“You failed to collect enough energy yet again?!”
“I’m sorry, my Queen. We were in the midst of euphoria, and was just about to claim victory when - ”
“I’m not interested in your excuses. These repeat failures are getting to be a nuisance! I’ve decreed to seek outside counsel via a consultant. I’m bringing in somebody who’ll actually understand and meet my requests! It’ll make a change to get advice from someone who actually knows how to improve things around here.”
“Is that wise, to bring in somebody who may not be sympathetic to our cause?”
“The decision’s already made. If the specialist doesn’t bring in favorable results, you can dispose of the advisor however you deem fit.”
From within the shadows came a Black Woman, a figure of sleek blackness with striking beautiful features that instantly drew ire from the General. Who was this outsider who dared to infringe on their way of life and everything they’d worked so hard for? The General was going to voice her distaste, but held her professionalism in.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“Every time we try to collect enough energy, we’re always interrupted. We’ve been constantly thwarted by a team of colourful fighters who stop us just as we’re making progress!”
“What do you want?”
“I need large amount of life energy! Emotional life energy. The last influx we got didn’t even count as a snack!”
“Show me the plans.”
“This is everything we’ve attempted so far. They start out promising, but there’s always a snag when these Fighters show up.”
The Black Woman listened attentively, surveying the strategies with an uncritical eye, then asked, “And you want energy gathered from humans, specifically?”
“It HAS to be humans. Their emotions are strongest.”
“If you could take care of those annoying Fighters too, that would be a bonus.”
The Black Woman made a thinking gesture, giving the illusion of being deep in thought, figuring out how to handle this request when she’d already worked these calculations out aeons ago.
“I can help with your problem. I can easily match and exceed the quota you're asking for. But I have three requests.”
“What’s the catch?”
“Firstly, that I have control over your energy-gathering organization. Secondly, that everything I order is followed specifically, no questions asked. Thirdly, when I’ve collected the vast amounts of energies required, that I’m allowed to take a portion for personal use.”
“That first request is reasonable in a limited capacity, the second isn’t a problem, but the third is unacceptable! You could just take all the energy you’ve made!”
“All I ask in return is that I have the option of taking whatever extra bit of excess energy I want. You have my assurance that I won’t take more than half of the accumulated total. I think you’ll find that more than fair. Those are my terms. Take it or leave it.”
“Allow me to make a suggestion regarding the first request. We’ll set aside a small team under your control. Only after we see results will we allow you to grow your ranks accordingly.”
“Considering my success rate, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
The General was still reluctant and suspicious, and decided to ramp the difficulty up by sending one of her lowliest flunkies, someone who always screwed things up despite clear instructions. No point using their best if it’d just go to waste.
“Is this everybody?”
“I’ve been assigned to help you out!”
Fewer than she expected. Even so, she’d still managed to accomplish more with less.
“Let’s set some ground rules first. In the eventuality that the Fighters show up to disturb your energy collection, what do you do?”
“Attack them!”
“No, you abandon your post with what energy you’ve collected so far, and return to base.”
“But the General says there’s nothing better than dying for a cause, and always looks disappointed when I come back alive.”
“The General isn’t issuing orders here, I am. What’s more, you’ll survive to collect more energy for another day. Now then, how often do you execute your plans?”
“Once a week.”
“That’s not good enough. To impress your superiors, we need to collect such a swelling mass of energy that it’ll convince them to lease more power to us. Now, what would the General do in such a situation?”
“She would build a casino to drain the entire country.”
“Have you seen our budget? We have none of the resources needed for a plan that ambitious, let alone a single vending machine. There are more efficient ways to collect energy that doesn’t require such elaborate means. For now, just collect the energy it takes for people to step on that square piece of sidewalk.”
“That’s it? Just a single tile? What about the others?”
“Let’s keep a low profile for now, okay?”
The Flunky didn’t think much of the request and infected the square without question, and left the trap to check back later. When she returned after just an hour, she was surprised to find the amount of energy collected was larger than expected.
“How did you know??”
“This tile is one of the most populous areas people travel through. This is only one spot out of hundreds. What’s our total?”
“We’ve made enough to fuel at least a dozen members.”
“Bring them over. Add them to our ranks.”
“Shouldn’t we notify the Queen?”
“What for? Rather than have every operation be under the supervision of our superiors, they should be handled by our underlings.”
“But our grunts don’t have the capabilities for that!”
“Then train them. It shouldn’t be very difficult. If they can follow basic instructions, they can follow your orders.”
“Which plan are you going to use?”
“All of them. We’re going to implement ALL our energy-gathering plans at once. This way, we can take tiny bits from everyone with no one being the wiser.”
