forum Not as we seem (closed; stalkers welcome) hero x villain, enemies to lovers

Started Feb 24 by @Lily_needs_some_coffee!

tune

Cherry casually walked down the street, sipping her coffee with a small bakery box in hand. She had sat near Olivier's house for hours, waiting for someone to finally come out, and when they did, she had watched, getting familiar with their face and mannerisms.

Now, Cherry hadn't been ordered to do anything in that regard, but she found herself doing it out of her own volition. She didn't have a death wish per se, but it seemed that her slightly reckless tendencies showed even when it came time to work on more serious matters. It was something she had been trying to curve for a while now but to no avail.

A faint buzzing next to her leg snapped her out of her thoughts as she struggled to reach it with the things in her hands.
Her eyes briefly glanced over the name then the coffee cup emoji followed by a canceled emoji, and then finally, the text. A small amused huff left her lips and she texted back.

"Haha leave the poor guy alone assholeeee
Already picking on him" A smile crossed Cherry's lips as she sent it and continued to text, glancing up for seconds at a time as she watched her step.
"And yes sir🫡
Be there in five!!"

It took nearly no time for Cherry to meet up with Jas, who, upon greeting offered the other the pastry box. There was nothing like having something sweet before work- er, in her case, it was caffeine in the form of coffee. She may not have had a typical job, but damn did it suck the energy right out of her.
"Chocolate cake" She announced, placing the box in his hands. "Woulda gotten ya a coffee too but someone clearly has wrong opinions- and taste in drinks it seems" She scrunched her nose playfully at him.

Ren, to his credit, found Olive's attempts to frustrate him funny. They'd know each other years, been best friends for long enough he couldn't remember who the bad influence had been. Her narrowed his eyes. "You're right, that does irk me, Olive Oil."
He follows her into the apartment and pours himself a cup of coffee from the full coffee pot Olive had brewed, grumbling to himself. "Used the African beans too, can't have anything nice around here…" He leans back against the counter and stares at Oliver. "Damn right I'm upset. We have a major problem. I ran into an agency member." His jaw ticked and he ran a hand through his hair, mumbling. "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley, an' lea us sairly greet; For our intent we mayna see, But a' the world's in a muddle and a mess." He pulls his wallet out of his pocket in short, jerky movements, and tosses onto the couch beside Olive. "Call Fortune House and order the works. Let's get extra egg rolls too. Use my card." He taps at the side of his glasses and slides a stack of books off an armchair and onto the floor before slumping into the armchair. "Got an illusion tagging them and I want to check on it."
The glasses blur and he watches the cat as it slinks across the side of an apartment rooftop, past the man he'd seen earlier and settles in a sun soaked spot.
"Chocolate cake," a young Hispanic woman says handing a box to the man. "Woulda gotten ya a coffee too but someone clearly has wrong opinions- and taste in drinks it seems." The cat yawns and stretches out, earning Ren a better view of where the two are looking– and he holds back a groan. He taps the side of his glasses again.
"Olive, they're watching the building. We've got to plan faster."

Oliver, being the petty bitch that she is towards Ren, glares at him as he calls her Olive Oil, and charges his coffee with antimatter, causing it to boil right out of the mug.

"Agency member? Oh right, the assholes trying to stop us from doing… I forget, what the hell are we doing all this for again?" Olive sighs. "It's been months since you decided to try and steal that damn key. Why are we eve here?"

"And speaking of agency members, one of them's been stalking for a bit; would have killed them right then but figured you'd want them alive," she grumbles, finishing off her cup of coffee.

Oliver grabs the card out of the wallet and proceeds to be completely unreasonable with the amount of food she orders, hanging up the phone after she's done and giving Ren a smug look.

TW: Ren explains his plan to take down world wide pedophiles.

