A few weeks passed. Since Hugh and Ronin's departure and Ariana and Lloyd's night together, Lloyd had started undoing the damage he had done. It seemed it only took Ariana's breakdown to make him see the bad choices he had made. He was still in charge of the Bend, of course, but after realizing how he had been following in the Overlord's cruel footsteps, he decided to change the way he had been ruling. The Baddies never experienced any leadership other than the Overlord's tyranny, and Lloyd wondered how they would react to his change of mind, but he had been surprised to see most of them had supported his ideas whole-heartedly. There seemed to be more to the Baddies than Lloyd had known even still.
The Bend was different, too. Some of the darkness seemed to have lifted, although in reality, the sky was as gray as it always had been. Maybe it was that now since the situation with the markings and the elemental weapons was out in the open and everyone knew they were in the same boat, the town felt more light-hearted and less tense than it had ever been.
After making up with his friends, Lloyd put together a group to help him lead, since he finally admitted it had put too much stress on him. Besides the fact that he had been drinking way too much because of it, it was also the cause of most of his rash decisions. The team consisted of Ariana, of course, Cree, and Phil, and Lloyd had to agree he felt better than he had in a long time. It had been years since he worked together with friends, and it felt like home to him.
The most important idea Lloyd had had was to start improving the Bend. The town was known for its run-down buildings, lack of food, dusty roads, and lack of technology—but did it have to stay that way? If the Baddies managed to work together, couldn't they shape their home into a proper place to live?
Lloyd didn't know, but he was willing to try.
His group had sent a team of strong Baddies out into the forest to chop down trees for lumber, which they would use to rebuild as many buildings as they could. While the school began to teach the Apprentices how to read and write, since, apparently, most of the young Baddies didn't know how to, Lloyd had remembered the doctor's office. The equipment was poor, which wasn't a surprise, and Doc was working there all alone. It wasn't like the Baddies went to the doctor's often, only when they were really, really injured—near-to-death injured—, but with all the other changes, Lloyd assumed that would change, too. A new program for the Apprentices was born for anyone who was interested in medical education, with Doc as the head. The Technicians got to work on figuring out a way to improve the doctor's equipment, with a little help from Lloyd, who had spent way too much time in Pixal's hospital room not to pick up tips.
Eventually, the Top Rankers' secret helicopter and base were revealed, and it was Phil's idea to get the Mechanics to plan out how to put together other vehicles. The goal was to become more civilized and "with the times," as Lloyd put it.
Some of Lloyd's ideas seemed to shock the Baddies. Most of them had never lived anywhere other than the disheveled Bend, and they hadn't known there was anything better than what they were used to. Some of them didn't even know what a helicopter even was, besides the lack of knowledge about television, fresh food, and sunshine. Lloyd never thought he had felt more pity than he did now. They didn't know the warmth of the sun on their back, the joy of racing through an open field—all they knew was snow, wind, and cold. Lloyd made a mental note to take the Baddies out in groups to see the real world later on, when it got a little cooler. He didn't want them to die of heat exhaustion or something.
As for the tokens, Lloyd raised the Baddies' pay back up again. He even got away with raising it a bit higher than it had been before. Besides food, weapons, and clothes, the Baddies were in desperate need of better blankets and pillows, which Joel had stashed away in the back of his shop; no one had known that. The retired Baddies such as Joel and the lady behind the tavern counter relied only on their shops for their tokens, but it hadn't really been working since barely anyone actually paid them and they found themselves eating their own merchandise. Lloyd hoped that with the higher pay, the Baddies would contribute what they were supposed to.
Lloyd also took away the guards he had set up around the gates. He didn't want to trap everyone. They were all just people. Like him. He was just a person. A person with power, yes, but a person trying to show them there was another way to power rather than fear. He was well respected in the Bend now, but no longer because of their fear of him. His experiences in the outside world that he shared with them made him admirable, almost like a hero.
He couldn't help but feel guilty for how ungrateful he used to be. He had everything when he grew up, before he moved to Baddie Bend, he just hadn't known. He always had good food and sunshine, freedom and people to care for him. He didn't know how he had been so blind to think that nobody cared... but he was determined not to make that mistake again. He had to give the Baddies the best he could. Of course, he still had those few hostile Baddies who wanted nothing to do with the renovations, but the others only ignored them. It was time for things to change in the rotten town of Baddie Bend.
Maybe since the Overlord would soon kill them all made them want to live their lives to the fullest.
Currently, Lloyd, Phil, and Cree were focused on the food situation. Lloyd and Ariana, two of the few Baddies that had actually tasted real food before, had told the town what it was like to eat something fresh, lacking mold, dirt, and flies, and no doubt got them intrigued on the subject. Now it was up to the team to try and figure out how to get their hands on this rhetorical food.
In their own Baddie way, of course.
A wide map of Jamanakai village was spread over the desk in the Main Base, which had been fixed after Lloyd smashed it.
"The coming harvest will provide the villagers with enough food to spare," Lloyd had told them. Now all they had to do was plan a way to get that spare food for themselves.
As the three discussed, Lloyd heard footsteps behind him and arms suddenly wrapped around his shoulders. A smile crossed his face as she laughed in his ear and he glanced sideways to see Ariana's head over his shoulder.
"Where have you been?" he chuckled.
Breaking off of him, Ariana stood up beside him, grinning. "Nowhere," she giggled vaguely.
Lloyd was about to turn back to the group when he realized she was still staring at him. He turned his head to see her eyes gleaming with happiness as she observed him intently. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
She only stepped forward and gave him a kiss. "I just love you," she said lightly.
Lloyd stared at her suspiciously, knowing there had to be some other reason for her joy, but he only mumbled an "okay" before turning his attention back to the team. "The reapers gather the food here," he spoke to them, indicating his explanation on the map, "and they'll travel along here to distribute it to the village. But if we can manage to intercept them here—" his finger stopped over the path. "—and slip out in time, we'll be able to take what we need. But we have no quarrel with the villagers, so nobody gets hurt," he added with a stern glance at Cree.
The Top shook his head and drew back from the table. "I'll put a team together to scope out the route," he offered. "That way we have a better feel on where we're going."
With a nod of permission from Lloyd, Cree turned and headed out of the room, and it was then Ariana began to shiver with excitement. Now utterly perplexed, Lloyd glanced across the table at Phil, but the Mechanic seemed just as lost. Shrugging, he scurried after Cree to leave the couple alone.
When he was gone, Lloyd turned to Ariana. "Alright, what is it?" he prompted.
Ariana gazed up at him, grinning from ear to ear. "Well, I wasn't feeling that well this morning, so I decided to talk to Doc... and with all the new equipment, it didn't take long to get results—"
Alarm spiked through Lloyd. "Doc?" he echoed worriedly. He took her hands in his and looked her up and down, concern piling inside of him. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, Lloyd," Ariana laughed. Her eyes glittered. "It's... It's really wonderful."
Lloyd stared at her, unsure of what she was trying to tell him. "If you're not sick, then what is it?" he asked.
Ariana's eyes shone as she met his gaze, and her smile seemed to broaden even more. "Lloyd," she breathed, voice pure with joy, "I'm pregnant."
To be continued...