Justification of Evil

By TheImmortalDoll

Chapter IV: A Team

I had a team. I knew it just by looking at them all together. Six children come together and brought to me for one reason or another. Separate, merely brats stuck in the lowest levels of life, but together, something powerful, something unique, and something that would achieve the success I so craved and finally gain the appropriate favor in Voltaire's eyes.

I had the necessary means, the necessary knowledge, and now, the necessary tools. All that remained was to bring it all together.

Kai, Bryan, Spencer, Ian, Tala and Kala. I looked at them each in turn as they stood in a line before me. All wearing the same uniform- a purple jumper with black trousers- with the BIOVOLT symbol stitched onto the left side of the chest. Even Kala, a girl in boy's clothes, stood in the familiar cheap cotton rags.

Kai, Bryan, Spencer and Ian, despite discipline training, had been unable to hide looks of utter shock when I came into the room followed by a new boy and girl. I had let the show of emotion slide for once; it was understandable; how often did any representative of the female gender step within these walls? I couldn't actually recall another time before it.

Kala's reaction, however, was something quite beyond my understanding. All sense of logic told me this small female child should be intimidated surrounded and outnumbered in the presence of so many of the opposite gender. Despite modern day sense and equality, in the scheme of things, males are still held as a higher sense of power than females. Should this child not be intimidated? And yet, she smiled. More than smiled, actually, she grinned at them and waved in a way that was either incredulously enthusiastic or horrendously sarcastic.

Tala, on the other hand, looked appropriately shy. Almost hiding behind his sister, he looked at the four unfamiliar boys with a nervous uncertainty and obvious intimidation. I could instantly see the flaws that would need to be rectified; clear nervous twitching as the boy fiddled with his clothes, his hair, and the beyblade in his pocket. His bowed head and constantly shifting gaze were far from the intimidating warrior I aimed to create in each student.

"I have brought the six of you together, because you have been recognized as having extreme potential and power." I stood before them, looking down at them as I spoke. It was time to put it all into place. "You will be the elite in this abbey. I will monitor your training personally to make you the best. You will be my team."

Kala's hand went up.

For a moment, I merely blinked. No child had ever treated my lectures of discipline with such incredible callousness before. The children here were trained to the fault, when I spoke, they listened without interruption, without hesitation, attentive and almost scared to breathe out of place. A boy had once sneezed and apologized profusely for it, looking as if he expected to be shot there and then. And this girl, had just casually put up her hand as if she felt she had every right to give her own input.

"You do not interrupt me, girl." I stepped forward, towering over this small child and lowering my voice to the tone that usually made them flinch in fear. "You listen as I speak and you do as I say."

And this damned child merely raised an eyebrow at me in a gesture that seemed to mature on such a young face. "I only wanted to ask a question."

"Well, you do not," I replied. "Questions can only be asked by those with the authority to do so. You are merely a tool for my use. You do not ask, you simply do."

She tilted her head, such disrespectful sarcasm. "So we can't ask questions?"

"No," I snapped, intending to leave it there, but she continued regardless.

"What happens if we ask questions?"

"You are punished, child. An experience you will find most unpleasant. If you were wise you would chose not to challenge it."

She nodded. "Right. So, we're not asking questions, correct?"

I nodded back at her. "Correct." I stepped back, intending to pick up the lost thread of where I left off, but this damned creature took it upon herself to speak up again.

"I just asked three questions, you know."

I looked at her, opening my mouth to silence the damned brat, when it actually dawned on me that she was right. No the finest display of attentiveness on my part for to overlook such a thing.

"You going to punish me then?" She said, voice holding something that I could have almost labeled as mockery. "Do I get three punishments, or do you just wrap it all up with one…? Oh wait, that was another two questions. Five punishments then."

I was livid with the most bitter anger I had ever felt in all my years. Never before had I been challenged in such a way, never before had my discipline and authority been turned in such a way that I was left as the bane of someone else's humor. Even Voltaire's unchallengeable power that frightened me constantly into submission was something I could control, act accordingly, I knew how to deal with that. But this- this- was something that bypassed all sense. This mere child had somehow robbed me of all position of authority and stricken me of all powers of discipline. She relented at nothing, she continued regardless of my constant threats and reprimands. This child, in a space of mere minutes, had made a mockery of the entire hierarchy and schemes of authority in the entire abbey.

With brute force, I struck out at her, backhanding the damned brat so hard she fell back onto the stone floor. No sooner had she smacked against the rough surface did I have hold of the front of her shirt, pulling her back up and all but throwing the child into the nearest wall.

In the midst of my anger, I caught a glimpse of the boy's faces. Tala's utter terror at seeing his sister beaten; Bryan, Spencer and Ian, all with concern shining in their eyes but already trained enough to know not to show it on their faces; and Kai, utterly impassive with the stoic mask his Grandfather had apparently long ago put in place.