“Isn’t that risky?”
“We don’t have to steal a whole bunch of energy all at once. We’re only going to focus on garnering a small amount of energy at a time. We just take a tiny portion from the humans that they’ll never notice. And they’ll regain the energy they’ve lost very quickly. Previous plots got distrubed because you were too greedy. A severe depletion is bound to attract attention.”
“There aren’t enough sidewalks on this street for that.”
“You’re thinking too small. We’re not going to limit ourselves to this country - we’re going worldwide. We’re going to operate far away from where the Fighting Trio are located. And if the Fighters happen to show up, what should we do?”
“Fight them!”
“No, close up the base of operations and slink away. Better to run and live another day.”
“Are you saying we should retreat?!”
“Track records show your troops have a 100% failure rate, even when they have the upper hand.”
“But - that’s cowardice!”
“How many times have you won?”
“We’ve tied them up 90% of the time!”
“How many times?”
“We’ve had them on the ropes 95% of the time!”
“How many times?”
“They were floundering 98% of the time!”
“How many times?”
“We were on the brink of victory 99% of the time!”
“How many times?”
“And we’ve won... 0% of the time... but winning is only a matter of time!”
“There’s no need to sacrifice so many lives. Just run away if they appear. You’ve tried it your way hundreds of times. Try it my way once. What do you have to lose?”
The Black Woman concluded with one final flourish.
“Once again, if the Fighters appears, Do NOT confront them. Go through the escape routes I’ve mapped out here. And have them escape to these marked safe houses so they can’t be followed in without the Fighting Trio risking invading private property.”
It was unorthodox, but the minions couldn’t argue with the degree of success, and it was surprising just how effective the simplicity of the design was. Especially when the Fighting Trio found one of the energy-gathering stations the Queen had stubbornly insisted be operated in the home base by sheer coincidence.
“For preying on the hopes and dreams of - hey. HEY! Come back here!”
As the Ditzy Girl tried to catch the minions who’d broken up and scattered, the Genius Girl expressed caution, saying they might be lured into a trap. It was a reasonable guess given the unusual circumstances. The Bitchy Girl was left guarding the energy they’d left behind, and was waiting for the rest of the Fighting Team when they came back.
“Did you catch them?”
“No, they were too fast.”
“Maybe if I’d been in charge, I would’ve had more success.”
“Excuse me?!”
“This is a level of sophistication far beyond anything they’ve shown before”, the Genius Girl observed, ignoring their back-and-forth bantering.
Indeed it was. Before, they’d always taken energy from young irrepressible children who couldn’t defend themselves from the latest wild fads. But now they were leeching small insignificant amounts from typically mundane acts, such as stubbing a toe, or uttering a swear word or formal greetings. Individually, these minor actions weren’t terribly significant. But when added up, they became overwhelming.
And the energy siphoned were rerouted through numerous shells into multiple safety caches that would make tracking down the vast amounts of minor charges a literal impossibility.
The Queen had expressed skepticism of the Black Woman’s plans at first, becoming annoyed when she failed to inform her of her progress, but quickly grew into admiration and appreciation.
“Just look at how much energy she’s managed to get so far! If we’d given her all our troops from the start, we could’ve had far more than before!”
The General saw her position under threat. If the Queen saw the Black Woman was more capable than her, her position would become redundant.
“She could have used her knowledge and charisma to usurp your throne”, the General cautioned. “It was better to see what she was capable of before putting all our eggs in one basket.”
The Queen nodded in contemplation, then asked for an audience with the Black Woman, who sent a messenger saying she was too busy. The Queen sent another message saying it was NOT a suggestion. Getting the message, the Black Woman appeared before her.
“This had better be important. I’m at a critical phase at the moment.”
“You were supposed to report to us about your trial period, not go galvanizing all over the place sucking up energy and foisting it off on our troops!”
“Understood. I’ll send the energy back then.”
“I didn’t say that. Just tell us what you're planning next time. It shows utter disrespect of your position.”
“I was doing the best to my ability as I hadn’t been getting any feedback.”
“Did you now,” the Queen cast a glance at the General, who remained impassive. “I’ve been hearing disturbing rumours that you’re planning to usurp my role.”
“Perish the thought. I’ve been where you’ve been, and have no desire to ever take on that role again. It can’t be easy, having so many daunting tasks ruling a kingdom lording over your head.”
“Yes, quite right,” the Queen agreed, utterly ignorant of such responsibilities, having long delegated such mindnumbing tasks to others who took care of such trivialities.
“But that’s not why you called me. You’re clearly curious about the state of the energy collection.”
