Baked in Sugar, Spice, And A Splash Of Villainy

Vivian, more formally known as Lady Treason stepped out on to her front entrance to greet her guests. Her name, Lady Treason had nothing to do with her power, the ability to manipulate things, objects, time, people, but rather had everything to do with the fact that her many villainous acts were considered treasonous in several countries.

         She smiled. But that was just the way she liked it. “Phobus!” She called to her henchman. In a second, he came trudging out of her kitchen. 

         “Yes, Lady Treason.” His head was tucked down submissively, or maybe it was tucked down for fear of her.

         “Come, Phobus. Have you prepared the cookies?”

         He nodded, his shaggy hair shaking as he did so. “Yes, I have. The cookies are all prepared with the special…ingredient.”

         She smiled again, and even laughed a little. “Good, good. And you know what to do?”

         He nodded and walked back into the kitchen to retrieve the cookies. Everything was going as plan. Soon, all her guests would arrive and she could set her plan into action. She was having a cookie exchange. And one may wonder, why would a villain have a cookie exchange with a group of villains? It was simple, really.

         One of her guests was a liar and a spy for the superheroes. He had come to the villain’s meeting months ago and had wheedled his way into the group. But Vivian had never trusted him. Which is why she’d had Phobus, her henchman, spy on him. And lo and behold, the ‘villain’ had disappeared near the area of the superheroes lair. Phobus had tried to follow him, to at least discover the location of the secret lair, but he had been unable to find any sign of the lair.

         Vivian stopped at a mirror near the entrance and looked at her reflection. Beautiful. She smiled. She did not wear her villain uniform, but wore a maroon dress that boasted the same colors as her signature uniform. Her hair was also styled quite fashionably, she was a lady after all.

         The first villain arrived at her door and did the secret code known only to the villains. Vivian opened the door and smiled. It was showtime. And a fine show it would be.

         The first guest to arrive was The Beak. She was known as The Beak, not only because of her birdlike nose, but for her birdlike powers. Those being the ability to fly and her eagle eyes which caught everything.

         The next guest to arrive was Bloodshot. His name was not because he didn’t sleep or drank excessively, but because he was a crack shot with any weapon and knew how to draw blood. He had no powers to speak of, but his high-tech weaponry and quick draw allowed him to walk with the other esteemed villains. Strapped to his side even then were two of his weapons.

         The third guest, Evil Man was not the greatest villain. In fact, most considered him quite dumb due to the fact that he never switched up his fight tactics with his nemesis Basic Boy. Yet, he was smart and definitely evil, so he too was allowed.

         Next to arrive was Professor Arch. He had been a professor before he had been a villain. But one of his experiments had backfired and turned him invincible. The heroes had tried, when they learned of his new power, to get him to join their side, but the heroes had laughed at him when he first brought his experiments before them, so the professor had decided instead to help the villains. He also happened to be helping Lady Treason with something this very night.

         The last two guest were Doctor Savage and Captain Guile. Doctor Savage was not a real doctor nor was he a savage. But he could sniff out anything and had his very own wolf pack. He had one of his wolves with him today and it snarled at all the other guests. Doctor Savage just smiled with his sharp teeth and moved to greet the others.

         Captain Guile A.K.A. Captain Craft was the reason she planned the cookie exchange. He was the liar and the spy for the superheroes. She realized that she was showing him one of the secret lairs for the villains, but it would not matter. For by the end of the night, he would not be alive to report his find to the heroes.

         Anyways, his power was the ability to create anything out of air. In fact, he was the reason she could not manipulate the heroes. As mentioned before, she could manipulate regular people, but she could not manipulate heroes. All because of Captain Craft. But once she got rid of him, she could manipulate all the heroes to do her bidding. She smiled to herself and then turned to welcome everyone in.

         “It is good, or should I say bad, to see you all.” She then turned and led them to the secret level of her house where they would gather for the night. Once there, she had Phobus take the cookies out of all the guests’ hands and lay them out on the prepared tables.

         She gestured to the tables. “Everyone, enjoy yourselves. For tonight, we can take a break from villainy and simply enjoy cookies and each other’s company.” Then she pulled Professor Arch aside.

         “Did you hand out the thing we talked about.”

         He nodded. “Everyone, but the imposter has taken the liquid I have given them.”

         Vivian caught The Beak looking in their direction and pulled Professor Arch farther into the shadow.

         “And it will ensure that none of them feel the effects of the poison?” Vivian herself had taken a vial of the professor’s liquid. Foul stuff, but it would be the thing that kept all the villains alive when they ate her cookies.

         “Yes, I have tested it on several volunteers that I found,” he smiled, “and none of them succumbed to the poison.”

         Lady Treason smiled. “Good. Now go, enjoy yourself. You, my dear professor, have earned it.”

         He nodded and walked over to The Beak, who joined him in a lively discussion.

         Vivian looked around at her other guests and her eyes caught of Captain Guile. He stood off by himself. He looked a bit uncomfortable, just as he should be. She walked to the table where the cookies were laid out and grabbed two. Two sugar cookies, made by Phobus, implanted with the poison that would leave Captain Guile, Captain Craft really, dead in minutes.

         “Why are you standing all alone, Captain Guile?” She handed him one of the cookies and then took a sizable bite from her own. She knew he would not take a bite if she did not. She was a villain after all, and villains knew not to trust other villains. Not that Captain Guile was a real villain, but he knew not to trust villains even more than they did.

         He made two chairs appear behind them and they both sat down. She watched him as he took a bite of her cookie and made sure that he chewed and swallowed. When he did, she turned back to her own cookie and took another bite. Now, she just had to wait until he succumbed to the poison.

         Minutes passed, without results. She stood up and pulled Professor Arch aside again. “I thought you said the poison works in a matter of minutes.”

         “It does.” Professor Arch studied the man, who appeared perfectly healthy.

         The cookie exchange party continued, but still Captain Guile showed no sign of dropping. The man himself walked over to her. “Expecting something were you, Lady Treason?”

         Never one to show all her cards, she smiled. “Just for everyone to enjoy the party.”

         He leaned close to her, so close no one else could overhear. “I know you put something in the cookies.”

         She kept her expression that of a hostess. “Why would you think that, Captain Craft,” she said, with significance on the last word.

He gave her a blank look and pulled out a vial, the same as the one Vivian had gotten from the professor. “Come now, Lady Treason. A villain knows never to trust another villain, which is why no one but you and me have eaten a cookie.”

She looked around. Indeed, he was right. Everyone stood around talking, but no one ate the cookies and watched everyone else carefully. She leaned near his ear. “I know who you are, Captain.”

He nodded. “I know that and am not surprised. You were always one of the smartest villains. But don’t think you can use that information against me. One word from you to the other villains and I will send a signal to the heroes. It will lead them straight to you.”

She smiled evilly. “You may think you have won this round, Captain Craft, but I will be the one who comes on top in the end.” She would just have to figure out another way to get rid of Captain Craft. No one went against Lady Treason and lived to tell the tale.

Captain Craft turned to walk out of the room. “I suppose this is goodbye.”

“For now, my dear Captain, but not forever.”