You can expect updates to be much slower, now that I have a ton of projects that I have to balance with work and the community production I'm in.
Theme song for this chapter: "Bad to the Bone."
The next morning, Lita was surprised to find that she wasn't scheduled to workout in the gym. Instead, after breakfast, she was to report to the library for "training." While it was strange, Lita couldn't complain. Her muscles needed rest from all the extra exercise.
She'd only been to the library twice in the past few weeks. The first time was during the orientation tour, and the second was to dust the shelves. Lita wasn't much of a reader. Who had time for books when you were too busy keeping yourself from going broke? But the massiveness of the library had filled her with awe anyway. There were shelves upon shelves of books, going on for miles! Lita had asked Black Hat if he had read them all.
"What a ridiculous question," had been his response.
She'd figured that meant he had.
Of course, the library's size made it difficult for Lita to find her boss at first. After ten minutes of wandering, Black Hat's voice came out of nowhere.
"Oh, honestly! I haven't the time for this!"
Suddenly, as if by an invisible force, Lita was dragged rapidly through the library, the shelves whooshing past her. She was stopped just as abruptly and had to hold her arms out to the sides to keep herself from falling.
In front of her was Black Hat, sitting at a mahogany chess table.
"You're late," he said bluntly.
"Sorry," Lita said, straightening up. "But this place is like a maze! Wouldn't hurt to put up a few signs."
Black Hat sighed. He'd so been hoping she'd find her way through the maze on her own, but he'd gotten impatient. What a disappointment.
"Do you play chess, Miss Gris?"
Glancing at the chess set, and the open chair across from the demon, Lita took a moment to answer. "I…know a little. I mean I've seen it on TV."
"I shall teach you then," Black Hat said, gesturing to the open seat on the white side.
She looked at him unsurely as she sat down. "May I ask why?"
"There's more to being a villain than brute strength. A villain must have a certain level of intelligence in order to strategize and execute their plans flawlessly."
That was one of the reasons for this lesson. In truth, Black Hat wanted to get an idea of Lita's intellect. Perhaps she was his inferior physically, but really, who could ever beat him in a fight? One could be superior in one area and inferior in another.
From the conversations he'd shared with Lita, and her perfect score on her comprehension test, Black Hat had already been aware of the woman's intelligence. Although she was a high school dropout, she had a sharp wit and common sense that could not be learned from books. Honestly, he wished his other subordinates had this trait. But just how intelligent was she? Surely not enough to rival him!
Only one way to find out.
"This is the horsey, right?" Lita said, picking up a piece.
Black Hat rolled his eye. "It's called the knight."
One by one, he explained each piece. Of course, he could've made up the rules, since she was a novice, but he couldn't properly observe her intelligence if he didn't give her the proper set of rules.
"Now the queen," he said, picking up his black piece, "can move any number of spaces horizontally, vertically, and diagonally."
Lita nodded. "So how many spaces does the king move?"
"Only one," Black Hat said, moving his king. "Same directions."
"So…the king stays comfortably in the back while the queen does all the work?"
Black Hat frowned. "He has to stay in the back. If the king is taken, the game ends."
"So he's a coward then." She folded her arms. "Making everyone else do the work so he doesn't have to get his hands dirty."
"Such is war," Black Hat said, gripping the king. "Not too different from the business world."
She looked up at him. "Does that make you the king or the queen?"
He scowled at her implication. "I didn't invent the rules."
"For all I know, you did."
Black Hat snorted. "Let's just play. White goes first."
"Because good triumphs over evil?"
He knew she was just teasing, but it was still annoying. "Because the least experienced player goes first. And I'm," he gestured proudly to his pieces, "always black."
"Fine," Lita said, moving one of her pawns forward one space.
Smirking, Black Hat moved one of his pawns two spaces.
"Hey! You said pawns could only go one space!"
"Except on the first move," he said.
She huffed. "You didn't tell me that on purpose!"
"But of course. The best way to learn is by doing, after all."
