Villains Rise

Chapter 8 -- I'm sorry porkers

I just wanted to see Jonas and tell him I was alright.

My hand lifts up to feel the necklace. Is this all I have for the next two months? I refuse to not see my best friends and family. Owen can't chase after me if I use my super speed. What's holding me back is the fact Mason would tell me the job is too dangerous and that I need to get out of here as soon as possible. I can't let him take me out of this mission if I'm close to taking down Red Raven and his family once and for all.

The scary part about all of this was Red Raven was not out of the picture. He was powerless and he was locked away, but Owen was still afraid of his own cousin's power. Did that mean we should be wary of Thomas too?

I turned off the water and dried off, putting on some gym shorts and a t-shirt that belonged to Owen. Some clothes other than athletic wear would be fantastic. Owen better come through on his promise to get me some real clothes.

My face in the mirror startles me. It's not that I forgot I was a blonde, but I haven't been able to look at myself in a mirror frequently. When Owen cut my hair it was a small, dingy mirror. Now I look at myself and see that I'm not so different from when I was in the hospital. I'm frail looking, with a pale skin tone. I've been on the run for two days and this is what I've become?

I will admit that I love my hair cut. Short hair has never framed my face well, but maybe it's the light blonde hair that gives it a new definition. Why do I have a feeling Owen has had experience cutting and dyeing hair?

I slip on a pair of dollar store flip flops that I know I will have to tread in carefully before they snap and break. A toothbrush and toothpaste is laid out on the counter for me. Owen let me borrow his comb to detangle my hair. We ended up going back to the Undergrounds after meeting with Drake, where he proceeded to lock me up with my handcuffs on again. If anyone were to come check on me, he wanted to make sure we were making our story convincing. He slept at his hideout. I slept on a cold floor. Now you know why I'm irritable.

Stepping out from the humid bathroom to his lounge gave me chills. I looked around for Owen, but couldn't spot him. I wandered into the front of his living space and found him at the kitchenette making... bacon? I'm usually excited when I smell bacon, but this smells like it's burning.

Owen turns around to see me and his eyes light up, "Finally. I made us breakfast." He offers me a slice and I take it hesitantly.

I mumble under my breath as I stare at the strip of crispy meat, "I'm sorry porkers."

Owen's eyes squint at me. Apparently I didn't mumble.

"Della can you put a smile on your face for one minute of the day?" Owen snaps at me. I'm taken back by his sharp tone.

"I don't know. Can you?" I take a bite and try not to shudder as I walk away from him to sit on his couch.

"You know, you don't have to stick around. I'm doing my best with what I have and you're attitude is not helping the situation." Owen grits through his teeth as he firmly places his hands down on the island counter.

"My attitude reflects my quality of sleep." I mutter and take another bite from the bacon strip.

Owen huffs and grabs a set of keys off of the wall near him. He takes a pillow off of the couch and throws it at me. I'm about to shout at him when his eyes soften.

"You can sleep in the car." He walks away.

Reluctantly, I follow.

***

"I'm sorry I have an attitude problem." I admit when we're driving down the road. I've shriveled up in the passenger seat with my feet tucked under me and my head against the pillow Owen gave me. He takes his eyes off the road to glance at me.

"Well you're forgiven. I haven't been the best host, though. We both have some flaws."

"Yeah, I'm bitter and you're bipolar." I laugh. He doesn't.

"Well... I'm also dishonest. I haven't told you the whole story of why you were brought here." My head slightly lifts off of the pillow.

"I stole Red Raven's files." I state blankly. Does he not remember?

He sucks in his breath, "I may have tried to write myself out of the files. No one ever looked at them anymore, or so I thought, and I didn't want to be apart of the family name when my plans went into action. I wanted to take myself out of the equation," He takes a deep breath, "Then you stole the file and I realized you were going to have the wrong information."

"Wouldn't that have been for the best?" I ask, confused by his confession.

"Not if word got back to the board about what you found out. They would trace the error back to me. That's when I realized you were the best chance I had at getting my plan to go through."

He takes a huge breath, "They asked me to kidnap you as soon as they saw the file was missing. It went against everything in my being. I didn't want to take part of anything they were going to do to you. It occurred to me, though, that you could help me if I gained your trust. That's why I stuck around and made sure I was the one in charge of you. That's why I'm bipolar about this whole situation. I need to be in the Undergrounds but I hate being in it."

It takes me a minute to absorb the information. How am I supposed to respond to that? He didn't want to kidnap me but he did?

"Now you know why I'm a mess." He finishes.

My eyes look directly at the road in front of us. I have a choice to make. Get out of the car and run home and sweep all of this under the rug, or continue to go under the radar and defeat my nemesis.

"I'm a mess too, Owen. So thank you for telling me this now instead of me finding out later." I'm stalling.

His voice comes out shaky, "Are you going to abort the mission?"

In a way, I see a bit of myself in Owen. Scared, angry, betrayed. He did what he had to do to get my attention. He wasn't really the bad guy after all. But did that mean I should follow through with a mission that was vague and incomplete?

One thing I've learned so far is to take one step at a time. Right now, I felt like I had a purpose. I had already taken the first step to becoming an undercover villain, and that was changing was my appearance. If I were to go home now, everyone would tell me to take it easy and let someone else step up.

I may not be the best hero, but this was going to prove otherwise. The ironic fact of the matter is I have to become a villain to be a hero.

"Della?"

"The only way I'm walking out of this is if Drake hits on me again." I retort.

"I won't let that happen." He smirks as he turns down a side street.

"I know. You'll cut off his hand." I look out the window as I say this so he won't see my smirk, but I turn my head to see his reaction.

Owen's cheeks turn bright red. I think he realizes that I may know a little more than I lead him to believe.

"You heard all of that at Drake's apartment?" He asks meakly, scratching the back of his head of dirty blond hair.

I bite my lip, knowing I'm about to admit to him that I followed them. We're being honest with each other, though.

"I witnessed the whole thing." His jaw drops.

"Della, you are more cunning than you allow people to believe," He smiles from ear to ear, "And that's why we're going to succeed."

A/N
I'm going to continue to apologize for being late on updating especially since I didn't even update last week. I've had a lot of papers to write recently which is crazy because school just started back here. But everything is okay now for the moment lol.

Please comment theories, how much you miss Jonas (I know I do 😥) or just your praise/constructive criticism. I read it all! Your votes are appreciated too! Thank you all for being patient with me! I hope to post again next week!

Always, Sunny