PStory

I could use thoughts and input from the brilliant minds of Subeta!

About:

Acronym: V.I.L.L.A.I.N.S.

Full Name: Villain's International League of Laboratories, Anarchy, Infamy, Nefariousness, and Sabotage

Headed by: Doctor V

Headquarters: Centropolis

Company Slogan: "Our syndicate will show you the way."

Goals: to organize, teach and train the levels of villains and villainy on the road to success, to provide a well balanced nemesis for each hero.

Story:

Doctor V eyed the screen before him with weary distaste. Apex Man was proving to be a difficult case; he was a Strength Class superhero who had a bad habit of thinking with his fists. Hot headed and mouthy, he was also ‘gifted’ with a bossy disposition that made him unpopular even on his own team. Many of Doctor V’s syndicate villains refused to be placed on Apex Man’s list of potential nemeses due to the high collateral damage the thug-in-a-cape tended to spread around.

The newest grievance report stated that the Indigo Bruiser, a fellow Strength Class, actually had to rescue the Damsel-In-Distress from Apex Man’s bad habit of chucking entire cars around helter skelter. To Quote: “I’m the villain, damn it! I’m not supposed to have to rescue my D.I.D. from the bloody superheroes!”

The Experiment 625 slid a hand under the skull mask he always wore and sighed wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose in hopes of stopping the impending headache. This was the sixth time Apex Man’s behavior had gotten so badly out of hand that even the villains had higher standards.

Doctor V pulled up a response sheet and typed; UNDERSTOOD. APPROPRIATE STEPS ARE ALREADY IN PROGRESS, and pushed the Send button.

Wearily he closed his Grievances inbox and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Countermancer was indeed working on a way to take away superpowers from more troublesome Supers, but it would be at least a few more weeks before it was perfected. With luck, it would be available to use as yet another Dastardly Deed under the umbrella plan, Pandemonium.

The electronic beep of an incoming video call caught Doctor V’s attention. Sighing with relief at the distraction, he tapped the button to accept the call.

“Sir!” his most trusted minion, a Darkmatter Tigren named Phantom, touched two fingers above his right eye in respect, “I have just received word that our package has arrived.”

“Excellent! Is everything ready?”

“Yessir. Delivery ETA in about twenty minutes.” Phantom gave his boss a little grin. “Studio 2.”

“I will be there in fifteen. Doctor V, out.” The Experiment 625 terminated the call and sighed, stretching stiffly as he uncoiled from the luxuriously padded, if incredibly unusual looking, chair designed for his unusual body structure. “I hope I can remember my lines...”

Studio 2 was decked with all manner of sinister looking machines and contraptions, surrounding the spot of ‘honor’ in the center. Hums, beeps, crackles of electricity and grinding sounds formed the background noise. Excellent props to give the aura of danger to any observer.

A large, professional camera mounted on a rolling rig was in the process of warming up, cameraman and director sipping coffee from portable Get Mugged! cups. A minion was carefully positioning a mike on a boom and doing a soundcheck in an undertone. Tecchies were nattering back and forth as they flicked switches and said things like “Sinister Voice Filter 3” and “lower ambient light,” and “angle spotlight to the left a bit more.”

The room snapped to attention as a door on the far side of the room opened to admit a rolling chair with a Dusk Chai tied to it.

Doctor V. winced, “Is she seriously blindfolded with bright pink hearts?” he murmured in a pained tone to Phantom.

Phantom glanced over and grimaced, “We had three choices in the prop room: using two half blindfolds, using one with bright pink hearts, or a using Giselle Kinkylove Blindfold.”

Doctor V was speechless for a moment, “Who in Blackmoon’s name put a…”

“I make it a point never to ask questions about our team’s activities during their free time, sir. I recommend you follow suit.” Phantom muttered back, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be over here, thinking really hard about baseball...”

Doctor V opened his mouth, then closed it with a snap, “...Good advice…” Baseball was indeed a good thing to imagine instead.

As the chair rolled closer, he noticed that the Chai’s expression was not of fear, but annoyed defiance in the set of her jaw as she was wheeled onto center stage.

“We are not yet live,” Doctor V said to the Chai in an undertone.

She relaxed her expression.

“Scramblers and encoders active. Shall I call the Supremely Noble Authority For Unity now?” asked one of the techies.