Very devious, the General noticed. The Black Woman deftly deflected attention away from herself, sympathizing with the Queen on a superficial level, while redirecting attention towards the project she was more interested in.
“My Queen, I must request - ”
The Queen made a gesture saying that lower ranks shouldn’t speak until spoken to.
“Yes, of course. How does it progress?”
“Very favorably, but there’s room for improvement. Not that you’d be able to use any of it for yourself anyways, as all of it is going to be used to awaken your comatose Great Master.”
“How... how could you know?”
“It wasn’t that difficult. There’s the noticeable rumbling of distaste emanating behind a thin veneer of illusion, just barely perceptible for those who know where to look. Something I’m very familiar with. But there’s the problem of distribution. The amount we’ve collected is still negligible. If all this energy goes towards fueling your Great Master, your troops are going to be upset. We need to generate more energy.”
“More?! How could we possibly create more?”
“We’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of exploiting possible energy reserves.”
“Explain.”
“You don’t cultivate them long enough. By not letting them grow fertile, you’re squandering their future growth.”
“How would you increase the energy thus far?”
“By putting them back.”
“We went to all this trouble to take their energy away, and you want to give the energy back?!”
“It’s a slight modification of a technique you already use. Instead of corrupting humans with your energy, we’ll corrupt them with their own energy, which is more compatible. There are still other sources of untapped potential energy. But that could be life-threatening to your troops - ”
“I don’t care what it takes, do whatever it takes.”
“If you say so,” the Black Woman gestured, and backed away to resume her role. In her absence, the Queen allowed the General to speak.
“Can we really trust an outsider to succeed where we’ve failed? Who’s to say she won’t backstab us and take all the energy for herself?”
“We won’t tolerate any badmouthing going on.”
“Maybe you don’t know, but after this is over, a delegation is planning to leave with the Black Woman.”
“That’s fine.”
“Did you mishear me? I said - ”
“You still have soldiers loyal to you, right?”
“Yes I do, but - ”
“On the day the Black Woman departs, take your troops and strike down all the traitors who’d dare betray us.”
“Understood.”
“Let her think she’s in control.”
“There. It’s more concentrated now.”
“What are you doing?”, The Flunky asked.
“Implanting seeds where they will remain dormant until the next micro-aggression. It’s the stolen energy expelled due to minor injuries such as banging your nail or stubbing your small toe. I simply take the suffering and resentment they’d feel and implant it elsewhere. They don’t even notice anything’s gone.”
“What does that do?”
“By removing the problems when they’re small, we take these seemingly insignificant events, then pile them up all at once at a more vulnerable point in one unrelenting mass. What once seemed unremarkable becomes unbearable, resulting in greater energy output. And when the number of frustrations increases, the higher the energy output. And that spreads exponentially as well, affecting those nearby, further expanding the energy. All those repressed annoyances come rushing in at once, creating an explosion of concentrated energy.”
“We’ve done that before!”
“You’ve been content to drain all the energy at once. You’ve never actually allowed the energy to remain. Give them time to recuperate, then when they’ve regained their strength, activate the negative energy and watch the results explode. If that seeded energy doesn’t bother them, these subjects will have newfound energy that’ll send their enthusiasm into super turbo-over-hyperdrive. But it’s not good to leave them in for too long - it’ll grow toxic otherwise...”
The Black Woman’s attention wandered off as she noticed something happening she’d expected, a mook covertly consuming the excess energy they’d accumulated.
“Who said you could sample the wares?”
“There was so much, I thought - ”
“You think the Queen wouldn’t notice someone stealing her valued energy? That is not yours to be absorbed without permission. As punishment, the stolen portion shall be returned along with half your life force.”
The Black Woman drained the excess energy and more, putting it back in the reserves.
“Don’t look so disgraceful - you can afford to go hungry a little longer. The reward shall be sweeter when the interest is compounded tenfold.”
The mook was left with a dispirited expression that was somehow grateful. The Black Woman’s methods were harsh, but understandable.
The General fumed in frustration. Her tactic of smearing the Black Woman’s reputation had failed. As much as the Black Woman’s plans were succeeding, she couldn’t adapt to all these new changes, and couldn’t stand not being part of the action. These back-handed techniques were not suitable for her way of living.
“I don’t want to be benched! I want to see the pained expressions of the Fighting Trio!”
“Take my word for it. They’re suffering without our interference.”
And they were suffering. The Ditzy Girl and the Bitchy Girl had exchanged harsh words between the two of them, and stormed off. Their exchanges becoming more heated than usual. Even the Genius Girl’s feeble attempts at reconciling them had failed.
