Jessica sighed, looking up from the book she was reading to send the intruder an annoyed glare.

 

The girl trembled, her doe-like eyes watering from fright as she held tightly onto her only weapon, an army knife.

 

She scoffed. Really? Had the so-called heroes finally lost it? Sending a teen into her lair to take her on, did they honestly think she would give up when faced with a child? That was laughable. She was supposedly evil, so twisted that she had strike a deal with the demon for her powers.

 

Slipping the slender silver bookmark in between the pages she was on she stood.

 

The teen gasped, scurrying backwards until her back met with the icy bars of her cage. A low whimper escaped her pale lips and she shakily held out the army knife pointed towards Jessica, turning her head away. Pitiful child.

 

“And what exactly do you intend to do? I haven’t raised a hand and already you’re cowering in fear.” Jessica taunted. She walked up to one side of the icy cage she had conjured. Though her eyes remained onto the teen she had her other senses in high alert, in case the child was a distraction while one of the cowardly heroes prepared to attack her with her back turned.

 

“I… I’m here. To fight you.”

 

Jessica let out a sardonic laugh. “You must be joking. Your knees can barely hold you up. Whatever. I have no time for childish trifles.”

 

She snapped her fingers and the teen let out a yelp as the bars she was pressed against seem to instantly melt away, leaving her stumbling to regain her balance.

 

“See yourself out.” Jessica turned her back, walking back to her lounging chair.

 

“N-no. Not until you surrender a-a-and t-turn a new leaf.” The teen stuttered.

 

Ignoring the teen, Jessica sat right back her chair, thumbing through the pages of the book until she came to a stop to where her bookmark rested.

 

“H-hey. Did you hear me? I said-”

 

“Until you can speak to me without stuttering or sounding like a petulant child I do not want to hear your voice any longer. Leave.” Her eyes flickered towards the teen, hoping that her dark glare would be enough to send the teen scrambling out of her house.

 

A dumbfounded look falls on the teen’s face. Her shaking subsides as her cheeks take on a light hue of pink. A moment later the teen’s face hardens, the now steadied hand that held her knife falling to her side. She takes a deep breath, steeling her resolve.

 

Jessica groans. She hated these types, the stubborn ones.

 

“In the name of justice, I, Yoona, will-” Ah, the foolish young.

 

“Stop right there.” The teen falters in her speech, looking up at Jessica in surprise. Jessica pinches at the bridge of her nose. She had heard this before, time and time again, from foolish newbies who wants to make a something of themselves by challenging her. And frankly, she tires of it.

 

But this one doesn’t even look the part. Apart from the knife, this young one could be passed off as a regular citizen. A juvenile.

 

“Must you fight me?” She sighs, disinterested.

 

The teen, Yoona, blinks owlishly at her. “uh… I do.”

 

“Why?” Jessica challenged back. “Because it’s the right thing to do?” she narrowed her eyes at her. “Or is it to make your hero parent’s proud?”

 

Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly, temple quivering as she clenched her jaws. There it was.

 

Jessica sneered. “No responsible parent would let their child walk up to a challenge they have no chance of winning. Go home.” Her eyes fell back to the words she had immersed herself before the intrusion. And just to be safe, conjured up a thick wall of ice between herself and the teen, blocking them from her sights for good.

 

~~

 

“I see you have an admirer.” Jessica lifted a critical brow, shooting her guest a curious look. “That or a fling. Now, I normally won’t judge, but don’t you think this one is a little too young fo-”

 

“Are you in one of your nonsense moods? If so, please turn around and leave through the closest exit.” Before I spike an icicle through your body, she silently added.

 

Her guest chuckled, parking their bottom on the chair opposite Jessica. “Oh, come now. Is that the way to treat your friend?”

 

“And when did we become friends?” Her guest made an exaggerated gasp of blasphemy.

 

“You wound me, Jessica. After all the times I come to you to ease your boredom.” Jessica rolls her eyes at that.

 

“And by that, did you mean the days you come to annoy me?”

 

The woman laughs. “Oh, so I’m doing a pretty darn good job then.” She grins, her eyes twinkling. Jessica scoffs, a smile playing at her lips.

 

“Whatever, Yuri.”

 

“So, as I was saying. What’s with the kid?”

 

Jessica groaned. “Is she still there?”

 

“What do you mean still? Exactly how long has she been standing at your front door?”

 

“Does it matter?”

 

“Jessica.” Yuri says, her voice berating.

 

She rolls her eyes and answers begrudgingly. “Three days. She’s one of those stubborn types. Give her a few more days and she’ll give up.”

 

“Hm.. she looks a little familiar.” Yuri says musingly.

