man growled, pulling out his gun. "Don't call me that. It's Marcus. I'm done associating with that halfwit fucktard, Max." He sneered. "You hung around with him all these years? That's kind of sad."
Evil One threw down his gun. "Regardless, I'm not shooting you. ...and since when was your name Marcus? I thought it was-"
" I changed it to protect my identity," Marcus interrupted, tossing his gun to the ground as well. "And James, it's nice to see that you're still a moron."
Several other guns clicked and Evil One sighed as the other soldiers surrounded him. He raised his hands in the air.
"Come on boys," Marcus yawned as several men surrounded Evil One. "This one is close to Max. Let's get out of here and cut our losses. Moreau will understand."
Dave moved through the halls on his own, moving up the stairs. Downstairs, a shootout was occurring and Dave didn't really want to get his hands dirty at the moment. As he heard screams, he continued up the stairs to the fifth floor, more nervous than he was letting on.
As he rounded the corner, he looked and his stomach shriveled a little bit.
Sky stood in front of him, gun in her hand, expression frozen on her face as she saw Dave.
"Been a while, hasn't it?" Dave commented, holding up his own gun.
"If you think that I'm going to just sit and chat just because of some bullshit failed romance I'm not going to shoot you right now, you're wrong," Sky replied coldly. "I have priorities, and you aren't one of them. Hands in the air."
Reluctantly, Dave put his hands in the air. "How have you been?" he asked casually, a note of passive-aggressive menace in his voice as he did so. Sky didn't respond, instead searching him for weapons. "You know, I've been pretty good...you know...after you betrayed me and left me for dead."
"Shut up," Sky growled as she searched his pockets, finding nothing but tissue paper and breath mints. "Why the hell did you bring these along?" she asked, and took the gun from Dave's hand.
"Do you know how long it took anyone to find me?" Dave asked, the venom becoming more clearly pronounced in his voice as he carried up the entire conversation. "A month. A month without anything. No Chris, no parents, no...no you. The entire time I thought, 'surely they'd rescue me.' But they didn't."
A brief look of pain flashed across Sky's face, but it quickly passed.
She decked him across the face. "Is that why you joined Max then? Because that seems kind of petty if you ask me!"
"You want me to show you the scars?" Dave snarled, staggering to his feet. "You still think you're some nice girl, right? And that's why you're here. Sticking up for the people. But you see me? You didn't rescue me. You threw a fit when you lost. You're a fucking hypocrite and I can't wait to watch you burn."
Sky clicked her gun, aiming it at Dave's forehead. "Not. Another. Word."
Dave smirked, remaining quiet.
The sound of an explosion rocked the corridor, and Dave took his chance.
Quickly, he knocked the gun out of Sky's hands and aimed a punch for her face. Sky intercepted and attempted to sweep him under the legs. Dave crashed to the ground, but immediately recovered and kicked Sky in the face. He scrambled for his own weapon, but just as he grabbed hold of his gun Sky smashed him in the face.
Blood flowed from his cheek as Sky kicked the gun away, quickly holding up her own gun. Sky aimed it at Dave, who lay coughing on the ground. Her finger lightly pressed against the trigger.
But she did not pull it.
And in that moment of hesitation, Dave turned and pressed a button on his watch, sending out an electric shock that blinded Sky momentarily. She let out a scream as Dave ran for his life, using kleenex to wipe his bleeding face off. He quickly took the stairs two steps at a time, shocking several enemy soldiers that came his way before bursting out the door, gasping for breath.
Dave's face was neutral, but his heart was beating faster than it had in years.
Max stopped in front of a large, metal door that stood between him and the main control room of the compound. He took a deep breath. "Okay...it is time to meet my nemesis. No biggy. Should probably leave a good impression...yeah. Should be good. Evil laugh? No, I have a cold. No evil laugh today."
"What are you rambling about?" Izzy asked, sounding surprisingly deadpan.
"This is a big moment, minion," Max exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "I want to make an excellent first impression. Everything needs to be perfect! You don't know the feeling of having someone against you at every turn! This is going to be the start of a beautiful nemesisship."
"You're weird," Izzy stuck her tongue out at him. "Just blow the door open!"