But knowing that the Fighting Trio were in emotional turmoil wasn’t enough for the General. She needed to see the results for herself. She wasn’t content to just let things run along as they had before. The Fighting Trio could’ve been amassing their forces without their knowledge. Without getting her weekly allotment from loyal soldiers who bravely sacrificed their lives to deliver reports about the Fighting Trio’s fighting patterns, she was undergoing information withdrawal.
Finally, she could stand it no longer. Without asking the Queen’s permission, the General gathered her personal squad of trained troops and went on an energy-gathering mission, wanting to go back to the reliable time-honoured techniques of old.
Shortly after setting out, the General and her team were wiped out, due in no small part from the Ditzy Girl and the Bitchy Girl finally having a common foe to unite against, causing a cathartic reconciliation between the two of them that was long overdue. But this intervention happened far too late, their fallout having gone beyond acceptable norms, and bitter resentments still stewed between the two of them. The Ditzy Girl and the Bitchy Girl were uncomfortable with even looking at each other, having said unforgivable things that couldn’t be fully salvaged. Even after this long overdue victory, there was no sense of comradence. The delayed catharsis took too long for them to reconcile.
When the General returned in defeat, the Black Woman confronted her.
“What did I tell you? I told you not to go after them, and what did you do?”
“I went after them.”, the General admitted.
“And as expected, you lost. I thought I made it clear we were not to engage against the enemy otherwise told. Were my instructions unclear?”
“Your ways undermine our very nature of being! Why shouldn’t we exploit our power to the uttermost?”
“Just because you can use every tool in the box doesn’t mean you should - just the ones that’ll work best. We’re still gathering plenty of energy with minimal risk.”
“I’m not alone in this! There are plenty who aren’t happy with how you’re running things!”
“They are free to voice their complaints to me instead of behind my back.”
“If we’re not allowed to use our abilities, they’ll become stagnant!”
“And how did that work out for you?”
“Failure is an acceptable result! We’ll learn better next time!”
“You clearly haven’t, otherwise you wouldn’t have tried. For disobeying orders, you deserve to be punished.”
The General braced herself, awaiting a severe blow that would reduce her to atoms, but what came next was worse than expected.
“You are free to pursue your failed strategies how you deem fit. Just know that if you continue along your preferred path, you and your team will no longer be subject to my collected energies.” She made a sweeping gesture. “Just look at all this energy that’s been collected thus far. And you’re not going to get any of it. Not even if you ask nicely.”
The General tensed her already tense body.
“Don’t worry. Your soldiers aren’t exempt. If there are any faithful members of your team who wish to follow your preferred strategies, let me know. I’m sure they’d be willing to part with their energy portions and give you some.”
The remaining surviving members of the General’s troops all looked at each other, silently came to an understanding, and the soldiers who’d been on the General’s side gravitated over to the Black Woman’s side.
The Black Woman didn’t even have to bother with any snide comebacks. The actions clearly spoke for themselves. The General left, hiding the obvious pain on her face.
“You don’t mince words, do you”, the voice of the Queen resonated from the background where she’d been hiding, eavesdropping on the drama unfolding before her.
“She’d never learn otherwise.”
As the days grew into weeks and months without fighting, the Fighting Trio began to grow more restless. Not having new issues to confront on a regular basis, their friendship was in danger of stagnating. Other than fighting, they had practically nothing in common, and they were growing apart. Another consequence of not getting into fights was that they never found other Fighting partners who could’ve joined their ranks. Instead, these unremarkable individuals lived their lives out contentedly, never realizing their full potential.
When the Brainy Girl wasn’t trying to mend relations with her friends, she was also mediating their strained frustrations. It’d been months since the last attack, and between the bouts of homework and school drama, there was the underlying threat that refused to engage them. Knowing that there was an impending attack, but never engaging them driving them to distraction. In her spare time, she started looking up traces of energy spikes that could pinpoint where these drains were coming from, but hardly any emerged.
The ensuing results were so nebulous as to be undetectable, but there were large swathes of energies condensed into influential authority figures, then extracted before they could become monsters, leaving them a husk trying to reclaim a high they could never reach. These noticeable energy spikes concentrated in a sector far removed from here in an undisclosed area of space.
“Guys? I think I’ve found something.”
The Black Woman had reconfigured the energy network of the base, and the output was increasing at an incremental rate that far surpassed their calculations. This was equivalent to having hundreds of suns in the same room, and the overall effect was dazzling. The Black Woman looked unfazed at the spectacle.
“I’ll be taking my share now.”
The troops looked on with ravenous glee, starving from being drained of their energy due to being foolish enough to get caught, and were looking forward to replenishing their reserves. The Queen looked upon them with trepidation.
