Devon paused for a moment, pressing her lips together before she walked towards the living room area.
"Have a seat; make yourself at home." Vector said this with a smugness that said 'yes, I know that you're thoroughly impressed'.
She sat down on a spot in the center of the orange, pleather couch, placing her hands on her knees awkwardly as he flopped down next to her. She couldn't help but think that this was a strange setup for a job interview, but she tried to ignore the over-casualness of it.
"So…you're looking to be a villain," he began. He emphasized his syllables in a way that made him sound like a campy action hero.
"Well you've definitely come to the right guy. It takes more brains than brawn to be a top villain, and brains is something I've got plenty of."
Vector rested his arms over the back of the couch, "So I've seen that you've attained at least some sort of name for yourself. Got any decent heists under your belt?"
Devon shrugged, "I've stolen artwork mostly at this point, the best of which was a pretty big Pollock I snatched from the Museum of Modern Art. I've got very limited accessible technology at this point, so that's about all I've been capable of. Just relatively small things."
Vector noticed as she talked that her teeth were abnormally sharp. It was a subtle difference from normal teeth, but up close, it was noticeable. He remembered something he had run across on his research of her that he had dismissed before, but now he was curious.
Vector smirked, "I recall in my research a mention of you delving into a bit of DNA modification. Care to elaborate on that?"
He could see the amusement in her own face as she smirked back, "That's classified, I'm afraid. Gotta leave a little mystery, right?"
He arched an eyebrow and nodded slowly, "Alright, I can respect that. But be warned that I will have that information out of you sooner or later."
She shrugged again, "Good luck…"
"Challenge accepted!" Vector declared leaning toward her slightly.
"Now…let's talk about housing arrangements –"
Devon gave a start, "Wait. Housing arrangements?"
"Being an intern for me is a full time gig," he said, slouching back against the couch again, "you're gonna need to be available 24/7. You'll get free time, of course, but the schedule is completely unpredictable. Housing is just a matter of convenience."
"Yeah, one problem with that," Devon interrupted, "I kind of have a pet at home that needs caring for. And I definitely can't leave her home too long alone. She gets bored and tears up the furniture."
"Please, pets are nothing in a house this technologically advanced. I'm sure you've noticed Phish, here," he tapped a foot on the transparent floor, motioning to the gigantic shark swimming by beneath them, "if this house can handle a shark, I'm sure it can handle whatever animal you've got.
"What kind of pet do you have? You seem like a dog person; it's a dog, isn't it?"
Devon chuckled, "You could say that."
The process of moving Devon's stuff from her place to Vector's went much faster than she had thought it would. A lot of it had to do with the specially designed suitcases Vector lent to her that could somehow temporarily flatten the clothes down to almost paper thin sheets in order to fit more into one case. Of course, like everything else Vector owned, these cases were bright orange and branded with a white V on both sides.
"Alright," Devon said, shoving one of the suitcases into Vector's arms, "where's my room at?"
Vector pursed his lips in annoyance, "Hmhm…the room that I am lending to you is just down the hallway beside the living room—what is THAT?"
Devon followed Vector's wide eyes to the lumbering fur-ball that waddled along next to her at her feet.
"Oh, that's Petunia."
Vector looked from "Petunia" to Devon and back to Petunia waiting on her to explain further, "But what is it?"
"She's a wolverine. I stole her on a middle school trip to the zoo when she was a baby."
"I thought you said you had a dog!" He said this in a much higher pitch than he intended.
"Did I?"
The round, fluffy creature sniffed around her new surroundings, her nose leading her to Vector's orange striped, zip-up sneakers.
Vector visibly stiffened but tried to play cool, "Eheheh…good girl…"
When Vector cautiously reached out his hand to pet her, she sniffed it then gave it a disgustingly wet lick.
"Eeyuck!" Vector jerked his hand back, shaking saliva off in viscous globs.
Petunia sat back on her haunches, tongue hanging from the side of her mouth with a wide grin. Her expression, her loud, nasally breathing, and her husky build made her resemble a fat pug more than a wolverine.
"She usually stays out of the way well enough. Just don't scare or irritate her; she gets cranky. If she causes any problems, let me know, and I'll take care of it. She listens to me…usually."
"Uh…alright," Vector replied weakly, wiping the excess drool from his hand onto his pants.
Vector led Devon down the hallway that led to where she would be staying. She couldn't help but notice how stark and empty the walls were. It wasn't the coziest place to live, that was for sure.
"First, we'll need to register your hand print so that you'll have free access to the room," Vector explained as he placed his hand in the hand-shaped indention on the interface next to the door.
"Access granted," a female computer voice declared, "Welcome, Vector."
The door slid open to reveal a fairly large, empty room.
"Thank you, Starla," Vector replied.
Devon suppressed a snicker at the nickname.
"Register new entry account," Vector commanded.
"Registering new entry account," the voice repeated, "enter name."
Vector motioned for Devon to comply.
"Devon," she spoke towards the panel, not sure if there was a specific place she was a mike somewhere she was supposed to be speaking into.
"Hello, Devon. Place hand in scanner."
She paused for a moment, rubbing her fingers against her palm before cautiously placing her hand on the scanner.
"It may sting a bit," Vector warned, but Devon had no time to react to this before hissing at the burning sensation in her palm.
"Hand print accepted."
"Gee, thanks for the warning," Devon said, shaking the tingling sensations out of her hand.
"Don't worry, it only burns the first time."
Devon thought to reply with "that's what she said", but decided against it.
"Now," Vector began as he led her into the room, "this room may look empty, but all of your essentials are here."
He snapped his fingers, and the overhead, studio style lights turned on and several hidden buttons and panels on the walls glowed orange. Vector pushed one of the buttons and a compartment opened to bring out a king sized bed, already laid out with a comforter, sheets and pillows.
"That one's the closet, and the one over there opens to a bathroom," he motioned to both consecutively.
"Oh, and I'm sure you've noticed the white and orange color scheme of the fortress. I'll ask that you keep to that. The closest value of orange you can get to two percent cyan, sixty three percent magenta, one hundred percent yellow, and zero percent black would be preferable. All else should be kept out of sight."
Devon gave a look of annoyance behind his back which quickly left when he turned back to her.
"So! Once you're all moved in here, you can begin training with the master," he pointed at himself with his thumbs enthusiastically.
"Great!" she rolled her eyes as he left, hoping she hadn't made a mistake by agreeing to this. It really shouldn't have surprised her that a guy who was just recently named the world's top villain was so pretentious.
It didn't matter, though. Someone as skilled as he had to be was bound to have some useful information to offer. She just hoped it wouldn't be a huge annoyance to get it.