For the life of him he couldn't understand why he tolerated some people and their stupidity.
Sure they were rich and his new business partners but he just couldn't stand ignorance.
Not only could they not understand that he wasn't going to work without being paid first, they had the audacity to call him their lap dog and that without them his work would never be bought.
If it weren't for the fact that he to some extent respected a very small percent of the older men and women who sat around his conference table, he would have vaporized each and every single one of them.
"Let's settle this before things get out of hand. We give you forty percent of the payment and after you finish the product and we're satisfied with your work you get the rest."
Were these simple minded fools not informed about who exactly he was and how easily he could destroy their lives and kill every single person they loved and cared about without batting an eyelash?
He's an evil genius and the greatest villain this world has ever witnessed. Without him their small plans to over power their enemies and threaten other countries with missiles and nuclear bombs would never manifest into reality. He was their only ticket to success and he hated when people thought they could screw him over and leave unscathed.
"How about this. You leave my conference room, take your money and your little pre school drawings of whatever it is that you wanted and go find someone else to do your work for you."
The room fell silent as they witnessed his baby blue eyes begin to glisten with bubbling rage. Syndrome was well known for having a temper but witnessing first hand was always a bone chilling experience.
"I've said this multiple times but I'll say it once more for your simple little brains to understand. I don't work until I get paid, not only that you haven't even presented me with a legible layout of whatever it is that you want, you obviously don't have the proper funding to pay me and maintain the machine which in turn would cost more for repairs so I'd just be wasting my valuable time and I hate that. So, ladies and gentlemen if your not comfortable with my demands get off my island before I throw you out for wasting my time."
After the meeting Syndrome was left feeling irritated and pissed off. They had decided to take their business elsewhere but he knew that they'd be back since no one else in the world designed and delivered weapons of mass destruction like he did. But the thought of his success wasn't enough, he needed to vent his frustration and there was only one place to go for that.
Leaving the now empty room he made his way through his grand empire. Every inch of the fortress was perfectly designed and modified to his taste. Everything was always new, refined and of the latest technology. He hated not being on top of his game, no matter how small it was. Everything had to be perfect and exactly were he wanted them to be.
"I wonder what my little flower is up to." He said to himself with a rare genuine smile on his face.
He hadn't had the time to visit her today thanks to that pointless meeting, but it just made him more eager to see her, even if she didn't want to see him. Now that he thought about it, it's been about a year since they met and he brought her to his fortress. Well, dragged her kicking and screaming would be a better and more truthful description but he didn't care about the labels.
"Sir, there's a call on the line from Korea about the uranium shipment scheduled for next week shall I connect the call?" Mirage asked through the communicator in his zero point energy gauntlet.
He had almost forgotten about the Koreans and the plans they had sent him for another one of their secret military weapons. He had to remember to read all the files of his outstanding work and see which ones to scrap and lessen the ever growing work load.
"Tell them I'll get back to them in a few hours, I have a few things I need to take care of that can't wait."
"Very well sir, and while I'm here I should pro warn you that she's not in a pleasant mood today so I would advise you not to provoke her." Syndrome scoffed at her choice of words.
"She's just upset about last night, she'll get over it." He said walking up to a wall and placing his hand on it which automatically opened a secret elevator that he always took to the top floor.
"Says the six guards that are currently in the infirmary." The assistant informed as she sent through a holographic video that happened about an hour ago during his meeting of the super and the guards Syndrome had instructed to keep an eye on her.
He groaned in annoyance as he watched her grab the men and literally dragged them around the room with her vines, some she flung into the air with no intentions of catching while she herself fought hand to hand with the armored men who were all screaming and begging for help through their headsets.
"You have got to be kidding me I thought we were done with these temper tantrums." He groaned pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Well if it makes you feel any better none of men are injured too badly, just a new broken bones, internal bleeding and what's not."
"You know I don't care about that. Things were going so well and now she goes and does this shit again just because she can't get what she wants!" Syndrome yelled banging his fist into the wall as his vision began to blur with anger. There was a moment of silence between the two until Mirage broke it.
"Well, you do have a tendency of being controlling and unreasonable at times to her requests so I can validate her reasons for lashing out so.. violently. Try not to be too harsh on her this time sir?"
"I'm sorry was your opinion asked for or do you want to be out of a job for being a nosey assistant. I advise you to get your work done and stay off the line until I request you opinion am I clear?" Mirage felt a cold chill trickle down her spine as her boss threatened to fire her. It hadn't been the first time he did so but it's the way his voice lowers to that dark, sinister tone that always made her feel so small and afraid.
"Yes sir." She replied quickly ending the conversation.
Syndrome gripped the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath as he straightened his posture and ran a hand through his unruly hair. He knew he shouldn't be but he was pissed. Not only did she break the rules, this meant that they had to start back from square one with her and her anger management, and he hated it when she made him do things he knew would just paint him as a monster to her all over again.
He had put so much work into getting her use to being with him. Hell he was still working on it even after a year but his little flower was like the wildest animal that nature could manifest into a literal goddess who refused to be caged and tamed into a docile creature of obedience and submission.
She was strong both body and mind, she fought for what she wanted and hardly ever accepted defeat no matter what he threw at her. But he was so sure that he had broken her out of her little outbursts such as this one. If there was one thing he hated more than stupid mundane people was being set back.
"The things one does for love." He sighed watching as the elevator counted the ascending floors almost reaching it's destination.
On the top floor everything was quiet. Not like a peaceful quiet but an uncomfortable and spine chilling kind of quiet. She knew that he was on his way up to her, there were a total of twenty five cameras in surrounding the domed area that watched her every move and followed her where ever she went.