A curse flies out of Ren's mouth as he loses himself in thought and returns to the present only to find his coffee boiling over, stinging his hand. "Shit, Olive!" He throws a towel on the spill as Olive orders the food, running his hand under cold water, nursing the burn. He leans back against the counter, putting weight on his good leg. "The key was just step one. We've got to get that AI Neurochip out of the lab.." He sighs, searching for words, and uttering what amounts to a "f#ck it" in Hebrew. He grabs his laptop from the top of a stack of books on the kitchen windowsill. He opens it, pulls up a surveillance video and spins it around to show Olive. "You see these men?"
The video shows a group of men in hoods passing around some sort of bottle. "Pedophiles. Celebrating after selling a child into trafficking." He clicks around, pulling up another video, this time from within the damn oval office. The president sits behind his desk, signing a trade policy. "PODUS. Signing a policy that's a poor excuse for a cover up of trading trafficking victims to foreign shores." He pulls up another piece of footage. Suited men flip though booklets with pictures of children's faces. "Congressmen preparing to bid at an auction on children. Children, Olive." He shifts his weight, reaching behind him to grab a small whiskey bottle and pours a bit into his refilled coffee cup before offering it to Oliver. "Our government is full of perverted men, Olive. Pedos who are barely covering a child abduction ring. And there's other world powers too. It's an evil evil world. I'm just fighting evil with evil. We get that AI from the lab, we release the biological warfare virus also contained in that lab. And we put the neurochip in every vaccine. And then we'll have it. Complete control to make the world good. No more free will; free will has done enough. Just peace and control. Imagine it, dear. A peaceful word where no child suffers again. What is the sacrifice of decision against that?"

Olive just stares at Ren for a good few minutes.

"Why not just walk into the government building and have me nuke the place? Given that you have the means to make tech that I'm not even sure how it works even with me being an expert in the field of qauntum technology and physics, I'm certain that you could make a device capable of at least wiping out a city block when charged with antimatter. Or could at least find someone who could make the device. Your way just seems very… dependant on us not getting caught," she sighs. "Which I guess is simple in theory until you realize they know our addresses, real names… really everything."

Oliver takes the whiskey and drinks straight from the bottle before mixing some in with her coffee.

Jas gave an audible gasp and furiously typed at his phone upon seeing Cherry's response, completely ignoring his job, at least for a moment to text his very hurt feeling.

u didn't see the death glare he gave me 😑 !
All for bumping into him!
unfortunately for him, It's my job to bother him 😉
Godspeed🫡

Jas sighed, knowing his texts would never convey the hurt he truly felt….at not being able to record Ren's reaction for eternal preservation. Jas would give his right arm to see the mix of surprise and rage-fueled defiance on the young man's face. Jas loved that look, not just from Ren but from any of his adversaries. He thrived off the satisfaction he felt when his opponent realized they'd been caught. He loved a good chase, and this was no exception. Returning his attention to his makeshift lookout, Jas peered through a set of high-tech binoculars, adjusting the range as he searched the surrounding streets of the apartment, occasionally returning to the apartment itself…only to find it eerily silent. No movements in the window or lights on…odd. He could have sworn Jas had seen Ren enter the apartment. He scowled as he searched the surrounding streets, taking in each person and looking for the ever-recognizable expression of the constantly pissed-off he knew Ren for. That was until he caught movement from across the rooftop. He slowly tilted his head, watching as a cat leisurely made their way to a sunspot and plopped down. Jas narrowed his eyes at the creature, his own feline instincts telling him something was definitely off. He jumped when Cherry appeared, "Record timing, love. " He greeted warmly, attention momentarily stolen by the box of goodies. He scooted over to make room for his partner and to gesture towards the cat. "it seems we have a friend." He waved to the cat, grinning as he carefully took a slice of chocolate cake. Jas stuck out his tongue "It's too late for coffee anyway. then I can't sleep and you know how I am running on less than 8 hours." He laughed softly, sobering slightly as his gaze slid to the cat before returning to watching the apartment.
"el gatito nos esta mirando, escuchando. Que inteligente." he commented in a low voice, his Spanish rudimentary at best per his request to learn, but he hoped it was enough to keep their conversation mostly private. He casually switched to texting on his phone, seemingly bored, enough to keep any normal cat uninterested.

"Anything on our favorite little ray of sunshine?
When I oh-so-rudely bumped into him, he dropped a key card. Some tech Lab? Outside of the city. Haven't heard of it."