Max groaned. "Fiiiiiiiine!"
Dramatically, he raised the death ray and blew the door open.
On the other side, about seven men plus Moreau stood with weapons in their hands.
Moving quickly, Max started disintegrating men before they could fire at him, while Izzy cringed, having tried to convince him that killing people wasn't the best option, but the fool wouldn't listen.
One of the men fired off rounds at Max, but missed due to the fact that he was untrained, and guns were a lot harder to use than Hollywood made it appear. Max quickly disintegrated him as well.
Moreau scowled, and Max wrinkled his face upon seeing him. "You look ugly," Max said without a trace of irony entering his voice.
Moreau raised his gun but Max gestured to his death ray. "I assume I shouldn't move," the Japanese businessman said smoothly. "I know how this ends. You wish to kill me, correct?"
"No," Max said. "I'd much rather prefer to take you prisoner and parade you around for a bit before executing you as an example of why you shouldn't be disobeying my authority."
"You kill me," Moreau replied slowly and clearly. "Others will just take up the reins. We're tired, Max."
Izzy looked around, as if uncertain of what to do in the current situation.
"Well..." Max scratched his head. "I'm tired too! I went to be at TEN O CLOCK last night! I know, horrible! I need to get more sleep."
"You fail at dramatic talk," Moreau replied bluntly.
Max sputtered a bit at this. "WHAT did you just say to me? That...that's just rude...you're rude! You probably don't even know what the word dramatic means!"
"Certainly not taking time out of your day to bicker pointlessly with me?" Moreau pointed out, and Max readied his death ray.
"Don't test my patience," Max growled.
Moreau lowered his gun and, with no sense for anything dramatic, fired.
Max looked down to see the wound seeping from his lower stomach. Izzy gasped.
"You...are not invincible," Moreau said, smiling as Max looked down numbly before screaming.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Max yelled. "Why does my tummy hurt so much? What...what...did you just shoot me?" Max asked, horrifed.
"You die, nothing will change," Moreau said, putting his gun away. "I don't want to kill you, Max, because then I'd be the one stuck with your mess."
Izzy raised her gun and growled. "You make no sense!"
"No, it is you who makes no sense!" the businessman replied. "Why do you help him when he's caused this world so much pain?"
"'Cause he's a cool guy," Izzy said. "Even if he's a little nuts." Max collapsed, and Izzy attempted to drag him out.
Moreau smiled. "You keep believing that. You'd be best to get him to a doctor...you won't have time to take me in." Moreau started walking towards an open window, an odd choice of design for a seemingly secure military bunker. "Ciao." Quickly, the businessman jumped out, and Izzy ran to the window and looked down to see that he'd jumped onto an airship similar to that that Max had.
Realizing that it was too late to go after him, Izzy ran back over to Max, who was wheezing in and out, holding his hands to the wound. "Get it off, get it off..." he groaned. "Mommy?"
Izzy turned on her intercom. "This is Izzy, reporting! Max has been shot! Repeat, Max has been shot and needs immediate medical attention!"
Max took the mic and looked at it for a moment before vomiting into it. Izzy cringed as Max dropped the useless item. Slowly, people trickled into the room, trying to help but not really knowing how to. Finally, two doctors came in with a stretcher and carried the overlord away.
Izzy looked around for Evil One, but was unable to find him. Quickly, she walked over to Dave, who was staring out into nothing. "You seem off," she noted.
"This was a pretty big failure," Dave replied, face still blank. "They escaped...and yeah, he got shot."
Izzy nodded. "Uh, small question."
"Fire away."
"What exactly do you do for working with Max?"
Dave turned to Izzy and sighed. "Max couldn't have gotten to where he is today without a helpful benefactor, whom I represent. We provided the money to create a contract with Signal Industries, and we used our agents throughout the world to kick off his takeover."
Izzy's eyes widened. "Wow...why?"
Dave turned away from Izzy so that she couldn't see his face. "Because that's my job. And I don't ask questions."
Izzy's widened eyes narrowed, and she turned away from Dave, remaining quiet as she walked away.
Once he was sure that Izzy was out of earshot, Dave pulled out his phone, punched in a number, and made a call.
