Capítulo 94: We Good? Or Bad, Whatever.
Wiping Mr. Quacks off with the napkin he had previously offered Willy, Jonathan hides his good friend in the same pocket as before. He leaves the ink-stained crumpled-up napkin on the counter, though. Gotta keep up villainous appearances somehow.
Satisfied with his contributions, Jonathan takes a few steps off to the side, leaving ample room for the trembling-with-anticipation Clarissa. Who is still recording the proceedings, even now that she is up close.
Putting as much thought into his actions as usual, which is almost none, Lucas holds his hand out towards Clarissa.
"Lemme guess, you want a good shot while you sign too, yeah? Here, I'll hold it for ya." As Lucas makes his offer, Clarissa freezes for a moment, her eyes widening slightly. With a huge smile, she looks up at him while slowly offering her phone over to him.
If there was a silent mental equivalent to flipping a table, 427 would have just done so. Repeatedly.
"Wo-would you please, b-boss?" Stammering out her reply, Clarissa finally manages to hand off the phone, despite how sluggish her movements had been.
Lucas absentmindedly hums out an agreement, holding the phone such that it has a clear isometric view of the signature page.
427 would currently be beating himself over the head with the theoretical table, were such actions possible.
As if it wasn't bad enough that just about all of the information needed for their names had been stated at one point or another between Timothy and Clarissa's streams, Lucas has just made it far easier for curious observers. Anonymity is dead, they basically don't even need villain names at this point.
Jonathan had realized what Lucas was about to do a moment too late to do anything about it, the sudden panic in his mind makes Mikah burst out laughing.
"Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't laugh. But really, your names were hardly a secret even beforehand, anyway." As Mikah makes his apology between additional bouts of laughter, Jonathan's face sinks a bit.
Between what Mikah just said and Jonathan's dejected sigh, Lucas finally thinks about what he's currently doing and he flinches.
"Uh, whoops. Eheh." After his realization, Lucas merely has a sheepish expression, bringing up his left hand to rub the back of his head.
Clarissa pauses for a moment, stopping to flash a peace sign with her left hand while holding the pen in her right, then finally neatly writes out her signature afterward.
Once she's done, Lucas catches a glimpse of the screen before handing her phone back to her, freezing for a moment when seeing the rapidly scrolling banter.
DesignerVillain: Aww, Willy's signature is too precious!
CaptainPickle: rich ppl r so wierd lol wut nxt a reel bird
MashMyFace: Aren't they the only organization that the Sisterhood has ever made an alliance with? He must be Miss Masher's rival!!! Where did he come from!?
DiscoDingo: OMG! The rubber duckie is 2 much!
MommaEcho: they have the same last name! they have the same last name! they have the same last name! important things must be said 3 times! I have gained a new husband after adopting bby jackknife!
PeaNutButt: I just got here, y r there so many people in this stream?
CoffeeSoul: This has to be a recruiting campaign, that's the only explanation for why they keep trying to get so much attention. ...Help, I think it's working?
Gulping audibly, Lucas does his best to ignore the barrage, handing the phone back to Clarissa in denial of anything he just read. Though, he does agree that Willy's 'signature' is pretty great.
'Whelp. The damage is already done, no use freaking out over it, yeah? ...Hmm, yeah I'm pretty sure our names have been said out loud during all of this, anyway... Bah. Wait, plenty of people don't bother with supe names anyway, it's no big deal... Right? Even if everyone watching is apparently a weirdo...'
"Mmm, the effort it would take to truly keep your name a secret in this day and age is hardly worth it. If people want that kind of information, they'll find it, one way or another. That's part of why I never bothered coming up with a villain name for myself..." Assuming Lucas was asking him indirectly, Mikah answers Lucas's mental question.
Cracking a smile, Lucas snorts out a brief bit of laughter before recovering. It doesn't stop his involuntary thought though;
'Wouldn't ya need to actually be villainous to need a villain name anyway? Oh, uh, not tryin' to say anything Mikah... Just uhh... It's not like you go around casually killing people, I think..? Um... Sorry... It's not like I think you're a hero or anything like that...'
Even as he falteringly tries to apologize, Lucas still inherently feels that trying to consider Mikah a villain is just... Wrong.
While Lucas is awkwardly trying to take back his thoughts, Mikah just has a wry smile.
"Well, you're not wrong... Don't worry about it." Trailing off after confirming Lucas's speculations out loud, Mikah has a slightly dejected expression as he looks away. It seems this isn't the first time, and it appears to be a bit of a touchy subject for him.