Ren waved Olive off, closed the laptop and ran a hand through his curls, which were currently drooping into his face. She still didn't get it, and for this to work she had to be just as devoted as he. She had to get it. He slammed his hand down of the counter. "Damnnit, Olive. You're not getting it!" He shoved away from the counter, and began to pace, attempting to move as fast as his thoughts were. "We're not aiming for destruction, Olive. We do that, we land ourselves in Federal Prison. We're aiming for control. So it won't matter when we kill and replace them one by one. You see? The Neurochip will allow our world to remain ordered. To be retrained. We control, replace, relinquish slowly, and regain that control if we have to. This isn't a one time event, it's a social reset button." He pivoted, staring at her and heard the knock at the door. He tilted his head towards it. "That's the food."

"'Federal prison?' What federal agency is left to put us there if we tear it all down? Yes I get you want control, but it's all rotten. The people, the systems. If we wipe out both at once, who's going to stop us from ruling at the top either way, Renny?" Olive stands a stares at her partner as he paces. "This isn't just about the people. The system lets the people live within it, harbors them and nurtures them and only gives them a stern slap on the goddamn wrist when they ruin someone's entire fucking life. And the people are just as at fault for wanting to in the first place. What do you want to do about the root cause? You're treating a symptom. Giving cancer a band-aid doesn't magically make it better."

She looks to the door and sighs. "We're not done with this talk Ren."

She walks over to the door and opens it, taking the food and leaving the driver with a loose 50 she'd had on her, walking back inside and setting the food on the counter.

The smell of food wafted toward Ren and he sighed, grabbed an egg roll and beef stir fry takeout container, and left the non-kosher– though truly none of this was kosher– pork for Olive. He took a generous bite of the egg roll after dipping it in some sweet and sour sauce, and sunk back into his armchair, still frustrated. "So what the f#ck do you suggest, dear? We just blow the capital building to bits and wait for the public to riot?" He took another bite, this time delicately with his chopsticks, the spicy flavor exploding on his tongue. He chewed slowly before speaking again, looking Olive dead in the eyes. "I think the greats would disagree with such a plan: 'If you want to rebel, rebel from inside the system. That's much more powerful than rebelling outside the system.'" He inclined his head to her. "Marie Lu."

Olive tears into the rice like it owed her money, managing to still somehow keep every grain she wanted on her chopsticks.

"First off- I'm not your dear. Second off, the public opinion's already more inclined towards blow it all the fuck up anyways. Those so called 'greats' of yours also helped produce the selfsame loopholes these motherfuckers we want gone exploit. They made the procedures that allow for the few to manipulate the many through bribes and sex and drugs. The fucked up part is there's nothing the modern greats can do. You want to know why? Because they're only doing it for money! If it doesn't line their pockets somehow, it's not worth it. Look at government funded medical care for fucks sake," she slurps up some chao mein from a container and goes back to shoveling rice down her gullet before stealing some of Ren's beef stir fry.

Ren yelped, yanking his food away from Olive. "OY! Get your own!" He stands up, grabbing a container of noodles and another egg roll, eyeing her suspiciously. "This isn't a theoretical discussion. We need the chip. We use the chip, or they do. That's the position we're in right now. Most people just want the peace of normalcy. My mission is to protect the innocent, not rip the rug out from underneath them." He took a bite, enjoying the crunch of the water chestnuts. "I have no problem with the masses. I'm simply sick of the pervertedness that penetrates our system. I want domination, not destruction. My greats aren't the issue. Today's greats are." He wiped his mouth with the back of his shirtsleeve and sighed. "Maybe… maybe the plan needs revision. But we'll have to do so quickly…"

TW: MENTIONS OF SA, DRUG ABUSE, PEDOPHILIA, VIOLENCE

"It's not theoretical. I'm pointing out legitimate facts and flaws within the system that will compromise the hold this chip of yours has on the people. Besides… people will still want to kill and steal and rape and abuse and lie and torture. The evils in humanity vastly outnumber the good in the modern day. Someone could literally walk into the school three blocks from here and blow it up. And either way, we are still villains. We're not the good guys. Why are you trying to be, Ren? Fuck what you think the people want, I know you're an egotistical ass. Why even take the high road at all?" Olive stares Ren down coolly as a bit of rice is stuck on the corner of her mouth and some sauce is on the tip of her nose. She ignores both things as she grabs an eggroll and ham fists it, devouring it in seconds.

