Accidental Villainy 27 (Patreon)

With the secret tunnel in place, I just needed to put on a good disguise before I went to visit the New Giant Force Guild’s headquarters.

But, not before I set up all the temporary cameras I had purchased to make sure no one could sneak into the bar. With the tunnel in place, it was even more important for no one to get a glimpse of my office, and I couldn’t rely on Tara to make sure of that. 

She was not exactly the most observant. 

Once I finished setting up the cameras and assigned some miscellaneous tasks to Tara, I went in front of my bathroom mirror and started to put up a disguise. It was not an area I was an expert or even experienced in… 

But, my power proved useful there. 

It was not like Tara’s superpower made her a surprisingly effective construction worker. It was more indirect. I watched a few simple tutorial videos, my power allowing me to catch the critical details. More importantly, as I put on the changes, my power constantly provided me feedback, allowing me to catch some of the more obvious mistakes an amateur wouldn’t have realized. 

“Not bad,” I said as I examined my small fake pimple on my chin and my baseball cap. Of course, the real change came from my posture change —  under the coaching of my power. My slouched shoulders and other stuff. 

I looked like a perfect delivery person, giving me an excuse to approach the headquarters, at least enough to give a delivery to them.  

As I used the tunnel to leave the bar, I called a bakery and flower shop, asking for two deliveries. I asked for two deliveries, because I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go into the guild headquarters, even for a delivery. 

Instead, I decided to drop the basket of muffins to the building across, and use the opportunity to observe them and get a note of the general visitor rules. Naturally, I didn’t do something stupid like trying to slip a camera in or something as silly as that. 

Underestimating the security protocols of the biggest guild of the city didn’t seem like a smart idea. 

First, I visited the building across, and dropped the flowers at the reception, addressed to a random employee I picked from their website, with a vogue message of admiration. As I did so, I examined the headquarters entrance, taking note of the number of visitors going in and out … including a bunch of school children. 

Just crowded enough to make the risk of visiting palatable. 

I could see several high-tech detection devices, all tastefully hidden by the decoration. I just moved forward, not giving a sign that I noticed them, or tried to hide from them. There were no blind spots in the camera setup, and even if there were, using it would signal that I would be making a mistake. 

My objective was to just drop the basket of baked goods — a gift from the appreciative citizens, with a sufficiently ego-stroking message attached. The best way to get in and out: not to make anyone question my presence.  

“I have a delivery,” I said as I approached one of the bored-looking receptionists, ready to just drop it and leave, happy with what I managed to glimpse out of my short visit. 

However, when the bored receptionist — a beautiful blonde — raised her head, I suddenly decided to make a little change in my plan. 

The reason … the way her phone worked as she kept her finger on,  but made no move, the message writing automatically. 

She had a superpower, a conclusion that I reached quickly, and confirmed by my own superpower. Nothing fancier than the ability to interact with the tech directly, probably, considering she was a receptionist. 

Well, her power might not be fancy enough for the guild, but for me, it was different. 

“Can I help you?” she said, her tone clearly bored. I could read her name from her name tag. Emily. 

“Certainly,” I said with a wide smile that I did my best to look charming. “I have a delivery from an appreciative citizen, thanking the heroes of the guild for saving them,” I explained, overcharging my power at that moment. 

Getting a snapshot of her reaction, her boredom spiked with a flare of annoyance. Like the fact that the basket was a personal insult to her, but an insult she was used to. The flare disappeared, replaced by the boredom once again as she pulled a small detection device, and checked the baked goods. 

I could see the device working in overdrive in her hands.  

Putting the pieces wasn’t particularly hard. Once upon a time, she was excited to have superpowers, but unlike me, she didn’t question how her powers would fit into an existing organization before joining the guild. She was probably hoping for a power armor to be used in her tech ability. 

Probably, her power revealed some limits that prevented that path, and she ended up as a receptionist. 

I could easily imagine myself sitting next to her, using my power to assess the level of suspiciousness in every visitor. A lifetime of boredom and insignificance… 

Suddenly, despite all the risks, I found myself glad for my own situation. “I thank you on behalf of the New Giant Force, and we reiterate our promise to serve the city,” she said, her voice too mechanical not to be a memorized line. 

Then, she stood up to grab the basket. She was wearing a conservative set of pantsuit, loose enough to hide her body … but that didn’t matter against my power. A glimpse was enough to confirm that, under those loose, conservative clothes, she was hiding a treasure. And, considering her makeup was deliberately understated and her blonde hair was gathered into a boring ponytail, it was clearly deliberate. 

However, if it wasn’t for my power, I would have just assumed that she dressed like this to maintain her professionalism in the workplace. 

Luckily, my power was still in overdrive, allowing me to read her micro-expressions easily as my gaze dipped down, realizing that it was insecurity that drove her. 

Why, I didn’t know. My power was useful, but not omnipotent. Maybe it was her childhood traumas, maybe it was the impact of her imagined heroic career being derailed. Maybe it was just an ill-timed catcall, shattering her confidence completely. 

Curious, but it shouldn’t have mattered. The smart thing was to thank her and leave the reception. After all, she was still a super, and still an employee of the guild. 

But also, despite all the risks, she was in a perfect position to help me with one thing I was woefully lacking. 

Information. 

I didn’t know the limits of her power, but even if it turned out to be completely useless, she still had access to the guild. Nothing classified, of course, but with my power, I didn’t need anything classified. Just a few comments, maybe a couple workplace pictures … and my power would do the rest. 

Meaning, I had to earn her friendship … maybe a touch more. 

Luckily, she was a convenient mixture of boredom and self-doubt to leave her vulnerable to even the weakest reach, and she was beautiful enough to make the work worthwhile even without all the advantages. 

While I might not be the most handsome man imaginable, I was still charming enough to distract her with a smile, enough to distract her from her monotony. “Thank you for being kind, by the way,” I said, suddenly acting vulnerable while she was dealing with that smile. “Usually, beautiful girls like you ignore me.” 

“Ahh, not a problem,” she said, suddenly blushing, the compliment distracting her properly to make her question whether she even acted kindly in the first place. The compliment itself was simple … the trick was to time it perfectly with that smile, building on that flare of attraction. 

“I still appreciate it…” I said, following it with a quick, two-minute chat, which was surprisingly difficult for me as I kept my power in overdrive every second, allowing me to react to every single small detail perfectly, timing my smiles and jokes perfectly, crowning it with a brush or two of our fingers to anchor the crush she was rapidly developing. 

“Talking to you was nice. A bright spot in my otherwise bleak day,” I said, enjoying her blush. While she enjoyed that, I turned and walked away without a warning … giving her a taste of sudden despair before I returned. 

“You know what, I know it’s inappropriate, but do you mind sharing your number with me,” I said even as I grabbed a pen pushed it to her fingers, and raised my palm. 

Too shocked by the whiplash, she didn’t even question whether sharing her number with a man she met a few minutes ago was the right thing. She was too busy trying to suppress the way her fingers trembled. 

“I’ll text you the moment I drop the work phone and take my personal phone,” I said with a big smile, bringing her finger to my lips for a fleeting kiss. 

Then, I left. 

An excellent start.