Copy Paste Minion

"Boss ? Is she following us?!"

A bald man in thug clothing, driving a pick up truck, shouted so in panic. The pickup truck was zipping through the empty midnight roads, disregarding any traffic lights telling it to stop. The one called 'boss' was standing on the back of the truck, looking up at the dark sky. He was wearing a hi-tech full body armor, covering him from head to toe except for his eyes.

"Just focus on the road and floor that pedal," he grunted a response, talking to his subordinate through an intercom.

A green visor fell down from the inside of his helmet, covering his eyes. With an enhanced night vision, he could clearly see a figure flying towards them, slowly shortening the distance between the two. Boss raised the weapon that he was holding on his right hand, a high powered plasma rifle. Aiming with one hand, assisted by his suit in both strength and precision, the boss fired multiple rounds of hot plasma towards the flying figure. All of the shot was swiftly avoided by his target, but it was well within his expectation. He was only buying them time until they arrived at their destination.

Minutes later, the pickup entered a big warehouse in the outskirt of the city. The sounds of tires skidding over ceramic floor echoed all around the warehouse. The man jumped off the truck even before it stopped completely. On his right, he held his plasma rifle and on his left a small black box, a piece of advanced tech he had just stolen less than half an hour ago.

"Now go!"

The bald driver didn't need to be told twice, he already bolted towards the side entrance the second he stopped the truck. He had done his part well. Meanwhile, the armored man ran towards the back of the warehouse, to a bit smaller, separated room. There, his other subordinates should be waiting for an ambush. Coupled with the traps that he had prepared, they should be able to incapacitate his pursuer, allowing him to escape undetected. He opened the door and rushed inside, preparing to bark orders. However...

"Ah, you're finally here"

Someone he didn't expect to be here greeted him with a cunning smile. Her fluffy tail swished left and right as if she was happy he showed up. The exotic blue robe she wore let a lot of skin to be seen, able to entice anyone who looked at her.

But none of those was in his mind at the moment. The subordinates who were supposed to be waiting here were nowhere to be seen, except for one. On the floor beside the fox lady, a figure could be seen laying down, unmoving. The man knew that figure very well.

"Vivian!" he yelled the name of his right hand woman.

Along with that shout, he sent a hot plasma from his rifle towards the fox. She yelped and jumped to the side to avoid it, away from the downed minion. He used that opportunity to rushed to Vivian's side. She appeared to be ****, her breathing shallow. Even with protective suit that he had given her, Vivian suffered quite terrible burn injuries. After all, the suit he supplied her with wasn't equipped to deal with magic, something the fox was proficient at.

"Sorry about that~" the fox cooed, no hint of regret apparent in her voice, "she was too persistent, trying to make me leave. I just had to shut her up. Your other minions got the message and left"

"What are you doing here, Hex Waifu," he growled, god he hated that stupid name, "don't get in my way"

Hex stayed calm despite being threatened with another shot from his rifle, "why, to get that thing you had just stolen, after all. One of your minion was generous enough to give me a heads up, so here I am"

He pulled the trigger with no hesitation. Hex didn't look bothered by it this time, however. With a wave of her hand, a translucent magic shield appeared in front of her, blocking the plasma bullet completely. The man gritted his teeth, fully aware that he wouldn't be able to win in a straight battle. But that wasn't his goal anyway. He needed to get Vivian, the box, and himself to safety before-

"Excuse me, did I interupt something?"

Another voice piped up, making him and the fox turned their head towards the source. Walking in stride, a figure dressed in purple and silver tights appeared from where the man got in. The click-clack of her heeled boots echoed in the warehouse. She also had a smile on her face, but compared to Hex's condescending one, hers looked more pure. Pure of confidence, that was... Confidence backed by absolute strength.

"Star Nova?" Hex Waifu's expression turned sour, frowning hard at the other woman, before shouting at the armored man, "you didn't tell me you are being chased by the top hero, Hightech!"

"Fuck you!" Hightech spat out at the fellow villain, "everything would have gone well if not for you!"

"What's this? You two had a falling out?" Star Nova inquired, thinking that Hex and Hightech were working together, "in any case, hand over the thing that you stole and quietly come with me to be arrested"

Hex Waifu audibly clicked her tongue, knowing full well that Star's demand extended to herself, "tell you what Hightech, I'll help you deal with Star Nova and you can pay me back later"

Hightech didn't like the idea of relying on Hex at all. However, he didn't have much choice at the moment. He proceeded to heave Vivian onto his shoulder, trying to carry her with him. That was when he heard a faint whisper.

"Leave... me"

Hightech decided to ignore that. Wordlessly, he started jogging away while waiting for a good opportunity to use the traps he had prepared. Seeing the armored man trying to escape, Star Nova took a step forward to stop him, but Hex Waifu jumped in-between them.