Rolling her eyes, Lita moved another pawn forward, this time two spaces. Unfortunately, it was in the space diagonal to Black Hat's. Yawning, he slid his pawn into hers, picked hers up and set it to the side.
The game went on slowly, as Lita took her time with each move. She grunted as Black Hat continued to take her pieces. As he was about to take one of her bishops, she realized something.
"Why don't you make the pieces move themselves?" she asked. "You know, like in those Harry Potter movies? I mean you have the magic, right?"
"I could do that," Black Hat said with a shrug. "But then I wouldn't have the pleasure of doing this."
Picking up his knight, he slammed it down onto Lita's bishop, crushing it into tiny white rubble.
"Fair point," she said with a nod.
A few moves later, Black Hat had one pawn one space away from Lita's end of the board.
"Here's an interesting thing about pawns," he said, moving the pawn forward. "They may hold little power in this game, but if it gets far enough," he waved his hand over the piece, "it becomes a queen."
The pawn then magically transformed into a queen.
"Promotion," Lita said.
He smiled. "You could say that."
"Hope you didn't make that rule up, because I'm going to remember that one."
Unfortunately, she never got the chance to try it, for Black Hat had checkmate three moves later.
"Don't feel too bad, Miss Gris," he said, crossing his arms triumphantly. "I've been playing this game since the Persians invented their version and have yet to be beaten."
Lita grumbled in defeat. "Let's play again. And this time," she crossed her arms to match his, "let's raise the stakes."
He leaned forward in interest. "Go on."
"If I win," she said, leaning forward as well, "you give me the rest of the day off."
"Very well." He grinned widely. "But if I win, which I will, you spend the rest of the day with me."
She squinted in suspicion. "Doing…what, exactly?"
"Whatever I please."
She didn't like the sound of that, but she was too busy thinking about her father to be concerned with whatever Black Hat had in mind.
"Deal."
Reaching across the table, they shook hands. The pieces then magically moved back into their starting positions.
This game went a lot quicker as Lita spent less time considering each move. Black Hat figured it was because she had a better idea of the rules now. Since she didn't ask any more questions about the game, he decided to fill the silence with idle talk.
"Have you considered your villain name yet?" he asked.
She kept her eyes on the board as she made her next move. "Just Lita'd be fine."
"Now, now, Miss Gris," he said with a chuckle. "You can't expect to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies with a name such as that. Even your actual first name has more potential. Adelita," he said thoughtfully. "That name is from a song, isn't it? About a female soldier?"
"Yup," Lita said, her voice becoming quieter. "From the Mexican Revolution. My mom picked it."
He shook his head. "Too heroic a name."
While Lita still wasn't too keen on the idea of becoming a villain, given her situation, it was best to humor him.
"Why not name me after a psychological condition like Dementia?" she suggested. "Maybe…Kleptomania? You know, stealing?"
He waved his hand. "Too long."
"Just Klepto then?"
He thought about it. "We'll leave that on the table."
"My papi never had an alias," Lita said, hoping this would get him off the subject. "He said any thief who calls attention to themselves is not very good at their job."
"That's the difference between a common thief and a supervillain." Black Hat smiled proudly. "Supervillains want their work recognized, so by the time they conquer the world, everyone already knows to fear them."
"What made you quit then?"
Surprised by her question, he accidentally knocked over his rook in the middle of castling. "What?"
"You took over the world, right?" Lita said, raising her gaze towards him. "I mean you're always bragging about it. But you don't rule the world now." She reached over to pick up his rook for him. "Now I know there's no one powerful enough to defeat you, so I can only guess you quit. So…why?"
He stared at her a long while. No one had ever asked him that question before. He imagined it had been on others' minds, especially his subordinates', but no one had dared ask it out loud.
Finally, he finished his move, castling his king. "It got boring."
Lita snorted as she made her move. "Boring? Seriously?"
"Oh, don't get me wrong," Black Hat said, wrapping his fingers around a bishop. "It was amusing for a while, having the world at my fingertips." He groaned. "But when the rebels started realizing defeating me was a lost cause, they stopped resisting. With no one to stop me, it became all too easy."
