LeftOvers - How to Become a SuperVillain and Take Over the World

SuperVillain

It turns out that, as a team, we were woefully, totally, and wildly, screwed.

"I will not!" Lillian said with a huff. She crossed her arms under her ample bosom and glared. At me. As though it were my fault that she could do what she could.

"Lillian, think. Your power, coupled with Clarence's, offers us the sort of unique opportunity that no one else has. It'll give us such an insane edge that... well, we'd be downright stupid not to use it." I'd been arguing the point with her for nearly an hour.

It was Monday morning. The sun was bright overhead. The campus was calm with the sort of post-hangover quiet that most newly-sobered students enjoyed. The birds were singing overhead and wheeling in tight fractal patterns under the control of some punk trying to impress a group of girls. It was, overall, a nice day.

Or it would have been, was Lillian not tailing after me.

As it turned out, every team needed to send a few delegates to the main office. That was easy. The office was in the ground floor or the biggest building on campus. Just looked for the imposing tower of glass, and walk in its general direction.

What was less easy, was having Lillian with me.

During our last meeting, at the Six Shooter, she had insisted that she would come with. I agreed. It would give us time to talk, and I needed to talk to her. I tried to ignore the insistent voice in the back of my head telling me that her shapely body didn't figure into the decision. "It's..." I tried to push away the headache that was coming and shook my head. "Is it because you're having problems with your powers? Or for some ethical reason?" I asked.

Lillian shook her head, blond curls bouncing about. "No. I could do it. Yes. I think it's wrong."

"But it's an edge. Just go through with the battle as usual. Take careful notes. Pop back twenty or thirty minutes and tell us what to expect. It's not wrong, it's smart. And we don't know who we might be up against. Hopefully no one, but if we encounter a villain..."

We were arriving at the edge of the little park in the centre of the campus, and I noticed that there were two dozen students waiting in a line near the door to the offices. Great. I loved waiting in line.

"But it's not fair," she said, her voice lowering as we coasted to the back of the cue.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Would Genghis Khan have been as good as he was if he didn't grab and use every advantage he could find?" I asked.

She frowned at me. "Did you just compare me to a Mongol warrior?"

Please note, that I am not suited to talking with women. "My point was, it's an edge. We have to use it. But if you don't want us to." I scrunched up my face. I'd have to practice that expression more. It was coming up often as of late. "Then I suppose I can't force you." Yet, I didn't say.

She grinned at me, smiling over her little victory. "Thank you," she said with the same tone I'd use to say 'I won,' after beating a child at chess.

"Of course, you're still going to have to pull your weight," I said.

Lillian rolled her eyes and turned away from me to stare out ahead.

But then, I had an excuse for that. The long, dull silence though, was less excusable. "What do you want?" I asked her, trying to inject as much sincerity as I could into my words. "I mean, what do you want from coming here. With an ability like yours I'm sure you could make a fortune working... well, anywhere. And you're pretty and smart. Why come here and do this whole trainee hero thing if you're not going to go all out?

It probably came out sounding a little whiney.

She turned to me, eyes locking on mine. "Tell me first, Will. What do you want?"