the invisible villain

The enemy

The argument was about who the enemy was, who was to be the target of revenge.

“It is no revenge,” Abe insisted.

“It is,” Ludwig insisted just as strongly. “They hurt you. You’re getting back at them. That’s revenge.”

“No,” Abe said. “Because we are not getting back at anyone. Doesn’t matter whether they hurt anyone or not.”

“Then what are we doing?” Ludwig said.

“We are simply defeating the plot,” Abe said. “Because that is the enemy. Not the Greeves. Not any people. The plot. That non-living, unreal yet very real thing called plot. And it’s not revenge. All I wanted was to get away from it. But it won’t let me. The only choice then is to force it. And that is what we’re doing. Not revenge in any way.”

Ludwig looked like he didn’t get it. Unable to continue with Abe, he looked at Alex, who was smiling happily. His eyes went wide from disbelief. And her smile widened after looking at him.

“How about we discuss simpler ideas,” Alex said. “Like what we’re going to do.”

“I like that,” Abe said.

“Whatever,” Ludwig said.

That was as good as coming to an agreement.

“I’m one of the villains in the novel,” Abe said. “The spark that ignites the conflict is long in the past. Nothing we can do about that. Nor the first conflict. I’m the cause of the brothers’ heartbreak. The reason they hate me. The reason I’m the villain.”

“How do you do it in the novel?” Ludwig asked.

“I let Welma die,” Abe said.

He shrugged at Ludwig’s shocked expression.

“I’m broken by this point, in the novel,” Abe said. “I’m physically devastated. Emotionally scarred. All I see is red. And hatred, for my brothers and my parents, all of my family. For what they did to me. I want to hurt them the same. Which is why, at the end, I’m dying, fallen on the ground looking up, and asking, why I was even born when no one wanted me.”

“What happened?” Ludwig asked. “I have to know.”

“They wanted him killed,” Alex said. “It’s not clear exactly who, but it is them. One of them.”

“They don’t succeed in the novel either,” Abe said. “But they do get me to the hospital for a few months. The rest is not explained in the novel.”

“We made a plan of our own,” Alex said. “Blew up the accident. Made it look like August died in it. And he did. August Greeve died in the accident. Abe was hurt, when I met him. Got him cleaned up at the hospital. We created identities as Alex and Abe Fleur, mother and son.”

“Wait, you told us he was family,” Ludwig said. “Like he was the son of a cousin or something.”

“No,” Alex said. “My son.”

“Damn,” Ludwig said.

“So,” Alex said with a smile and in a calm voice. “You can guess how I hate them. Those who harmed my son. And yet, here I stand, not screaming for revenge, not charging at the Greeves. Doing nothing. Just waiting for Abe to decide. Does that tell you something?”

Ludwig broke free from the chains tying him up. His intellect freed made him remember what he hadn’t considered so far, almost as if he’d forgotten. The one in front of him was Alex. The same Alex whose nickname was wrath. And having remembered, he smiled just as warmly.

“Of course,” Ludwig said calmly. “My fault. Thank you. Alex. So, Abe. What are we going to do?”

Abe was a little surprised by Ludwig’s sudden change. But he didn’t spend very long pondering on the why and how of it. He was happy to accept it. And move on.

“Like I said, I’m one of the villains,” Abe said. “And even though I tried so hard to stay away, Welma found her way to me. And even though I did nothing to her, she actually birthed affection for me. That same affection broke their hearts. In the end, I’m still the reason for their heartbreak. Their spiral into darkness. Their destined lovers will save them. That doesn’t concern us anymore. But I’m sure, even if we fly away to the farthest corner of the world, the plot will find us. And so, wouldn’t it be better to take the fight to the plot. Beat it at its own game.”

“Break through it to get ownership of your life,” Ludwig said. “I like that.”

“I’m not sure,” Alex said.

“I am,” Abe said. “What is the plot? The villains get entangled with the heroes. Cause pain and hurt and anguish. But lose in the end. Only death awaits them. What then is the way to beat the plot? Simple. Change their fate. The villains don’t die. They don’t lose. Because they don’t fight the heroes. The villains live their own lives, separate and far away. We only have to make sure they have no reason to get entangled with the heroes.”