'Not to harp on it, but we don't need to outright stop being decent people just to prove we ain't secretly heroes or something, yeah? We're all just, ya know, tryin' to get by, it's not like everyone should be evil, that'd suck. The world could use more decent people, it's not like it's a bad thing.'
As Lucas manages to gain control of his train of thought, he actually steers it in something resembling a good direction. He may have gone for some dangerous word choices, but at least he reaches the intended results.
Mikah chuckles a bit, regaining his normal lighthearted smile.
"Exactly." Brightening significantly, Mikah looks thoughtful for a few moments after answering. Nodding slightly to himself with a smile, he seems to have come to some sort of conclusion.
Thankfully, when 427 feels surprised, it's a conscious action on his part to make a sound akin to sucking in his breath. Otherwise, he would have just completely undone everything Lucas just said. Turns out, Lucas accidentally gave Mikah a puzzle piece he was missing and has earned a bountiful yield for his efforts.
Satisfied with the results, even though he's unaware of the full extent of them, Lucas clears his throat before turning his attention back to the service bot. Sliding the clipboard back in its direction, he even actually returns the pen.
"So uhh, we good? Or bad, whatever. Done, is it done?" Lucas's eloquence has amused quite a number of people, some of which are even physically present in the room.
The two sisters, who remained on the bench, and are still in possession of Lucas's phone, had both paused in their meme-viewing excursion to look up and watch the final proceedings. Both of them had laughed quite a bit during Willy and Mr. Quacks' signatures being made, greatly enjoying the show.
Afterward, Miss Chievous has been closely observing the group near the counter, trying to figure out what one-sided conversation Mikah was having, and with who.
Witnessing Lucas fumble at the end had made both Miss Chievous and Miss Masher laugh much harder than was entirely appropriate.
"Yes, Mr. President Lynn. Your preparations are complete, congratulations on founding your villain organization. Do you wish to add any additional information to its files, such as contact information or HQ location?" After the service bot answers and then returns a question of its own, Jonathan intercepts before Lucas has the chance to make the tragic mistake of putting his own phone number on file.
"Oh, um, n-not yet. We still have um, some things to finalize. Thank you." Not letting Lucas get a chance to even open his mouth, Jonathan gives the most definitive 'no' he can muster. He even tugs on the edge of Lucas's left sleeve twice, trying to get him to hurry up and leave already.
Mikah, fully aware of what went through Jonathan's mind, heartily laughs once more.
"Hmm, I feel like I am forgetting something... Ah, right, that pet store, heh. Regretfully, I probably should hold off on going, it's hardly good practice to wander around with official documents more than necessary. Oh, I'd recommend the same on your part, you never know. Though I imagine it's less of a potential issue for the two of you. I'll see you later then, back at... HQ. Farewell as well, ladies." Giving his partings, Mikah catches himself before saying 'MF's', it would be no fun to ruin the surprise now. When Mikah commented 'potential issue for the two of you', he made a vague gesture at the two of them, insinuating that their powers ensure that any location they are present at is probably sufficiently secure at any given moment.
Miss Chievous and Miss Masher both wave goodbye to him, Miss Masher adding on a "Later." as well.
Clarissa nods politely in response to Mikah's farewell, promptly turning all of her attention back to Lucas afterward.
'Bah, why is she still recording!?'
-----
Lucas kills this chapter: 0
Lucas total kills: 7
Lucas deaths this chapter: 0
Lucas total deaths: 10
Lucas current GDV: 10.39 (+.01 +.1 +.01 -.01 +1= +1.11 net change)
Lucas's fame level: 3.5* (Beyond just local, viral meme tier)
Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.5* (More than just passing suspicion for a few paranoid individuals)
Jonathan kills this chapter: 0
Jonathan total kills: 5
Jonathan deaths this chapter: 0
Jonathan total deaths: 2
Jonathan current GDV: 2.18 (+.1 net change)
Jonathan's fame level: 2* (Mostly just local)
Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 1* (Only highly paranoid people)
Willy's fame level: 1* (anonymous meme fame, local fame as 'Xenoclast's dog')
Supervillain social circle size: 11
-----
Little character theater:
Jonathan, relieved beyond words that Lucas didn't give his phone number out to the entire world between the organization listing and the people that would overhear it in the stream: You would have done it, wouldn't you!?
Willy, collecting his belongings in order to prepare to leave: Bark!
Lucas, frowning a bit while thinking: They'll find us if they really want to that badly anyway though..?
427, impatient for Mikah to hurry up and leave already: 'So... Much... To... Discuss!'
Author, waving to Mikah as well: Bye Mikah. Soon(ish) we get to answer Miss Masher and Miss Chievous's question, lol.
Mr. Quacks, nodding along to Lucas's thoughts directed at Mikah: Quack.
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