THE UNION

Chapter 23: VILLAINS NIGHT

"When will he wake up?" Richard asked, getting tired of waiting for Abayo to get up. The whole team

had slept in the living room hoping that they'll meet Abayo awake but he was still asleep.

"The witches probably used a sleeping spell on him." Gboyega says as he lays on the ground. After

minutes of waiting, Abayo suddenly jumps up.

"I will not surrender!" Abayo shouts at the top of his voice, the team quickly run towards him.

"We've been waiting for you, now say some of your incantation and tell us where Papa is." Ayo says

swiftly, Abayo is still confused about everything going on, he wondered where the witches were and so

on was going on his mind.

"I'll need to consult my father but I've not learnt the power of jumping from dimension to dimension so

we'll have to wait for him." Abayo says and yawns.

"Children of these days, they can't make decisions for themselves." Ngozi says and chuckles softly, the

others quickly knew the game she was playing.

"Yeah, when I was your age I was already making my own money." Richard says firmly.

"I can make my own decisions." Abayo says, he faces his head down ashamed.

"Then prove it, tell us where Papa is." Ngozi says while smiling.

"Fine!" Abayo yells, he says some incantations and his eyes glow up in a yellow colour. He started

floating in mid air.

"Abayo." Gboyega says and waves his hand towards him, Abayo mind wasn't in this world again, it was

in different dimensions searching around for Papa, for older magic users this would have been a easier

process but Abayo was still learning the routes so this took time.

"Tolu is in trouble!" Dayo yells as he barges in.

"If it isn't you? How did you get here?" Ayo asked, he folds his arm.

"I've dropped Tolu here numerous times, Tolu was kidnapped at the hospital." Dayo says as his voice

breaks down.

"What? How?" Gboyega asked.

"It just happened, I was with her and this group of people wearing red shirts came in, said some weird

spells and everywhere was dark. Suddenly I woke up and I couldn't see her again, the CCTV camera

at the hospital couldn't even provide anything." Dayo says, tears were on his cheeks he gently used his

hand to clean it.

"That's The Trials." Abayo says from behind, he had finished meditating and heard everything Dayo

said.

"Huh?" Ayo said, he was totally confused about everything that is going on.

"The Trials, my father cult. This guy said they came in wearing red shirts, it's them." Abayo says in a

lower tone.

"What could your father possibly want with Tolu?" Richard asked aggressively.

"I don't know, they must think you guys are lying, we need to get her but I don't know how to get there,

it's in the magic world another dimension." Abayo says sadly, a idea quickly pops to Richard head.

"Wait, I know this might sound a bit extreme but while I still stayed with my parents my mom was

working on a teleporter device to replace me if I ever go against her, when I went to see her she told

me she wants me to come to a party at her place, what if we sneak in and check the teleporter if it

jumps from world to world." Richard says swiftly.

"That doesn't sound like a terrible idea." Gboyega says happily, Abayo nods to the positive liking the

idea.

"Why do we have to sneak in? Just go meet your mom and tell her." Ayo says, Ngozi and Gboyega hit

Ayo on the arm for what he said, Ayo was clueless.

"I don't know where you got this idea from but you've been a total asshole lately." Richard says to Ayo

firmly as he moved closer to him

"I'm joining you guys." Dayo says.

"Sorry you can't, the most powerful crime Lords will be there and I'm pretty sure some will know that

you're a officer, you can't blow our cover." Richard says and walks out, pissed about what Ayo said to

him.

"What did I do wrong?" Ayo asked Ngozi.

"Stop this." She says pissed and walks out.

In a flashback, Richard is in a van with a group of people that work for his parents, by this time he had

done different missions for his parents but he was nervous even the men and women with him could

see it.

"You are sweating really bad." One of them says.

"I'm just a little bit nervous, that's all." Richard says as he tries to brighten up.

"Maybe you need some fresh air." One of them says, Richard nods and leaves the van, he runs far

away from it.

"Save me from my normal depression." Richard says, he brings out a nylon filled with cocaine in it.

Richard always did before a mission, it helped him to calm down and focused while not feeling

concerned for others, as he was about to sniff it a old woman passes his side.

"Hey ma, you'll probably need to get out of this street." He says quietly, the old lady didn't bother to ask

why he said so she quickly ran away.

"That was nice." Richard says and sighs in relief.