Ren slumps, the fight leaving his body, and he picks at his food with his chopsticks. "Because I promised her…" He leans his head back against the chair. "Look, yes, I'm an asshole. You think there's nothing in this for me? We're talking worldwide control, Olive. There's plenty in this for me. Plenty in this for you, too. But, holy shit, Olive, why do I do this? Why am I an egotistical ass? Why am I a villain? Because they deserve to pay. And I want to be the one to make them."

Olive grabs another eggroll and eats it, staring at Ren silently for a full five minutes while she chews before she responds.

"Alright. Fine. I'll go along with this plan. But only because I honestly can't find a reason to argue with you anymore. Your ass is fixed on this idea, so we'll do it. But if it fails - I'm nuking everything. And whoever's left can pick up the pieces."

Olive grabs the TV remote. "What do you want to watch."

Ren stares Olive down, understanding her well enough to know she is thinking through every option. He sighs in relief as she assents. He cared for his friend deeply and really, really would not have liked to have had to dispose of her. She would've fought him and it would have been a mess, especially since she was one of the only people he wouldn't kill, and he would have had to of kept her which was such a waste. She was much better asset as a partner than as a pet in his apartment.
He rolls his eyes, and nods at the TV. "I need to check on the illusion." He tapped at his glasses. "I have Hulu. Gilmore girls, season 6, episode 22. Partings." He slumped back into his chair. "Finish your food and then we'll review the blue prints of the lab building. I want you to blow the lab once we get what we need out. We're going in tomorrow night. It's a Sunday night, so the lab should be deserted. No shifts on Sundays."
His eyes glazed over with a secondary tap to his glasses and he saw the rooftop materialize before him. Damn. The striking– annoying– man he'd bumped into earlier had moved to his phone. He narrowed the focus onto it and couldn't make out a thing, the stupid privacy screen was blocking his view. He pulled diagnostics though, and– ha!– found a possible pin number of the iphone itself. It was a long shot but it was possible he could use it to gain a phone number. And then he'd know his mystery stalker's identity.

(I just want to say - amazing choice of show.)

"I know what you're thinking. Best you could manage is controlling me, not killing me. You tried, remember?" Olive barely even glances at Ren as she navigates to Hulu and puts on Gilmore Girls as requested, but she can't help but grin and fire off a little remark at the choice of show.

"It's funny. Bigshot villain like you, watching a sweet little slice-of-life show like this. You'd expect NCIS or Law and Order, not House or Grey's Anatomy or Gilmore Girls," she snickers. "But hey, who am I to judge you? It's not like we're perfect."

Ren snorts. "Yeah. Tried and you beat my ass, which does not happen. Not eager to try again." Ren shoves off the chair and grabs his laptop, navigates through his own complicated system. He fires back a quick remark. " Yeah well it does feature my alma mater so I feel I should pay some homage." He punches in the pin: 89765. Grey iPhone 11. Owner? Jasper Lockwood. Phone number? 646-272-8987. "Got him," Ren whispers.

"Good; I'd hate to level another city block like last time," Olive smirks.

"'Alma mater…' I keep forgetting you're surprisingly smart."

Oliver's mood sours slightly as she is once again reminded of the vast void of intelligence and effort between her and Ren. Oliver had been forced to work hard and it led her to where she was now - top of her field in quantum and theoretical physics. But that was about it. Ren was out here inventing new technology and here she was having trouble observing one stupid. Fucking-

She pushes away her takeout, suddenly not hungry anymore. It wasn't fair, but life wasn't fair. So she just takes a few deep breaths, hoping Ren hadn't noticed the entire internal thing she'd just had with herself.

"Got who? The hero who pissed you off earlier?"