"You're not going anywhere, Star!" Hex Waifu proclaimed before waving her hand in front of Star Nova.

Ice rapidly formed around Star Nova, encasing the hero inside. However, it took only a couple of second for her to break out of it through sheer strength. A few moments after, Hightech heard the sound of Hex's magical shield being shattered and the villain's yelp of pain. He knew Star Nova would get to him in a second, so he decided to deploy the traps that he had prepared. A multitude of grenades flown from various parts of the wall and dropped from the ceiling. Hightech activated black screen on his visor just before they all exploded silmutaneously, producing intense blinding light, deafening noise, and smoke. Even if explosive grenades had no effect on Star Nova, he knew flash bangs would still disorient the hero. Now all he had to do was to deploy the electric snares to-

The AI in his suit sent him a beep, warning him about a danger. Hightech turned his head and saw that Star Nova was dashing towards him, her eyes closed. She decided to attack blindly towards the direction Hightech was fleeing. A moment after, she jumped and perfomed a flying kick which, as luck would let her, went straight to where Hightech was standing. He would have been able to avoid it if not for the weight from Vivian on his shoulder. However, there was no way that Hightech would abandon her, so he braced for impact and prepared his electric snares for when she stopped. Hightech knew that despite her immense strength, Star Nova usually held back from using her full power unless absolutely necessary. So, he should be-

The kick landed on his left leg and broke his bone despite the sturdy armor he was wearing. The pain Hightech felt at that moment was more than anything he had ever experienced and he screamed in agony...

And that's when he woke up from his nightmare in his dark bedroom, screaming and drenched in sweat.

"Shit... Not that dream again..."

Hightech muttered so in frustration. It had been months since it happened but he still got nightmares from it quite often. He just sat there on his bed in silence for a while, cringing from the stinging pain he felt coming from his leg.

Then, he heard a couple of knocks on his door, followed by a voice, "Chris? Are you awake?"

"Yeah... You can come in, Vivian"

A girl entered the room and flicked on the light switch beside the sliding door. Hightech, or Chris, winced his eyes from the sudden brightness. After his eyes adjusted a moment after, he took a good look on his loyal assistant.

Chris' lips tightened, guilt gripped his heart every time he saw those scars. They were not exactly his fault, but...

"I've prepared breakfast," Vivian spoke, stopping Chris from staring, "does your leg hurt?"

"Yeah..." he muttered.

Vivian nodded, "I'll prepare some painkiller too, then"

"Thanks, Vivian"

Vivian left without saying anything else, leaving Chris alone. He sighed before he flipped open his blanket, revealing his right leg and an amputated limb. He reached for his prosthesis on the side of the bed and attached it onto his knee. He made the fake leg himself. It fit perfectly and functioned well, though he wouldn't try to run in it. Chris took off his shirt, damp from sweat, and got himself a new set of clothes which Vivian had prepared for him. He then walked towards the adjacent small bathroom and took a good look on himself on the mirror.

Chris rubbed his stubby chin while frowning at his reflection. He grabbed an electric shaver and started grooming. It had been a while since he took a proper shower too, maybe he'd do just that later. After washing his face, Chris walked towards the dinning area, his metal prosthesis made loud thumping noises against the floor.

Chris hadn't taken a good care of himself ever since that incident, devoting most of his time to reverse engineer the piece of tech that he managed to steal. Chris knew he was probably just trying to distract himself from accepting the fact that he was missing one limb after the whole thing, so he tried to get the most from what he acquired. Well, he had finally managed to do just that last night, inventing something quite incredible. Now should have been the time for him to take a well deserved rest and celebration, but unfortunately he was not a man of patience.

"Here's your pain killer, Chris"

"Thanks"

Chris gulped the pills he was handed out and pushed it down with a bit of water. Despite the end of his amputated leg healing properly, he still often felt pain from where his missing leg was. Doctors might call it phantom pain, but Chris didn't know for sure as he treated his and Vivian's wound by himself. They could have gotten better care in a proper hospital, but background checks would be a big problem.

"Are you going to shut yourself in the lab again today?" he then heard Vivian's voice, soft and full of concern, "I'm worried about your health"

"Don't worry, Vivian..." Chris threw her a gentle smile, "I'm done with most of my research. It is time for action. Follow me to the lab"

The two of them walked towards the lab that was located on the lower floor of this underground bunker. Nobody knew the location of their secret lair except for them, Chris made sure of that. He had been having trouble finding trustworthy individuals to be his underlings for a long time, usually resorting to hiring small time crooks if he needed more men. Well, he swore he'd never do that again after he lost his leg. It was time to get another loyal minion that wouldn't backstab or left him behind. Someone like Vivian. In fact, exactly like Vivian.

"Take a look at this"

Chris said so as he showed a picture on his computer screen. It was a pin-up of a popular model.

"She is our target. And if things go well, she'll be our ally"