Now there were only about five or six left from the little tiff she had with Syndromes goons. They just couldn't keep their mouths shut after she had warned them but did they listen?
"You heard the news earlier about that endangered species they found in a forest in India?" One of the three guards that were within hearing shot of her ask one of his colleagues in a almost mocking way.
"Yeah they said it was some breed of cat that has green fur or some stupid shit like that." The other laughed.
"They said they were planning on capturing it to keep it in some sanctuary to keep it safe plus it has a cub they said."
" I swear people make a big deal out of bullshit. If the things endangered just kill them and make room for the ones thriving, not like they're contributing to anything."
"Right? And I bet smugglers are just dying to get their hands on them. People would pay a shit load of money for rare and endangered animals."
"Hell with that kind of money and my current salary I would be set for life." The three guards laughed at each other's comments and continued to joke about the animals worth on the black market, all the while Iris sat listening to them trying her best to keep her fury at bay.
"I'm betting that Gillian guy is already thinking of snagging it for himself."
" Oh yeah, wasn't he the one that killed The last white gorilla, that guy is a certified pro."
Iris felt her anger boil into rage at the mention of that sick perverted demon whom she hated more than any being in the entire plane of existence.
He was a notorious villain that took pleasure in killing and selling anything that was rare. He had a taste for endangered animals and a taste for pissing her off when she would be seconds too late at stopping him from shedding the blood of all those innocent creatures she failed to save. He was her nemesis and she vowed that if she ever had to shed blood she would, once it would be his.
"I'd appreciate it if you un-cultured swines kept your mouths shut if you don't have anything of substance to say!" She yelled just about done listening to them speak like she wasn't even there.
"Oh simmer down your highness, don't get your leafy panties in a bunch over dumb animals it's a waste of energy. Think of it like this, once they're all wiped out, we can replace them with more enhanced and intelligent species that'll actually contribute to the world."
The guards laughed as they mocked her but they didn't realize that they had crossed a line. It was one thing to talk about killing innocent animals just got the sake of sick entertainment, but synthetic animals that were designed in labs that had no soul and no connection to nature was it for her.
So before they noticed the change in the room temperature and the red flames that burned in her eyes, each of them were grabbed by the surrounding vegetation and were mercilessly beaten. Sometimes she even heard the sounds of bones cracking under all of the screaming and wailing for mercy but she didn't stop until she was satisfied with her way of making them pay for the things they said.
But now as she had the time to calm down and think, she almost felt a little bad for being so harsh, just a little bit. She wasn't a violent person by nature but sometimes enough is enough. Sighing she looked above her at the clear dome that allowed her to admire the sky.
It was the usual blue, with a few clouds floating around and the flocks of birds that flew into her view and then would disappear into the distance. How she envied them.
They weren't kidnapped and kept in captivity like an animal that needed the protection of a maniac with a serious superiority complex. She missed the feeling of wind beating against her face, the smell of the oceans, the forests, hell she even missed actual dirt.
He kept her in a small replica of a forest he kidnapped her from as a means to make her comfortable but it wasn't the same, the connection wasn't the same.
Butgiven her circumstances for the past year all she could have done was adapt and do her best to escape with every possible moment.
She longed for her freedom every second of every minute of all the days she counted that went by.
There were still so many places she wanted to go, people to meet, animals to discover and things she wanted to protect. But now all she could do was watch the never ending ocean from her enclosure, the stars, sunsets and moon rises.
The only thing that keeps her going is the thought of finally freaking free from Syndrome's delusion that she belong to him and return home to her father.
As if on cue she heard the single ping of the elevator just a few feet from where she was sitting on her favourite patch of grass that was just in the centre of her indoor forest. Usually her heart would start pounding and her palms would get sweaty whenever Syndrome made his presence known to her, but right now she could care less.
"Busy day flower?" He asked when he reached about a foot away from her. She didn't have to look up to see that stupid smug smile he thought made him look appealing, she could feel it.
"If you already know why are you asking?" There wasn't a bone in her body that didn't ache to punch him.
"Because I want to hear it from your own lips as to why you saw the need to beat up the guards I placed here to keep you safe while I wasn't available." Iris scoffed .
"Oh please protect me from what? What could possible get to me in this death trap of a fortress you call home. You know since their suppose to be my guards how about training them not to talk bullshit in my presence and think they're not gonna get their asses kicked." Syndrome sighed as he tried to stay as calm and collected as he was in the elevator. This could be resolved without any need for, unpleasantness.
"I thought we were past this by now. Why didn't you just call me and I would have handled it?"
"Because I don't want your help! I don't want anything from you what part of that can't you get!?" Syndrome growled and reached for her but she slapped his hand away.
"Do not put your hands on me!" She snapped and got up to put more space between them.
"Excuse me? You're mine and I'll do what I please. Don't let your little freedoms make you feel like your in charge of this situation because I'd be happy to remind you of your place." He reached for her one more time but she shot a swarm of vines towards him from the ground that knocked him to the ground.
"I said keep your hands off me, or I'll rip them off." She was ready to fight him if it had to come down to it. Despite his claim on her she always fought him to show that she was neither afraid or weak.
She watched as he sat up and whipped a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. He watched the smeared red liquid on his hand and looked up at her clearly pissed.
"Do you really want to do this today Iris? Im in a very bad mood so I'd hate to end up doing something we'd both regret."
But they both knew she wouldn't back down. She had an everlasting fire that always keep his ablaze, no matter if it was through fighting or other means he enjoyed but he took what he could get.
"Fine, but I wouldn't hold back on you." He stood up and keep his blue eyes on her forest green ones that always took his breath away.
"And neither will I."
If he wanted her, he'd have to fight her first.