That night, the team walk down a street in a very slow way, the guys with Abayo were wearing a black

and white suit while Ngozi wore a long yellow gown.

"Good thing you still know your way around this place Gboyega, we wouldn't have gotten this suits

really early." Ayo says softly.

"Let's get this over with." Richard says and walks away, Ngozi quickly follows him she was worried

about his well being.

"Hey, I know you're scared about this but you're going to be fine." Ngozi says softly.

"I hope, I'm just praying that she doesn't say I should do any stupid thing for her this time." Richard

says as he exhales heavily.

After hours of walking they all finally get in front of Mariam house, a group of guards spot them from a

distance and quickly run towards them to welcome them.

"Dude, your mom is so rich, look at this place." Gboyega says as he exhales out.

"If only she was a good mom." Richard says and leads the team to the house before they got inside,

Mariam quickly walks out of the house.

"Hi son, who are they?" Mariam says, she was wearing a night dress cause she hasn't gotten ready for

the party.

"They are my friends, at least I can bring them." Richard says, his voice was shaking and he was

sweating heavily.

"Uhh and you brought a teenager?" Mariam says as she looks at everyone of them slowly, she laughed

disgusted by the friends her son was rolling with but she was fascinated by the way Ayo looked.

"That's my son." Ngozi says swiftly.

"Well, I don't care about anyone of you except that your robotic friend. He'll look good as my bodyguard

for tonight." Mariam says in a commanding tone and drags Ayo hand inside the house.

"Good, she's distracted all that remains is for us to find the teleporter." Richard says and sighs heavily.

A guard takes them around the house, after hours of going through different artifacts and trophies of

Mariam, Richard sees this as a perfect opportunity to get to the teleporter.

"Where is the teleporter?" Richard asked the guard.

"Hmmm, I can't show you so sorry but the boss doesn't allow it." The guard says softly hoping not to

piss the boss son.

"To the boss son? That doesn't sound fair." Ngozi responds loudly.

"I'm sure the boss won't want to hear that." Gboyega says and steps back a bit.

"Don't go to her, I've already offended her enough I can't risk dying, let's go." The guard gulps and

leads them to a secret room underground, inside the room is filled with different the technological

weapons, the guard doesn't talk about the weapons rather he leads them to a huge circular shape

machine beside the machine is six different colours head band laying on the floor.

"This is the teleporter." The guard says quietly.

"Wow! How does it work?" Richard asked, he was upset that his mom actually built something to

replace him.

"Those head bands." The guard points. "They are connected to that big portal, there's a keyboard

around the portal, you write where you want to go and you teleport there." The guard says swiftly, he

wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.

"Thanks." Gboyega says and moves closer to the guard blocking his way.

"Ku su." Abayo says a incantation and the guard suddenly sleeps off on the ground.

"Okay, I need to learn magic as soon as possible." Ngozi says astonished by the way Abayo used his

powers, the three all pick different head bands and wear it, Richard moves close to the machine to set

the destination.

"The name of the place is shrine of the powerful gods." Abayo says to Richard, Richard quickly sets it.

The teleporter suddenly starts spinning really fast.

"If we don't make it out alive, tell my daughter that I............" Gboyega and the two fade away before he

is able to finish his statement.

"Now the worst part of the mission, my mother." Richard says and sighs heavily, he looked really down

so he tried to compose himself by faking a smile.

Hours later Richard remains smiling while he stands beside a elegant Mariam who was wearing a

golden dress and Ayo was standing at the left as her bodyguard, the Villain party had already started

and the three have all been going around welcoming villains from different parts of the world, Mariam

was quite feared by most of the villains, she had made a huge name for herself and wasn't ready to

back down, she meets up with a young lady who is a huge fan.

"I'm so happy to be here ma, you're paving way for we the new female villains." The lady says and

squeals.

"Thank you and here's my son." Mariam says proudly and points to Richard

"You're so lucky to have her as your mother." The lady says and shakes Richard, after staring at

Mariam glamorous face for awhile she walks away.

"Can you her that son? You're lucky to have me as your mother." Mariam says boldly.

"If only you'll actually listen to me for once in your life." Richard says sadly.

"And remind me what your choice is? Yes, you have no idea what you want to do." She says and

waves her hand around

"You never gave me the opportunity to figure out what I want to do, I never went to school or did

anything that I wanted, I was busy being you and dad's project!" Richard says a little bit loud, he tried

not to raise his voice to loud not to piss his mom

"A mother always knows what is best for her son!" Mariam shouts at the top of her voice and quickly

walks away not ready to have this type of conversation with her son, Ayo couldn't say anything, he just

stood there confused.

