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Villain

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Js1161997

Toshineko Hirozaki stalked through the crowd, watching them parting around him, their paws raised to the grey feline's care. The city rose in tall, stagnant buildings, grey concrete, yet it should never have been built to speak of fake power, Keidolifya nothing to him. Yet it was one power, one stronghold, that would cement his path across the country, the stalk of death that he led, head held high with a tilt to his chin that spoke volumes to those that knew him.

"Thank you, sir."

"Many kindnesses to you, sir."

"Thank you... Thank you so much."

However, the citizens of the city of Keidolifya did not know that he was not the army general, of their country, Quan Ozai. He couldn't blame them, not really, considering he was wearing a replica of the general's red military suit, complete with his lapel pins denoting his rank. For Toshineko, the disguise had been almost too easy to pull off, a little bored with how simple it had been.

Of course, it had been harder to ensure that enough soldiers had been stripped from the area for his army to wear their suits too, though a spot of blood on the hem of one or two... Hm, it could not be helped.

Or maybe that was what Toshineko wanted them to see, the fear, the horror, the wrath of all that could be rained down upon them. The feline lifted his head high, whiskers quivering, seeing crowds before the mayor's office, those that had come to meet his parade.

Drums banged. Citizens sang. The fools didn't know what he was there for.

They soon would, however, the cat taking on the persona of Quan Ozai, the aloof panther who was close enough in fur colour to him to be mistaken, at least from a distance. They might have wanted to pay closer attention, however, to the glint in his eye, how his lips quirked and twitched in a smirk, his whiskers quivering faintly.

They were powerless against him, a city that had fallen without it even knowing. He had thought of everything, only waiting to see how they would react. Oh, that was horrifically delicious, so very much so, though he had to orchestrate everything perfectly first.

A moment of peace, the lion mayor raising their paw to praise him - and then he gave the signal. No more than a twitch of his ear, but if there was one thing that Toshineko did well, it was to behave in a cold, calculating manner.

Everything was deliberate.

It could not be considered chaos, not when it was so well organised, his army leaping into action, those that the city had thought they would be praising. In a flash, they brought out the civilians from Audia, their eyes streaming with tears and muzzles gagged, hiding their cries from the crowds, where they could have otherwise alerted them.

"Citizens... Did you think yourselves above the might of the Keidolifyan liberation army?"

They'd believe it. Of course, they would, wearing the army's garb, even if he was mightier than Keidolifya. He laughed and flung his arm out wide, the crowds stumbling back, wide-eyed, the grand building of the mayor's office no more interest to him. Those that might have looked to defend it lunged for their weapons, the puny hold of the police, finding them gone or disabled, where he wanted to show that he had already slunk into their midst.

Without weapons, they could not fight him. And it was that which made them weaker than mewling, snivelling kittens before him.

"No, please!"

"Don't!"

Someone, he didn't much care who, held their paws up, as if that was going to be enough to stop him. Some kind of fox with white fur... Oh, so gauche.

"Among you...is a spy!"

Toshineko did not need to hide his identity any longer - though it had all been planned out of course, from the very beginning. He stalked before them with a grin that promised wickedness, the civilians trying to fall back... Oh, but the feline had already thought of that, more of his people appearing, herding them in, all those that thought that he was there to save them.

Never. Not with all the power in his grasp.

Still, they saw only the uniform, the feline that they thought was on their side or at least not an enemy proving otherwise, breath by breath and heartbeat by heartbeat.

Tensions, after what he had planned, would never be higher...

He paused before one of the hostages, a male anthro rabbit with white fur, and smirked as if the thought had just come to him. He could play them all like a fiddle...

"You... Citizens!" Toshineko spread his arms wide, shrieks in the air. "The spy among you - you know who it is, the insidious little rat that lies in your midst! Reveal their identity to me...or else this Tiaspin rabbit shall die!"