 

“Daughter of a hero.”

 

“Oh…” she pauses, perusing her lips in thought. “And why is she at your front door?”

 

“She wants me to surrender to the justice system.”

 

“Oh.” Jessica presses a thumb against her temple, easing the slight throbbing in her head. The numbers in front of her was beginning to blur together, the figures long lost sense. Being labelled a villain doesn’t exactly bring in money, and doing dastardly deeds were just too much work and lead to too much trouble. Hence, the financing gig. If only she had known how frustrating bookkeeping for the other villains was she would have applied as a secretary instead.

 

She takes a sip of her tea, revelling in the warmth that seeped through her body from the drink. Relaxing her troubled mind.

 

“Take it easy on her.” She sighed, looking over to the pensive looking Yuri.

 

“I’m not even doing anything to her.”

 

“Exactly.” Jessica raised a brow at Yuri whose expression brightens. “Be nice.”

 

~~

 

“Why are you still here?” The teen jumped to her feet, swivelling to stare, surprised that the villain has finally opened her door. “Didn’t I tell you to go home?”

 

Blinking back her surprise, the teen squared her shoulders, gritting her teeth to stop them from chattering. “I-I t-t-told you.”

 

Jessica held her hand out, stopping the rest of the teen’s sentence. It was nearly midnight and she wasn’t going to stand in front of her front door to argue with a stubborn child. All she wanted to do was go to bed without having to wonder what the imbecil of a hero’s child was thinking, sitting at the foot of her porch step with barely anything to fend off the cold. Was that so hard to ask?

 

“You are such a nuisance. Do you know that? At least go home and sleep at proper hours and come back in the morning. Or better yet, stay away.”

 

“N-n-n-not un-til you-u give u-u-up.”

 

Jessica narrowed her eyes at the teen, crossing her arms over her chest. She surveyed the lanky teen from top to bottom. Her breathing was ragged and lips turning blue, yet she only had on an oversized cotton hoodie and nothing else to battle the elements. If her parents really were heroes, where are they now as their stubborn, idiotic daughter froze her ?

 

“You’re cold.” She pointed out curtly.

 

“I-it’s n-n-noth-ing-g.”

 

“Noth-” Jessica scoffed. Annoyance flared in her at her prodding conscience berating her for letting the kid’s actions go on for so long and endangering herself. Even her logical reasoning of not having any say in the kid’s actions couldn’t quell the heated protests of conscience. She clicked her tongue, moving aside and cocking her head to the side. “Get in.”

 

The teen looked up at her curiously, warily. Jessica clicked her tongue again. “Either get in or go home. Take your pick.”

 

The teen hesitated for a second. Then she nodded, brushing past Jessica on her way in.

 

~~

 

“For a villain, you’re not really doing much destruction. Actually, it doesn’t really seem like you’re doing anything.” Yoona looks up from the problem she was working on the floor of Jessica’s sitting room. She tries to meet Jessica’s eyes, but the hardbound cover blocks most of her view of Jessica’s face, so she settles for imagining burn holes through the book.

 

“Don’t you have assignments you need to finish?” Jessica drawls lazily.

 

Yoona groans, laying her face on the open page of her book. “My brain is fried. And I’m hungry.”

 

“Go to Mcdonald’s then.”

 

“I already blew my pocket money on lunch.”

 

“And that’s my problem, how?”

 

“I’m your guest.”

 

“Uninvited guest.” Jessica corrects sharply. “You’re just as bad as Yuri.”

 

Yoona laughed. “Do you think we’ll get along?”

 

Jessica snarled. Just thinking about it was giving her a headache. Having to deal with one of them at a time was enough, thank you very much.

 

“Why are you even here? My house is not a library or a fast food joint.”

 

“Because you don’t lock your doors.” Yoona cheekily responds, earning herself another round of frozen silence from Jessica. “And I like it here. It’s so quiet and peaceful.”

 

“And your house isn’t?” When an answer wasn’t forthcoming Jessica took a surreptitious glance at the teen. She couldn’t see the kid’s face, but what she could see was her body language, and the way the pen in the teen’s hand quivered. And, oh, it was that kind of family.

 

Jessica pretended not to have noticed and let the conversation die. She turned a page, even though she hadn’t even read more than half of the page she was on, exaggerating the crumpling of paper. It has the desired effect and the silence of the room was once again filled with the sound of pen scratching on paper.

 

“So, if you’re barely doing anything bad, why is it that everyone insists that you’re a big bad villain?”

 

Jessica sighed, carefully flipping back to the page she skipped. “Aren’t you going to drop this?”

 

“Nope.”