Dragging the girl up from the floor once again, I manhandled her roughly, shoving her into appropriate position to look at me, physically forcing the child into submission. I pushed her back against the wall until the girl was leaning against it and looking up at me, you will stand to attention, breathing heavily and beaten in my attempt to regain control.

And to my horror, her eyes still blazed with a fire that showed no signs of so much as withering. Face still hardened into a blaze of pure rebellion, and purely impassioned sarcasm dripping from the words spoken by a voice as relentless and determined as a fire enveloping wood and turning it to ashes. "You done?"

I stormed to the door, called for the attention of two guards further down the hallway and ordered them into the room. "Take this putrid child and lock her in the cells."

Even they showed surprise as I gestured to the girl, but in loyalty they hesitated only briefly before carrying out my orders and grabbing hold of the child. One guard taking hold of each thin, pale arm and pulling the girl with them- despite her struggles of protest-out of the room and down the echoing stone corridors that I knew led to the barred cells for a long, cold night in solitude.

Once the doors were closed and the sounds of footsteps and Kala's constant arguing had dispersed, I turned back to the remaining students. They stood in the same original position, the earlier described expressions still present. And under my gaze, they immediately snapped into submission and with backs straightened and eyes forward, they obediently awaited my next orders.

I had lost the will. I repeated a few briefs words- reminding them that they were here to fulfill a purpose, students of this abbey, aiming to become beyblading warriors, they were to answer to me- before dismissing them back to their rooms, instructing them to give Tala the remaining bed in the room already shared by Kai, Spencer, Bryan and Ian.

I then made my way down to the lower levels and the cells. I hadn't even finished the staircase before I heard her wails of protests, shouts of anger, and even several threats towards the guards. I rounded the corner just in time to see one of the guards- tall, heavily cloaked men, as they were- slap the girl round her delicate face.

Yes, so delicate. A fine example of a female child, more so than a child, each minor detail an exclamation of feminism. And yet, her stance, her actions, held more strength than any boy here. In few adults, had I ever witnessed the self-assured confidence with which she performed such minor, everyday actions. It was horribly fascinating, this complete disregard for all sense of order and structure to the world. She was completely enveloped in her own determination and restricted within the rules and order of nothing. Such lack of fear, such lack of doubt. It was mad and ridiculous and wondrous all at the same time. Such a sense of absolute freedom must be exhilarating.

And here it was: my job and duty to crush that fiery spirit until she would become another soldier fallen into line with the rest.

The guards stood straight as I approached, awaiting further orders and I instructed them to leave this insolent brat with me. I stood unmoving as they bowed their heads and obediently dispersed from the narrow corridor of cells.

There were a few boys locked in further down the end, peering in fascination through the metals bars at this unfamiliar girl stood before me. The only students so far aware of Kala's presence within the walls were Kai, Tala, Bryan, Spencer and Ian. I had yet to reveal this revolutionary event to the rest of the student population.

I looked down at her. Icy blue eyes stared back up at me. Such resilience. Most children would fidget under the sturdy gaze of any adult they were unfamiliar with; the mere stature and height difference enough of an intimidation, and yet this girl gazed right back at me.

"How delightful it will be," I began. "To see that brilliant attitude of yours crushed to pieces."

She smiled almost wistfully and leant back against the wall as if this were a friendly chat, rather than an impending lecture. "You love it really," she said.

"No," I shot back, not quite sure- and rather disturbed- at the rashness in my answer and the need I felt to exert my denial of her claim in my tone. "You are a brat, child. It is my job to discipline you and discipline you I shall. I have trained hundreds of students, each one refined to a near perfect warrior or ultimately dismissed as a failure and unworthy."

For a few moments, she just looked at me. "…near perfect?" She said eventually with a gentleness I had never heard before in her voice. It was almost…. Sympathetic. "You strive for perfection, don't you? What drives you is clearer than you would like. This-" She gestured at the walls around us, indicating the abbey. "-this structure, this system, this school of obsession, all this is your attempt to find perfection, is it not?"

I loathed to admit it, but her words strung a horrid truth within me. How could this child have such insight? How could this damn brat read me like an open book when I had always prided myself on having a demeanor of apathy? She stared with those blue eyes, eyes too bright for my liking, for it unnerved me, into my very soul it seemed. She knew nothing of me, she could not, having known me less than a day. And yet…

"Perfection," she drawled, turning her head to the side with a smirk that would have been fitting on the face of any movie villain. "What a beautifully divine idealistic fantasy."

I growled. "Such educated words from such a small child. You are a brat, little more than a homeless runt, where did you learn such complexity? You speak with insight, as if with the education of a scholar. How?" I was too curious, too lenient, but I was possessed it seemed to know these things, I had to know.

She scoffed. "No education of the procedural kind. No days spent sat at a desk listening to a teacher lecture. You're right, Tala and I, we are hardly from a background of wealth. Stupid, lazy mother never registered our names for any school." Her voice seemed to turn bitter. "No, her children, her slaves. Too lazy, too drunk to work, she would send us to beg for food, steal it if necessary. We stole valuables too, watches and wallets and jewelery, pawning it all for the money for basic electricity and her damned alcohol!"

