How a Villainess fell in love

Chapter 12: Joining a rag tag team of weirdos

-----------------Percy's POV:--------------------

gods, why did I take that blow??

I let out a small groan as I tried to push my jacket as far away from my back as possible, at least without looking strange. I can already tell you, I'd failed both tasks. 

Even after sitting in the bathtub for an hour or so my back still ached. I only prayed that eventually the pain would fade away. But all I could do was hope at this point. 

The walk to the park was long and frankly quite annoying, but as much as I hated it, I had to go far away lest this clown decide to try and locate me. I had to take precautions. Other precautions involved me using my ring to change my appearance to a brunette with black eyes. If anything bad happened I'd just have to run into a crowd and boom, gone. 

I took a deep breath as I turned the corner, the large park coming into view in front of me. I scanned the trees and paths to find nothing out of place. Shoving my hands in my pockets I quickly walked forwards, soon entering the dark park. I'd see a person every once and a while but nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing abnormal I'd seen was the size of the squirrels here. Seriously, those things looked like they could take on a truck if they wanted. 

I walked for a while, going around the park for a while till I spotted a colorful clown flag hanging from a tree across the lake. The only reason I spotted it was due to the massive red and green whale drawn on the front. I let out a small groan as I pulled my hood up, so far so that it covered my face and partially blocked my vision. That didn't matter though as I turned my ring and shifted my appearance to that of Orca. 

I took one last big breath before silently praying to Hestia as I vapor traveled to near the flag. I was lucky enough to have landed somewhere in the brush. Though that also meant I had leaves everywhere. I cursed to myself silently as I stepped out of the bush, brushing off the leaves as I walked into a small clearing. That was when I heard the small giggling. My brows furrowed as I walked forwards, removing my hood as I walked further into the wooded surroundings. It didn't take long to stumble upon a ghostly white man, red lipstick smeared all over his face and his vibrant green hair blending in with the surrounding foliage. Besides him was a woman, a smile on her face as she leaned against his shoulder, a manic smile on her face. Her two tone hair was strung up into two ponytails and I honestly wondered how they got here without being noticed. 

I shoved this to the side as I walked into the clearing, the two's eyes flying towards me. 

The clown's smile grew terrifyingly wide as he looked at me. He let out a short chuckle before opening his arms, the girl stepping back as she stood with her arms behind her back. 

"Ha! Look who we have here?! The growing star, Orca! It's so great to finally meet you, truly it is!" He smiled as he leaned forwards, pulling out a flower with a pipe attached to the bottom of it. I managed to step out of the way just as he tried to squirt some acid onto me, the ground where I was previously standing bubbled and sizzled as a small plume of smoke rose up. I felt my hands squeeze tight at my sides and I nearly punched him before he continued. "Heh so you are as good as they say! Well I'm really happy to have met you now." 

I pursed my lips, deciding that if I punched this dude I would be in more hot water then I'd prefer. Instead I put on a small smile. "It's nice to meet the one and only Joker, seems the rumors are true, you really are crazy" I made sure my tone of voice held sarcasm but in all honesty I was being more truthful then I'd like. 

The man just let out another boisterous laugh, even going so far as to slap his knee before standing up straight, a small smile in place of his wide grin. "Looks like we have a funny one. You really do flatter me, but I suppose we should cut the chit chat and get to the more pressing issues." 

"Oh no, but we were having such a good conversation" I muttered sarcastically. Joker just smiled before walking back over to the woman. 

"This is Harley" Joker said, briefly pointing to the smiling woman before she turned to me with a sickly sweet smile, one that held a hint of craze. I just gave her a small wave before crossing my arms. 

"So what did we come here to discuss, surely it must be important if you've come so far" I said in a cool tone, sounding a lot harsher than intended but it definitely fit my mood. 

"Well, we would like you to join our team! See we have a little group called the Legion of doom and we feel you'd be a perfect fit. See we never get to far with the kiddy team, they already know our weaknesses, but you! You're brand new. Just yesterday you managed to kidnap and kid and take down the whole hero team. If that doesn't qualify you as strong I don't know what does. So why don't you join a group of other strongs who can help you complete your tasks." 

I narrowed my eyes at him. "And what would that task be exactly?" I asked. 

"Why? Getting rid of the heros! That way we can help all of those truly in need, not just big issues. I mean seriously." He smiled as he approached me again, talking as he walked around me like a shark. "When have you seen them helping the weak and innocent? Instead they've been stopping us! Stopping us from aiding the homeless and stopping the corrupted. Truly they're the ones to be marked evil!" I watched him carefully, his smile blocking all sorts of readable facial features. This man truly was insane. 

"Right, so let's say I do join your little rag tag team of "strongs" what will I have to do?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I did so. 

"Well, you see we as a group have already planned the perfect plan. You see there's a certain diamond that just arrived in Keystone. This diamond was just excavated and is apparently supposed to have unfathomable powers, if used correctly that is. We just happen to have the people who have the ability to do that." He stopped in front of me, getting uncomfortably close. "I would tell you what we'll be doing with the diamond but first we need your allegiance. Are you in or are you out?" I stopped, staring into his eyes, finding only thoughtless excitement. 

"This diamond, it'll only be stopping the heros , not killing them, and it'll be aiding us in helping the weak, right?" He nodded, stepping back and holding out his hand. I paused. 

This seemed like a decent idea and if anything were to go sideways, I could always just back out. I was surely strong enough to take down this jacked up kid's amusement. But what if I couldn't. 

I stared at him a minute longer, nodding to myself. 

I had to do what needed to be done. 

I slapped the man's hand away, the crackling piece of electrified metal in his palm revealing itself. The action cause him to smile further.

"You got yourself a deal, it's a pleasure to be working with you" I gave him a half tried smile. 

"Give us back that sword!"

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1330 words