“That doesn’t sound as simple,” Alex said.

“I don’t follow,” Ludwig said. “Abe, I get. Alex, I don’t.”

“Let’s talk about the villains,” Alex said.

“There are three other villains,” Abe said.

*

Leo read the email again, for what was probably the hundredth time, if he was counting. Nothing changed. The words were the same. The meaning same. He didn’t discover any hidden code. He didn’t see anything he hadn’t already.

[

Mr. Leo Opold,

We have a proposition. We are a private group. We’re certain you haven’t heard of us, and that’s the way we like it. We provide services as required by our clients. In this case, our clients are what you could call miners. They have recently discovered a mine of rare earth metals. We are already in the process of obtaining the rights of the land from the government.

We are writing to you on a separate issue. We know that you are investing in personal robotics. We are quite confident in our assumption that you are still in the early stages, some distance from production. When you do, you would need the metals we have discovered as raw material. We would like to sign an agreement with you. We intend to provide you with the metals. And through you, inject it into the market. The reason being that our clients would like to remain anonymous.

We look forward to discussing further with you.

Regards,

Black Star.

]

Leo received the email late last night. It was night again. Almost twenty four hours since. He thought about it all day. Discussed with people he trusted about expanding into a new business, without sharing the actual specifics. They all expressed interest, as long as they could be certain about the veracity.

And now, he was decided.

*

“Leo Opold,” Abe said. “Of the Opold group. He’s the biggest of the three villains. He has no enmity with the Greeves, outside of business competitiveness. When you look at it carefully, it becomes obvious that the fault lies entirely with the brothers. Anyway, Leo Opold wants to make robots, for personal use. Isiah gets in the way, because Isiah wants to make robots as well, but Isiah is more interested in AI. Robots are sort of a spinoff. Having his dream thwarted, unjustly, by Goira, Leo goes on the offensive. And that is what we prevent.”

“So, we help Leo get there first, with the robots,” Ludwig said.

“Well,” Abe said. “We’ll get to the robots. Before that, we make ourselves strong upstream. We get our hands on the raw materials. We become the suppliers. Wouldn’t our standing be much stronger then?”

“I like it,” Ludwig said.

“Willy,” Alex said.

Abe nodded.

“Willy,” Abe said.

“The mines Willy was talking about?” Ludwig asked. “Those mines?”

“Yes,” Abe said. “Rare earth metals. The best material for the body of the robots. We become the go between, between Willy and Opold.”

“So, Willy’s interests are protected and we achieve our objective,” Ludwig said.

“Exactly,” Abe said.

“You’ve learned well,” Alex praised.

“I’ve had a good teacher,” Abe praised too.

“Yeah, certainly taught and learned well,” Ludwig said. “Boasting included.”

“I’ll talk to Willy,” Alex said, ignoring Ludwig. “How do you want to contact Leo?”

“We need a name,” Abe said. “We’ll be presenting ourselves as a private group, like consultants or the sort. We’ll present Willy as our client. No names, of course. And we’ll bait Leo. He should bite.”

“Black Star,” Ludwig said.

“Alright,” Alex said.

“Black Star it is,” Abe said.

*

When Leo’s reply arrived, Willy was with them. He’d been brought up to speed. He wasn’t the kind to be inclined to believe in the supernatural. After years, and ample evidence, he still couldn’t accept Ludwig’s visions. And yet, he agreed easily with Abe’s tale.

“You’re unfair,” Ludwig complained.

“Are you Abe?” Willy challenged.

Ludwig fell silent.

“This actually works better for me,” Leo said. “And my friends. It’s like we’re being presented a golden opportunity to go legit. We’re all very interested. I assure you.”

“Good,” Abe said, opening Leo’s email. “Because Leo is interested.”

[

Hello Black Star,

I truly haven’t heard of you. But the fact that you are aware of my interests, is all the proof I could ask for. I confess, I am interested in the proposal.

Could we discuss further?

Regards,

Leo Opold

]

The four of them grinned.

“That’s an auspicious start,” Ludwig said.

The others beamed at him. And then, they began brainstorming.