"Wow." Lita tilted her head to the side. "World conquest's seriously overrated."
He chuckled. "That's not to say I've given up on it. I've found conquering the business world to be a more stimulating challenge than conquering the physical world. Keeps me busy."
"Maybe boredom wasn't your problem."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "And what do you mean by that?"
"Maybe your problem was you just hadn't found the right opponent to make things interesting." Glancing back at the board, she moved a pawn forward. "Speaking of which. Check."
Stunned, Black Hat looked down at the board. Her pawn had made it fully across, making it a queen. It was on a direct horizontal path towards the king. Black Hat had castled it so it was protected by the rook, but if he took the queen, Lita's rook would take his and would then be free to take the king.
Moving the king would prove fruitless as well. If he moved it forward, the rook would be taken. Even if he took the queen afterwards with his king, there was a bishop positioned in the event of that happening. He couldn't move diagonally to the right, as there was a pawn waiting there too.
After several minutes of moving his one eye across the board, Black Hat looked up at Lita, raised his hand slowly, and knocked over his king.
It was impossible! No one had beaten him at chess in centuries! Not since he'd started learning the European rules! He was about to brush it off as beginner's luck when Lita smirked triumphantly.
"Oh," she said, leaning back in her seat. "Didn't I mention my papi and I used to play this all the time?"
His mouth dropped open in astonishment. "You…you were…bluffing?!"
She nodded. "Never underestimate your opponent."
Black Hat understood now. She'd pretended to be a novice and had let him win the first game. By the second game, he'd been so confident he'd win he hadn't paid close enough attention to her moves. She'd expected that, of course.
To think that he, Black Hat, the greatest villain of all time…had just been swindled by a common thief. Honestly, he didn't know whether to incinerate her or…congratulate her.
"Now if you'll excuse me," Lita said, getting up from her seat, "I have some errands to run in town."
Excited at the thought of seeing her father, she strolled past him.
"One moment, Miss Gris."
She stopped and turned to him.
"I said you could have the day off." Black Hat turned so that his eye and the upturned corner of his mouth were visible. "I didn't say anything about leaving the mansion."
Lita's jaw dropped. "B-B-But…I-I…"
"When making a deal, Miss Gris, it helps to be specific. To avoid loopholes." Turning back to the board, he waved his hand dismissively. "Enjoy your afternoon off."
Scowling, she raised her fist, but stopped. Punching him would only lead to trouble. Besides, he was right. As much as she hated to admit it. She may have won the game, but he'd been the one to outsmart her in the end.
Sighing in defeat, Lita stomped through the library. At least she had a break from training with Dementia.
On the way to the exit, she passed by a shelf labeled "Self-Defense." Pausing, she skimmed the titles. The books in this section covered all sorts of fighting techniques: karate, taekwondo, jujitsu, even fencing. She glanced back down the aisle, in the direction of Black Hat.
Lita had no interest in becoming a villain, but Black Hat was right about one thing. She had a lot to learn. Black Hat was the master in everything. If she was ever going to see her father again, she had to become stronger in every way possible. Of course, she knew she could never overpower Black Hat physically, but she could outwit him.
So, without a second glance, she scooped as many books off the shelf as she could carry.
Meanwhile, back at the chess table, Black Hat was holding a pawn in his hand. It was the white one that had been used to defeat him.
He'd figured it out. Why the dog whistle hadn't worked on Lita. It wasn't that she was his superior. No one could ever be his superior. Physically, she was his inferior, but intellectually…she was his equal.
Yes. That was it. She'd outwitted him in chess, a feat that for centuries had been impossible to accomplish. Not only that, but she didn't treat him like one would their superior. Ever since their first meeting, she'd stood up to him, spoken to him casually, acted as if they were on equal footing. And in a way, they were.
Black Hat had never had an equal before. And oddly enough…he liked it.
That girl was going to go far in this organization. But even if she was his equal, he was still the one moving the pieces. He'd be the one guiding her on her path to greatness.
Grinning, he used his magic to transform the pawn between his fingers into a queen.
Decided not to bore you too much with the chess details, only where relevant.