"Richard........" Ayo tries to talk to him but Richard shoves him off. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

"Just leave me alone and go back to your boss." Richard says and runs off. He runs off to find

somewhere he can cook off but the whole place was crowded and most people were trying to talk to

him for being the boss son, he tried running to the bathroom but is stopped by a young boy.

"You're the boss son, I've been following your great works for a very long time." The young boy says

exicted.

"Thank you, I have to go now." Richard says not ready to have a conversation with anyone.

"Do you remember the skyscraper incident?" The boy says swiftly.

"That was a long time ago." Richard could remember that incident vividly, it was one of the things that

haunted him.

"A lot of people died there, my mom was there." The boy says as his voice breaks down, Richard

wanted quickly run away but the boy grabs his hand.

"You drove me to insanity when my mom died." The boy says angrily, he tightens his arm as he held

Richard, he wanted Richard to feel pain but knew he couldn't do anything at this party.

"I'm not doing this." Richard says and teleports out of the room.

Ayo wanders around looking for who to stay with, he spots Mariam with a group of villains standing

beside her.

"Bodyguard, I'm here!" Mariam shouts at the top of her voice, Ayo quickly joins her standing beside

Mariam were Josephine a lady about same age with Mariam who held a cane that channels bolts of

light, Ryker a man who has been said to be over hundred years old but maintained the look of a thirty

years old man due to the curse of a witch, this also granted him numerous powers, Madame a very old

lady who's a witch and Crismon a young prince who was endowed with different powers from gods.

"Meet Josephine, Ryker, Madame and Crismon. Team, meet Ayo my son's friend." Mariam says swiftly.

"Your son really knows how to keep the best company." Madame says, her voice was quite deep.

"Richard is very good at all aspects of his life." Mariam says proudly, she had lied to everyone about

her relationship with her son. Mariam walks away to attend to some other visitors.

"So tell us, what terrible things have you done boy?" Ryker days as he bumps fist with Ayo, Ayo

couldn't think of anything, he stammered wondering what he will say but without hesitation his body

was suddenly possessed.

"I killed a kid who was looking for food for his mom." He says swiftly, Ayo quickly takes control of his

body.

"Wow, I did something like that to before my father kicked me out." Crismon says and applauds.

"I have to go back to the boss." Ayo says awkwardly, he runs off thinking of what had just happened to

him.

"Could Slip be back in control so quick?" Ayo says to himself and sighs, he looks around for Richard

and after searching for several minutes, he goes to the bathroom and meets Richard laying on the

floor.

"Richard? What are you doing here?" Ayo says and quickly runs towards him.

"None of your business." Richard responds rudely, Ayo thinks of what to say for over a minute and sits

beside Richard.

"You know something strange happened to me.............." Richard interrupts Ayo.

"You know it's always about you, always about what you're going through, always about your powers

and all those bullshit." Richard says aggressively and stands up.

"You didn't even hear me out." Ayo stands up wanting to defend himself.

"You never listen to me Ayo, you're always about yourself and that's fine if that's the life you want to live

but please don't bring your bullshit and load it on me anymore, we all things were going through.

Maybe if you take sometime away from yourself you will see that the people around you aren't doing so

well." Richard says firmly and walks out angrily.

Richard grunts and goes back to the party, he avoided eye contact with other people but surprisingly he

bumps into Bode.

"Doctor! You're here." Richard says happily.

"Yes, your mom forced me to come." Bode says not quite happy to be around this crowd.

"I lied when I say I was doing well, I'm not fine." Richard says and sits on a chair behind him, Bode

grabs a chair and sits too.

"I don't know what's going on with me........... I find it hard to figure things out about myself Doctor, I'm

trying to be strong but I can't handle it." Richard says boldly, he tried his best to not allow his voice

break.

"You don't have to be strong." Bode says gently.

"I have to, I'm trying my best not to show any form of weakness in me." Richard says and sighs.

"I once thought like that too, I smoked and did drugs but Richard our emotions make us strong, let the

pain flow in you Richard, you can't keep on hiding away from it." Bode says and softly grabs Richard

hand. "I'm sure you'll figure it out, I have to meet up with your mom." Bode says and walks out.