They gasped, begging for mercy, the rabbit shaking where he knelt, a gun pressed to the back of his head. He didn't look, only trembled, thinking his fate sealed. Toshineko would have considered him smart, if not for the fact that he far surpassed all around him.

"Ah... Have you no answers for me?"

Toshineko shook his head, though it was all as he'd expected. They could throw out names, but he would find out the truth soon enough, one way or the other.

"A pity... Such a pity..."

The rabbit was only a kid, scrawny, skinny, and Toshineko towered over him. He didn't say anything, not as he took the rabbit's arm between his paws shortly, sharply, twisting.

The rabbit's scream cut through the air, civilians reeling, though his soldiers held fast, closing their ranks. They wouldn't let anyone go, not as Toshineko's paws rested on either side of the rabbit's head, eyes dancing with cruelty.

"One snap and there goes his neck..." He breathed. "Oh, but won't you tell me where the spy is in your midst? It could spare his life..."

His grip tightened and the rabbit shrieked.

"Me!"

Toshineko paused, an eyebrow raised.

"And who dares speak in my presence?"

A bull, clearly from Audia with his horns bowed, trembling a little. Even without knowing him, Toshineko could tell it was from rage rather than fear. He disliked that.

"Me..." The bull swallowed hard, tilting his chin up defiantly. "I am the spy. Don't hurt him..."

There was no begging, but Toshineko would see to it that he pleaded for more than his life. Those that defied him begged for death.

That was what he liked.

"Well, well, well, it seems someone sees sense."

He shoved the rabbit aside, yet the bull stepping forward made no difference to his fate. A female fur wailed a moment too late, the rabbit's eyes widening, stumbling to the ground.

Yet the handgun in Toshineko's paw fired, the bang resounding, a ringing in their ears. His aim rang true and the rabbit stilled, dropping to his knees. The gleam of life faded from his eyes, blood spilling down his back from the bullet hole, shirt stained crimson with the spill of fresh life essence. At least his death had been instant, but it was all a calculated demonstration of power from Toshineko's part.

"Ah..." He shook his head as if sadly, though the glint in the cat's eyes told all. "I aimed for the head...but, look at that, I got the heart. A good shot still, is it not?"

He didn't allow anyone a moment to recover from his cruelty, clapping his paws together, a snap of a command barked forth as if it had merely been waiting on the right moment to leap from his lips.

"Soldiers! Open fire! Save only some and send the rest to the pits of hell!"

Screams. Oh, how he loved those screams, the music to his ears, the symphony of his orchestra that he adored sinking into time after time again. Bullets rained down, civilians fleeing, though they were only allowed to go a short distance as, of course, the soldiers keeping them in place from the rear. He did not waste good soldiers, after all. They had their place in battle to lose their lives, after all, where they would be useful to him.

The rabbit lay amongst the bodies as Toshineko watched the bodies fall, one by one. Those left alive would report on the fact that the Keidolifyan army had killed an innocent child, the little rabbit. So, he had been useful to him after all, in fuelling tension between Audia and Keidolifya. If they had been smarter, even a fraction of Toshineko's intelligence, they might have believed otherwise.

Only the uniform... Toshineko smirked wickedly. They only saw the uniform. And what power did that give in a uniform?

Toshineko raised his paw, civilians fleeing, enough bodies felled to paint the street red with their fading life essence.

"Halt. That is enough... Spread the word, ignorant fools! For this is the threat that you live under!"

His soldiers halted on his command, some civilians glancing back in fear, though it was well-placed as, finally, he whipped off the red uniform, showing those that cared to see his real outfit. Underneath the red uniform laid a green jacket and trousers, his belt clasped in yellow with a red cat emblem on the buckle, his trademark smirk identifying him as none other than Toshineko Hirozaki.

Ah, but the damage had already been done! They would not know the real him, the Toshineko Hirozaki who had lain waste in their midst, sneaking into their depths and crowds with a simple disguise!