There was a heartbeat of silence, and then the snickers began. Someone lost the battle and a chuckle escaped. As though that had broken all self restraint, the entire team collapsed into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Looking pained behind the blindfold, the Chai commented, “For the record, I was not part of the decision to name S.N.A.F.U. The founding group decided to go with the lowest bidder for our team acronym and logo.”

“Fair enough, Director… Fair enough.” Doctor V said kindly, swallowing his own laughter with difficulty. “All right you lot. Try to get it under enough control to be able to operate the technology. We have a call to make.”

It took several more minutes, but eventually Doctor V got the thumbs up from a techie.

“Going live in 3...2…1...”

The camera snapped on with the Director of S.N.A.F.U.’s annoyed and defiant expression as the first thing the superhero team saw.

Doctor V listened to the cries of dismay for a moment before gliding smoothly onto the scene. Careful not to block the camera too often, he spoke in a low, arrogant tone. Sinister Voice Filter 3 transformed his voice into a malevolent hiss.

“Director T, welcome! It’s so nice of you to join us!” He flicked out his purple serpentine tongue for effect.

“It’s not like I was given much of a choice,” the Chai retorted sourly.

“Oh dear!” Doctor V put his clawed hand to the side of his face and widened his eyes behind his mask dramatically, “I’m so terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you! I do hope my… minions weren’t too rough on you.”

“Can the theatrics Doctor V. What are your demands?” Apex Man’s voice came through, hard and angry.

Doctor V smirked at the screen. So this was Apex Man. He still looked true to his profile picture; an over muscled thug with no neck and head that formed an almost perfect square. The hood over the upper half of his face did nothing to disguise the eyes; which were arrogant and disdainful. Definitely a man who saw all the world’s problems as nails, and his fists as the only hammers available.

Doctor V could definitely see why no one in his syndicate wanted to tangle with this man; not even at the professional Villain vs Superhero level.

Ahh well. He’ll be a problem only for a short while longer. In the meantime, I’ll redirect his attention on me for a bit.

The Experiment 625 flicked his striped tail dismissively at the screen, just to be insulting, and slid behind the chair where Director T was bound and loomed behind her. He placed his clawed hands lightly on her shoulders, oh-co-coincidentally near her neck, and eyed the camera with cold amusement. “Greetings heroes of…” Doctor V paused and snickered audibly, “...S.N.A.F.U. Why, I didn’t see you there!”

“I said can the theatrics Doctor V.” Apex man spat. “Get to the point.”

“Not very good at his manners, is he, my dear Director?” The Experiment murmured, just loud enough for the anxious superhero team on the other side to hear.

An loud crunch indicated that Apex Man had broken part of the table he was sitting at in anger.

Thin skinned little idiot. It’s far too easy to bait you. Doctor V didn’t bother to hide the contempt in his direct stare.

He allowed a few seconds of reprimanding whispers from Apex Man’s team members before replying, “Demands? Oh no. Nothing so crass as demands, my dear superhero. I am merely facilitating our dear Director T in obtaining a… vacation of sorts… from the rest of you... for a while.” Doctor V leered at the screen, where he could see Apex Man’s face twist into a scowl.

The rest of the superhero team squirmed anxiously. One on the team members was casting not so subtle glances offscreen. Doctor V knew they were trying to track their location, but he also knew his own techs were masters at their craft and were diverting all attempts to false locations.

“In the meantime, while our dear Director T is enjoying her vacation, there is work for the rest of... us to do. I do hope you lot won’t do anything to make her vacation... uncomfortable.”

He gave a mocking military style salute and the camera cut off.

At the signal from his cameraman, Doctor V exhaled in relief and eased back from Director T. “Think they bought it?”

“You did very well,” the Chai replied, with no sarcasm in her voice.

“Glad to hear it, Madam Director.” With a light tug on the right rope, the binds fell away and she immediately pushed her blindfold off her face. She blinked in the bright lights of the studio stage before accepting Doctor V’s gallantly offered hand. “They’re going to be very determined to find me, you know.”

“Speaking of which, please excuse me for a moment.” He turned to Phantom, “Please send out the appropriate signal to the Syndicate.”

The Tigrean nodded and jogged to the far side of the room to discuss something in low tones to a small team of of minions at a communication station.