Ayo wanders around the house looking for Mariam after a group of guards came to get him, they stand

in front of her door.

"She'll get to you." A guard says and they all walk away to attend to other duties, after standing for over

ten minutes, Ayo gets tired and gently opens Mariam door.

"Don't let them see you weak." Mariam says to herself as she looks at herself in the mirror, she uses a

tissue paper to wipe the tears on her face. Ayo tries to quietly close the door but she spots him. "What

are you doing here?" She says angrily.

"I'm sorry, I was..... You were..... Looking...... For me." Ayo stammers as he talks.

"What is my son like?" Mariam says and moves closer to Ayo.

"Richard is amazing, he can be stupid sometimes but he is always there for I and the others." Ayo says

while smiling.

"Has he ever said anything about me or talked about himself to you?" Mariam asked, she wanted to

know if her son loved her.

"I can't really say but coming to think of it I've been a shitty friend." Ayo says realizing how selfish he

has been all these years.

"Huh, we have to go my speech is starting soon." Mariam says and sniffs, she walks out of the room

with Ayo.

In the center of the party, the MC walks in and starts parading around. Everyone gets to their sit

knowing it's time for Mariam special speech, Richard, Ayo and Mariam team sits on a different chair

from the other villains.

"Let's welcome the boss!" The MC says and everyone gets up to applaud for her, Mariam walks in

gorgeously wearing a glamorous black and white gown with gold high heels, she grabs the mic from

the MC and starts her speech.

"Villains! What a wonderful time to be here!" She shouts at the top of her voice, everyone continued to

applaud for her, they all loved her. "Thank you so much, it's not easy being a boss in a men's

world......... Before I go on, I'll like to pay some homage to my husband, a great man who died of a

dangerous disease........." Mariam scoffs and tears dropped from her eyes, Richard got really angry

while he was standing.

"That lying bitch! I saw her killing my father." Richard says to himself silently but Ayo could hear

everything that he said.

"I and my husband always talked about how we'll rule this mafia empire together but sadly..........."

Mariam goes on, Richard couldn't stand there and watch her lie, he quickly walks away from the place,

Ayo wanted to follow him but felt Richard needed time alone

Hours passed after Mariam speech and everyone started partying, Mariam wanders around looking for

her son, she wanted to introduce him to her team, she spots Bode and quickly runs toward him.

"Where is my son Bode?" She says firmly.

"I have no idea, you should ask someone else cause I need to get home and meet up with my kids."

Bode says and walks away, Mariam sighs deeply she then walks toward Ayo who is sitting with her

friends. "Where is my son?" Mariam says in a very scary tone.

"I have no idea." Ayo responds.

"Coming to think about it, where are your other friends?" Mariam asked, she had been suspicious

about their coming but was to busy to pay attention.

"They left early." Ayo says very quickly.

"I told a guard to take them the place I can't find him too." Mariam says, she grabs Ayo hand and drags

him away from the chair. "Boys!!!!!!!!!!!!" Mariam shouts and a group of guards surround her and grab

Ayo

"Let's go boys." Mariam says and walks out if the party, everyone wondered what was going on.

Richard sits on the ground in the bathroom banging his head on the wall, a wave of different emotions

hit him, Richard brings out a back of cocaine from his pocket, his hand shakes and drops. Suddenly a

flood of tears gushes out of Richard's eyes, he screamed in pain. Richard had never cried like this

before, for most of his life he had never cried before, the tears continued dropping quickly and a wave

of energy comes out of Richard's body spreading around the house.

"I knew it!" Mariam yells as she walks in with her guards to the weapon room. "The head bands are not

complete, one of you should reprogram this things and another should get me a gun!" Mariam says,

she was pissed.

"You don't want to do anything like that boss." Ayo says awkwardly, she gently moves closer to him and

slaps him really hard on the human side of his cheek.

"You're useless." Mariam says.

Ayo's body was tingling and did a scan around the whole house without his permission but Ayo sees a

wave of energy coming towards them.

"Shit! Activate jetpack!" Ayo says, his robotic back suddenly turns into a key and smokes come out of it.

"It was fun hanging with you Mariam." Ayo says and flies through the ceiling breaking it.

"Damn it!" Mariam yells as she looks up, she faces her head down thinking of what to do but suddenly

a wave of energy passes through her and her guards and they suddenly vanish from the house.