Read The Rules of Supervillainy (The Supervillainy Saga Book 1) for Free Online

.”
    “Do I want to know what you mean by that?”
    “ No . Try not to get shot. ”
    Well, no one said supervillainy was going to be easy. “I’ll try to remember that.”
    After entering the service elevator I hit the button for the penthouse. The doors closed and I felt the elevator lurch and rumble as it started its way up. I wasn’t certain where Typewriter was but everything I knew about supervillainy told me he would be above everyone else. Supervillains liked the rich and glitzy lifestyle, the higher priced the better. At least, that was what my brother had told me. Stingray, sadly, never quite managed to make it into the big leagues.
    “ I must say, I am pleased by your efforts to help this young woman. It is a courageous use of your abilities to prevent an innocent from dying,” Cloak said about the time we passed floor thirty. “I believe, if you fight intelligently, you should be able to subdue the Typewriter without putting either her or him at risk.”
    “I don’t intend to fight the guy.”
    “ Pardon ?”
    “I’m going to make an offer to split the half million dollars with him. Then I’m going to offer to help him escape the building in exchange for his assistance in a Supervillain Team Up to rob Douglas blind.”
    “ That’s...”
    “Ingenious? Diabolical?”
    “ Stupid .”
    “Spoilsport,” I said. I was about to say more when the doorway to the penthouse opened.
    Preparing my dramatic entrance line, I turned intangible just in case they reacted to my presence with gunfire. I didn’t expect trouble but it was better to be safe than sorry. After all, there were plenty of old people and supervillains but very few old supervillains.
    “Hi guys,” I said. “I am Merci—”
    Instead of gunfire, I was hit by a weird energy beam. The blast smashed me against the back of the elevator, knocking the air out of my lungs; I slid down, collapsing on the ground. A look down at my chest told me a hole hadn’t been blown in it, which was good. Instead, it was like I’d been hit with a giant Taser.
    “What... the hell... was that?” I coughed out, unable to move.
    “ Uncertain super-technological properties in action. Funny, that beam shouldn’t have been able to hit you .”
    “No kidding!” I shouted, struggling to get up.
    A hulking figure wearing an elaborate horned devil mask and a business suit pulled me out of the elevator and dragged me to the center of the penthouse. He was almost seven-feet-tall and possessed muscles on muscles.
    Something about the manner the figure carried himself, however, told me that he was more than just dumb muscle. There was an elegance to him which contrasted to the simple kidnapping scheme I’d found myself caught up in.
    “Hi.” I waved, weakly.
    “Be silent.” The big man picked me up and slammed me down in one of the room’s easy chairs.
    “Kay,” I answered, coughing. Clearing my throat, I looked up and got my first clear look at the penthouse and my opponents.
    The room was creepy and archaic enough to be a supervillain lair. The curtains were drawn across the windows and the doors were barricaded with furniture. Everything had a pseudo-Victorian feel which made the place look like it had come straight out of a Gothic comic book. Someone needed to talk to Dudley Douglas about the décor for his hotels. This one was starting to spook me and I was a bad guy.
    The Typewriter’s gang, by contrast, looked rather mundane. With the exception of the hulking man dressed like a demon, none of them were even in costume. They were just a bunch of generic thugs in suits. It seemed Typewriter was too cheap to spring for theme costumes. It made me wonder how he ever expected to make it in Falconcrest City.
    The Typewriter himself, at least, tried to make up for their lack of showmanship by being dressed like a proper supervillain. I’d seen a picture of him once or twice in the papers, always being dragged into the police station by the Nightwalker, but