Doctor V began gliding down a hallway, side-by-side with the director. “Fortunately V.I.L.L.A.I.N.S. is a massive organization, which just happens to have every villain, supervillain and crime ring’s contact information at our disposal. In approximately five minutes, the city is going to become the center of a very bustling and opportunistic crime wave. From theft of priceless artifacts to doomsday devices, everyone has a project or goal ready to be unveiled or enacted. They merely needed the signal.”

“And where will I be, during this time?” Director T asked mildly.

Doctor V gave her a small smile, his eyes twinkling behind the mask. Pulling out a small hand held device, he flicked to the appropriate screen before turning it to show her a picture. Her eyes lit up at the sight of a tropical beach, complete with sparkling white sand, crystal clear water and a very handsome looking Celinox, caught in the act of toasting the photographer with a mixed drink in his paw. “We are your destination” was scrawled across the photo in fancy looking text.

“I made arrangements with one of the world’s top vacation companies. You will have access to all of the touristy things, and since we couldn’t very well pack your bags, I’ve arranged a complete wardrobe to be brought to the suite we’ve booked for you. I can guarantee two weeks of uninterrupted time, and will keep my agents on site appraised to move you as needed to a secondary location for a further two weeks. After which, we will make our scheduled ‘mistakes’ that will point your team to your ‘detention site’ where they can ‘rescue’ you.” The hallway had terminated in a private hangar and the pair had come to a stop at a sleek looking private jet.

Relief shone in the Chai’s expression. “Thank you Doctor V. I never would have managed to get away for a vacation without you.”

“Glad to be of service, Madam Director. Just so you are aware, my syndicate is under strict orders to leave civilians alone, so collateral damage will be kept to a minimum… Not counting Apex Man’s involvement. I am also working on a fix for that little problem as soon as possible.”

She blew out a breath, “I never said this, and if you bring it up ever again, I will deny it to the world.”

“Of course.”

“Make it as permanent as possible.” She locked eyes with him so that there would be no doubt.

“That’s my aim, Madam Director.” He touched two fingers above his eye respectfully.

A smartly dressed Irion popped out of the jet, bounded lightly down the stairs, and bowed to them, “Jet prepped; ready whenever you are.”

The jet was still taxiing to the runway when Doctor V rubbed both clawed hands together. It was time to pop some popcorn, sit back, and watch the city go crazy. The entire league of S.N.A.F.U. was going to live up to a very different acronym than their chosen one, and he wanted to enjoy the show.

(Dealing with Apex Man will be handled in a different story.)

WOW! How cool is that?

Your last line doesn't make any sense. Is Dr. V intending to make SNAFU look good? You do know that SNAFU is a bad thing,right? If they are living up to something that is very different from bad, then whaaa, why the popcorn?

You are spending too much time on Apex Man in the introduction. The middle of the story is full of show not tell, and this segment of the story isn't really about him.

Since the Dr. V and the Director Chai seem to not really care at all about good or evil, why should we care? They're all putting on a show, but not for us we have the inside scoop. Do we care at all about who they're putting it on for? This is left out of your story.

read this! (This is for me so i remember to read this.)

Um, yes, I know that the real acronym for SNAFU means something bad, that's why Doctor V is triggering a giant crime wave: to keep the superheroes too busy to hunt for the Director. They have a choice; worry about one person, aka Director T, and let the city go to hell and deal with all the bad press that goes with ignoring the situation, or run themselves ragged trying to stop at least some of the crimes and be too busy to interfere with Director T's vacation (i.e. supposed kidnapping). In short, the end paragraph is a bit of a joke, implying that the Supremely Noble Authority For Unity is about to become "Situation Normal, all Fouled up" (in PG terms) instead.

I can work a bit on the 'show, not tell,' but while Apex Man isn't the main part of the story, he is a significant part, being that Doctor V needs to know about him (and introduce us to him) as well as deal with him as one of the known nuisances to the villain's syndicate.

Director T and Doctor V are putting on a bit of a show, for the superheroes, when behind the scenes that have a relatively cordial business relationship and an understanding that both groups sort of need the other to bounce off of. I can develop this fact a bit more if I was too subtle.

I would assign an 'organized crime' level of evil to Director T if that's the case, upto and until you demonstrate your fictional world is somehow necessarily Manichean.

They are both bad guys, so the answer is we really don't care what happens to them, only Apex happens to be worse.