Of course, he had planned it. There was nothing that happened to or around Toshineko that he did not plan, though he did enjoy the flair for the dramatics, the feeling that everything was slotting into place, like a game of chess. The civilians were long gone and they did not take stock of him, such a pity... Very much a pity... To think that they would consider that it was the Keidolifyan army and not him that had caused such murder, a massacred, felling a child in the middle of the street as if they were no more than cattle to slaughter? The feline's grin grew wider and wider, stretching from ear to ear. It might have been less disconcerting than it was if he had not some so many teeth.

His soldiers too revealed their real outfits, the green of his armies, though they did not possess the mental emblems at his chest, the marking of being a commander. Only Toshineko was the commander, the highest of them all, his rightful place in the ranks and pecking order of the world. The uniforms were tossed aside, though Toshineko was confident that no one that found them would understand. They would not understand what had truly taken place there, allowing him to stir up tensions even more. It was all a game of strategy to him, taking one clue and finding out the truth from that minuscule scrap of information, playing them all like a fiddle.

Maybe the feline wouldn't have done it if it wasn't so entertaining. Who was to say?

"Come! We shall leave this city, back to headquarters! There is much to do..."

Always looking ahead, always one step ahead - or a hundred steps ahead, as it was. It was too perfect, how he had planned it all out, striding at the head of his army, head held high, not an ounce of fear in his stride. No one knew he was there and no one cared, not as they headed back to their armoured vehicles, stolen from the Keidolifyan army, which had the added effect of depriving them of some of their methods of transport. Anything that he could do to stir up discord and stride, to hinder and hamper, would always be a positive thing when it came to the plans of Toshineko.

When Audia believed that the Keidolifyan army was using a Tiaspin civilian as a hostage, he considered, mulling over what had happened and what was yet to pan out, they would revolt. It would dig into the paranoia of Keidolifyan people, thinking more and more that a spy was in their midst, winding one lie into another until there was no telling where the truth had lain to begin with.

Ah, but he could see every web of the truth, what was his truth and what was the one that he spun to them. It would not take much more, only a shot in the right head, to send Audia and Keidolifya into a full out war, pitting their powerful militaries against one another. That would distract attention from him, though it would be interesting to see how Keidolifya with their inferior military technology and weapons would fare. He thought that they might be rallied, but his actual spies, working on the inside, were already working away at seeding strife and mistrust.

They were already engaged in a cold war and escalating it into a full war would drive them to the point of exhaustion. And where would that leave him?

The feline laughed, head thrown back, swinging himself into the back of a military transport jeep, the green of it matching his coat. It was fitting, really, that it should be his vehicle, though he would have liked something more distinguishing. It might have struck the feline as ain, perhaps, if he had had the capacity to think about something like that.

It was not something that Toshineko saw, after all. He saw himself, however, at the head of the world, sitting in a chair at the head of a grand table, all those world "powers" under him, at his feet. They wouldn't be able to do anything against him when he had taken power into his own hands, dictating, controlling, an iron grip on everything.

Ones like him, after all...had no limits. And Toshineko was more than intelligent enough to know that that made him more dangerous than any other being in the world, whether they were anthro or other. Once the greatest powers in the world had exhausted themselves engaged in a war that had never been theirs to fight, he would be easily prepared to force his way through everyone, straight to the top without barely even a fight.

A perfect plan... Toshineko smirked, his driver taking him on, an honoured role in his army. The best part of it all also? Everyone thought he was dead. They thought his army had been wiped out. They thought that it had been his blood on the battlefield. Yet not a single drop had been spilt from his troops, only the false troops they had set up to fail in their stead, dressed in their colours.

"No one will stop me."

He said that with conviction, not needing to raise his voice. All was as he wanted it to, the powerful beating of his heart unstoppable. Wasn't faking one's death a beautiful thing? With the world believing him to be dead, his master plan would be even easier to accomplish.

And the dictator could not wait to see it play out, exactly as he'd determined.