 

Jessica sighed. Oh yes, she was very much like Yuri. “Have you met me? I’m not exactly a people person.”

 

“So?”

 

“Okay, look at it this way. I don’t call myself a villain, other people do. It doesn’t really matter if I do bad stuff or not. People fear me because of my power combined with my… indifference to the world beyond my sanctuary. And besides, it’s a lot more convenient not to correct them.”

 

Yoona pushed up to an indian sitting position, frowning up at Jessica. “How is being labelled a villain convenient?”

 

Jessica smirked. “I don’t have to raise a finger unless I really need to.”

 

~~

 

Yoona blinked blearily at the exceedingly familiar sitting room coming into focus. At the long lounging couch opposite her laid another person, one she soon realise was what seems to be the only friend the villain had, lightly snoozing. The villain in question was sitting at her favourite chair, nose buried in one of her accounting books, one hand lazily stirring a steaming cup of tea on the side table.

 

Rubbing whatever remained of her sleep from her eyes Yoona pushed to get herself to sit upright the couch. She racked her brain, trying to figure out how she ended up there. She swore her last memory was of school before she felt something wrapping tightly around her neck and everything turned dark.

 

“You’re awake.” Jessica’s chime-like voice tinkled in her ears. She looked between Jessica, then to the woman passed out on the other couch. The rusted cog works in her mind click into place.

 

“You kidnapped me.”

 

“Technically, she did. I can’t be bothered to go out and have the whole neighbourhood heroes hounding my every move.”

 

“You kidnapped me.” She repeated dazedly. “On my birthday.”

 

“I know. That’s why I had you kidnapped.” Jessica scratched at something and wrote over it. “No fun there unless I ruin it.”

 

“Dad didn’t even remember.” Yoona whispered.

 

Jessica looked up from her work. A small frown marred her features, completely unnoticed by the teen who was staring blankly at the floor. Oh, she was very well aware of the fact.

 

“Stop mumbling. I don’t remember cutting off your tongue. Now stop looking like an idiot and go to the kitchen and bring me a piece of the cake Yuri bought. You can do whatever you want after that. Come on. Make yourself useful.”

 

Jessica pointedly ignored the surprised look on Yoona’s face. Fixing one of her annoyed glares on she waved Yoona away, remembering to keep looking unimpressed even after the teen shot up excitedly and made a mad scramble for the door.

 

~~

 

“What are you doing here?” Yoona hissed at her urgently. Her eyes roamed up and down the street for any lurking heroes.

 

Jessica rolls her eyes at Yoona’s paranoia. “Well, some ungrateful brat suddenly stopped dropping by for visits without a word. It’s rude, you know.” Jessica mentally chuckles at the irony of her words. Oh, how many times had she said the same thing when said brat would wind up in her house uninvited.

 

Yoona swallows thickly, throwing a cautious look over her shoulder. “You should go. Go back to your place- Or somewhere else. Anywhere but here and there.”

 

“And where exactly is safer than my house?”

 

“You don’t understand.” Yoona gripes. Her eyes stare up at Jessica pleadingly, wanting to tell her everything, but scared that someone would over hear her and get herself in deeper trouble.

 

Of course Jessica knew exactly what was going on. They had found out where the damned imbecilic child went to when she wasn’t home or training. They eventually would. So they pressured the kid to lure her out. And the kid was scared out of their wits.

 

So here she was. What could she say, the kid had grown on her. And the heroes knew she couldn’t stay away at this point, had counted on it. She knew this was a trap, she knew the consequence she would face if she came for the kid.

 

She reached to touch Yoona’s cheek, instantly catching the teen’s attention. “I know.”

 

Yoona’s eyes widened. Then they watered as her lips trembled. Jessica idly recounted seeing the same expression on the kid the first time they met, except that this time she wasn’t scared for herself.

 

“Then why?”

 

“Because I have to look after your scrawny if no one else will.” Jessica’s eyes flickers from the teary face of Yoona to the tall, muscular male that seems to part the crowd like Moses to the sea.

 

And the hero has arrived to put the evil villain back to their proper place. She mentally scoffed at the thought.

 

Tearing her gaze from the imminent trouble she gave Yoona a smile. “Your parent’s will be proud.”

 

Her head shook, tears spilling freely down her rosy cheeks. “Are you?”

 

Jessica froze. Damn this kid and sentimentalities.

 

She pulled one side of her lips up to a crooked smirk, one that seems to tick off a lot of the heroes and send the normal folks scrambling for safety. Jessica cracked her neck, preparing for a face off. She brushed past Yoona, reaching to fondly ruffle her hair on the way. “Next time, use the doorbell. I’d appreciate it over your over enthusiastic door slamming.”