The General looked on with seething hatred with what would surely be a great loss. Even the thought of losing half of the accumulated energy would be too much to bear. But that rage turned into confusion as the Black Woman extended a solitary finger, reached inside the swirling vortex, and brought out a tiny condensed ball not much bigger than the tip of her fingernail, and stuffed it inside her front vest pocket.
“Is that all you want?”
“This is more than enough energy to sustain me for the rest of my life.”
While the Queen was pleased with the vast amounts of energy left, the General saw the mechanics in play before anyone else did, and realized that they had all been played. The Queen only asked for collecting a large source of human energy. If she’d worded her request carefully, the Black Woman could’ve assembled a way to convert energy to be more efficient, so that they could’ve resurrected their Grand Master with a fraction of the power they had, and still have more than enough to share.
Furthermore, the Black Woman’s preservation tactics prevented winnowing the troop numbers down to an acceptable level, leaving more of them around to devour the remaining energy reserves reserved for more deserving parties, even though there was more than enough energy for all. It occurred to her that the Queen would’ve preferred that more of her soldiers died, so she wouldn’t have to share.
But knowing the trick, and convincing others who’d been hoodwinked by the same trick was something else entirely. With the Black Woman’s absence, there was now a power vacuum that wasn’t there before, even though the previous power structure hadn’t changed, save for the presence of a vast reserve of energy.
“Feel free to use the remaining energy as you deem fit.” And she left the room.
All her previous followers who would’ve followed her to ends of the world were torn between the desire to follow her, and wanting some of that sweet energy they’d accumulated. But that loyalty was only contingent with the promise of easy access to energy. And the presence of large energy already available was too tempting to resist. In the end, instinct took over, and the splintered troops stayed behind.
The General knew what was coming, and even though leaving would be the wisest choice, chose to remain. It was all she knew, and couldn’t trade all that for something else.
The Queen used a tenth of the vast power reserves to awaken their slumbering Great Master, who looked down upon them not with appreciation, but with utmost loathing at having to rely on these lower-life forms.
“Welcome back! It was a long struggle, but we finally managed to amass enough energy to - ”
“THERE’S A BIT MISSING.”
The Queen was momentarily taken aback, but retained her composure. “What does a tiny bit of missing energy matter? There’s still all this energy left - ”
“THERE’S A BIT MISSING”, the Great Master repeated.
The portion the Black Woman took wasn’t anything important - it was the same as all the remaining energy. Even the prospect of having a tiny amount of energy missing was too much to comprehend. The Great Master couldn’t stand the idea of not having everything available for disposal.
“I WANT ALL THE ENERGY AND I WANT IT NOW.”
“There’s still plenty for - ”
“WHAT DO I CARE FOR YOUR MINIONS?
I’M ALL-POWERFUL AND THEY’RE NOT.”
At this, the troops who’d been patiently waiting for their turn suddenly rebelled, driven more out of hunger and outrage than outright betrayal. The Queen could hardly stop their movements, even as they were mowed under from the Great Master’s volcanic outbursts. The lucky few who managed to siphon some remaining power for themselves didn’t last too long, but rather than discouraging them, it just spurred them further on, giving faint hopes where there had previously been none.
The General tried to control the chaotic scenario as best as she could. She could’ve left alongside the Black Woman, but personal devotion to duty and a strict adherence to loyalty had her remaining at the Queen’s side as she tried to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. Even while facing the Fighting Trio, they had never encountered losses this bad.
Meanwhile, outside their base, the Fighting Trio were rushing towards the spike of visible energy that had just announced its presence out of seemingly nowhere. The Genius Girl was the first to notice, having vigilantly looking for traces of energies in the spare patterns that popped up and brought attention to the others, who were happy to have something distract them from the uncomfortable silence surrounding them.
They were instantly transferred in front of one of five possible entrances that the Genius Girl had narrowed down thanks to her thankless searching. The interior posed no resistance, and there were no guards inside, all present company being gathered where the dense mass of energy lay. The Fighting Trio made they way down the unstretching way towards the source of rumbling destruction that threatened the structural stability of the base. Along the constantly shaking and exploding lengthy path, they came across the calm demeanor of the Black Woman walking towards their direction, and readied themselves to fight.
The Black Woman held up a solitary palm and said, “I have no quarrel with you. The threat you’re looking for is over there”, she said, thumbing behind her. “Though, you may have trouble, being so out of practice. Good luck.” And she calmly walked past them without incidence.
They all looked at the strange woman they’d never see again before resuming their marathon sprint. As the Ditzy Girl raced down the endless hallway towards what would be the first of many final battles, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d dodged a bullet somehow.