"If no education, then how do you speak with such complexity? Such integrity?"

She glared up at me. "Why should I tell you? Further, why do you so much as care? My mother said I was a delinquent. She said I was violent, out of control, a hopeless case. Monster child sitting in the corner talking to demons."

My breath seemed to catch in my throat as an unknown excitement rose within me. "Demons? What demons?"

She shook her head. "It's not a demon. A spirit. My spirit companion-"

"In what from does this spirit appear, child?" I cut her off, the excitement now threatening to overflow and I was quickly and ignorantly forgetting that I was supposed to be punishing this girl.

"Depends," she said. "It's in the figure of a man, usually. But I can command him into the beyblade. Then it has no figure, no shape. It's just there, unseen."

"A bit-beast," I whispered. I paused, falling into contemplation. "But in the figure of a man?"

She nodded. "Idiots claim it to be the devil. Mother, babysitters, policemen. He would reek havoc on those that would challenge me. For a brief while, when father was still around, I did go to school. Tala and I, we did. They expelled me. They kicked us out. It was a catholic school, they said they would not have a child who converses with the devil."

"Do you believe this thing to be the devil?" I asked.

"No. That's absurd. I've asked him. He's not the devil. What business would the devil have here? With me?"

I nodded. "What is the name of this thing then?"

She shrugged. "Doesn't have one. Doesn't need one. As long as it comes when I will it, then what else does it matter?"

Putting this aside for now, I continued, "but this spirit appears outside of the beyblade? You could call upon it now?"

She nodded. "I don't know how, though. Tala has a spirit, that wolf, but it can only come with the spin of the blade. This I can summon at will." Her eyes sparkled. She straightened up and tossed auburn curls over her shoulder, letting her head drop back with closed eyes. "Come to me, my faithful spirit. Come now."

It seemed bizarre. Something out of a horror film this minor ritual. This sense of logic in me convinced me that nothing would happen. But then the bars of the cells rattled, the keys hanging on a near by rack rustled together in a metal chorus of clanging. A bitter wind seemed to sweep up and around us, and for a brief instant, I saw it. A man; a man with long, flowing black hair, black eyes, dressed in a tailored black suit, a golden crown around his head with a piercing red jewel in the centre.

And then it was gone, just as quickly as it came. The wind settled and seemed to disperse as if the air had evaporated into itself. The boys in the cells around us were all but cowering in fear.

I looked to Kala. Her head lowered, her eyes fixed on me, and locks of crimson hair settled back around her face. Power, such tremendous power.

"Launch the beyblade," I said quickly. Forget everything else, I had become obsessed with this. How could this girl have such power? This child was everything I had ever wanted in a student, except that damnable attitude, but what did that matter when this girl was so strong?

She shrugged, took out the launcher, fixing the blade onto it and pulling on the ripcord, sending the black blade flying through the air, landing heavily on the stones yet without so much as a wobble, careening into a fine, sharp turn. The spin, balance, rotation- all the little details I knew about- it was all perfect.

"Summon the beast." I could not look away from it. I was transfixed, mortified and delighted at this insane revelation. "Call upon it, child."

No need for words, she threw one arm into the air and the air seemed to move around us once again. There was something there, something with power, a force similar to gravity but pushing in all directions.

I was trying to define an element. Every bit-beast had an element, it had to. This thing seemed to radiate nothing but darkness. Could darkness itself be an element?

Suddenly the black blade was flying through the air, at me. I ducked just in time to let it fly over my head and into bars of the cell behind me. With an unimaginable force, it struck the metal, denting it, slicing it, breaking the lock so the door fell open with some invisible, unequivocal power, the boy inside letting out a scream. The beyblade skidded onto the floor, turning sharply before flying back into the girl's out stretched hand.

Once the madness had calmed, the boy inside the attacked cell crept forward and peered around the doorway.

"Back inside!" I snapped, successfully making the child jump in fear and hastily retreat to the back wall of his stone prison. Satisfied, I turned back to Kala. "You aimed that thing at me?!" I demanded.

She shrugged. "Testing your reactions."

I walked forward and gave her a harsh slap around the face, but my mind was too far away elsewhere for me to bother to do much more. And besides, still, she just didn't care. "You are strong child. Maybe too strong for your own good. But you have power that will force you high into the ranks here."

She gave me an amused smile. "And you said you didn't recruit girls."

Forcing myself to ignore this arrogance, I let my eyes wander over her, to study this miracle that had been placed before me. This was the tool that would carry my team to the top, that would finally gain me adequate favor in Voltaire's eyes, that would at last help me gain the power and wealth I had pulled my way up the ladder in order to gain. "Come with me, Kala. My demon child. We will rejoin with the rest of the team tomorrow, and from there, we will work to making you a champion."