Villain for Hire: Omnibus 1: Babes and Bad Guys, a Haremlit Slice of Life Adventure by Aury Jay

Author:Aury, Jay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

The Fine Art of Monologuing

“Any leads?”

I said it more for the sound of it than anything. Just looking at Dolly could tell me all I needed to know. She sat crosslegged on a massive cushion, empty chip bags and a battery of coffee mugs empty to the dregs all around her. She sighed, rubbing her eyes, the blue glow of the screens all around us washing over her face. “No,” she said. “Nothing yet.”

I nodded, frowning. We were down in her lab under the chalet. The former basement was utterly unrecognizable. Gone were the coal bins, various pieces of old Christmas decorations, and brickwork. I’d miss the giant, rumbling monstrosity of an early century furnace that had been where her monitors now were. The thing had that fantastic ‘1890 possible wrought by demons’ look to it that would have made a great plot device to blow up the building. But Dolly had needed a lab, and for now obvious reasons, had chosen the basement. Now her equipment filled the space, with cabling sprawled like the bulging roots of some mechanical jungle, while screens dangled from walls between bubbling tanks of glowing blue liquids, and neon seams in the walls hummed with light. Altogether, the place made me feel like I was standing inside some gamer’s computer.

It was a pretty decent setup though, especially considering there wasn’t a convenient massive cave system under the chalet, filled with OSHA violating menacing pitfalls and space to store miscellaneous giant pennies and spare costumes. Though, given enough time and Dolly’s need to expand, I wasn’t ruling it out. If I gave Dolly a pickaxe, I bet she’d have an underground lair hollowed out within the week.

“What’s the problem?” I said.

Dolly glared at the holoprojector. It sat on a nearby table, cables plugged into it and snaking back into the servers that blinked around us. “The damn thing won’t connect without a similar signal.”

“So we have to wait for him to make a call?” I said, curious.

Dolly sighed, head lolling back. “No. He needs to make more than one,” Dolly said, tapping her temple intently. “He’s got a bunch of security systems bouncing the signals around, and every one of these communicators runs on a different signal. But they all have similarities, and I’m getting close.”

I raised a brow. “Is that right?”

“Sure is! And next time he puts out a call, I’ll be ready for him,” she giggled madly. “He’s not going to get away from me next time!”

I patted her head. “Good work. We’ll get this bastard yet,” I assured her.

Dolly looked up at me uncertainly. “You really think so?”

“Of course. We’ve got the greatest mind of her generation tracking him down. And we’ll make sure he never bothers you again.”

Dolly snorted, but grinned with a hint of the old Dolly I knew and loved. “Yeah. Yeah, we will, huh?” She groaned, stretching her arms over her head, tilting back to look up at me. “Ya know, Victor?”

“Yeah.”

“I really do appreciate this. Really. Not a lot of guys would take on someone like Teklin for me.

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