Daniel's Capture

STARRING

"Big Boss" Damian Ratsbane
Damian once struck a deal with the devil - in exchange for power, he was tasked with spreading sin through the world. For this purpose, he received the Ring of Desire from one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Lust. Much more than just mere mind control, the ring allowed to bends the will of others by filling them with an unnatural desire to follow his wish...

Daniel Ratsbane
Nothing like his father, Daniel has forged his own criminal path as a bounty hunter. Always seen as a disappointment in his old man's eyes for his unwillingness to follow in his footsteps, Daniel recently learned about Damian's fighting tournament and entered to prove himself...

Egad Nob
One of the proclaimed "Dominant Six", a group of villains under Damian's control, Egad has been forced to 'borrow' his tournament scheme to the Big Boss, watching from the sideline as the rat hoards more and more tournament champions as slaves...





"RYAN FOXMOORE," Damian howled as he slammed open the door and stepped into the meeting room. On his own seat sat the fox, Egad Nob, patiently waiting with his fingers bent against each other and a wicked grin.

"Mr. Ratsbane, I was expecting you." The fox said in a dead calm voice, showing no trace of fear or tremble in his voice. This alone already threw the large rat into a fit, causing Damian to grab the fox's head and slam it against the table.

Daniel as a Tournament Champion
[Click to Enlarge]

"You've got a lot of nerve to be sitting in my chair after what you've done," the large rat threatened, but the fox remained calm despite his head pressed against the desk. "So are you going to let go or will you keep holding me down like a common thug?"

The fox's smug tone and lax attitude threw the big boss completely off. After all, he was wielding the Ring of Desire - a gift from one of the seven sins, Lust itself, allowing him to control the desire of other people. He had made the fox's biggest desire never to betray him, so how was this little meager vulpine able to defy him?

He should just dispose of the fox, here and now, remove the enemy before the fox could become a threat to him. He should never back down to anyone, but he had never before experienced a villainous character capable of standing up to him and he wanted to know how it was even humanly possible for a person with so much sin to go against his will.

"So what might be the problem, Mr. Ratsbane?" The fox shook his head to adjust after Damian finally let go of his head, but the rat still refused to take a seat other than his own - doing so would be admitting to a lower rank than the fox, something that went against everything he stood for.

"I think you well know, you arrogant little traitor. How is it my son ended up on the tournament roster when I went through all the champions myself?" Damian had enjoyed his event and the enslavement of so many people up until the point where his own flesh and blood ended up amongst the captives, completely against his knowledge.

"You know, I have been wondering about young Daniel..." Egad raised a finger to indicate a longer speech, "How is it, we, the Dominant Six - your 'ever loyal subjects', were never informed of any family members, let alone the plan to pass him on your legacy as family business?"

Damian had no interest in answering the fox's question and instead snared, "How is it you even know about my son?"

Egad shook his head, "I have my ways, and yet I can't help but wonder how he even signed for the tournament voluntarily the instant he head your name involved. I would think any person fit for your legacy would see right through the ploy, yet he's currently far below us caught like a rat."

Damian looked like he was about to lose his temper again before Egad continued talking, "After all, you are the Big Boss, owner of the auction, puppet master of the Dominant Six, the man behind it all, undoubtably one of the most powerful men on this world... Yet despite having the very power to make your son desire following your footsteps, you've hidden his existence away and allowed him to run free as some bounty hunter."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've gone soft." Egad finished with a slick smile, and Damian lowered his head in a moment of shame mixed with disgust. "How? How are you resisting my control? How are you able to betray me?"

Egad snapped with his fingers, "Since you've now realized this, and since I expected you to come here, isn't it curious how you're not currently on the floor, naked, bound and gagged like the champions you're currently collecting? After all, if I can betray you, nothing would have stopped me from booby trapping the room and collect the Big Boss for myself."

Damian raised his head again, this time his look was dead and cold. "You may talk fox, but you know just as well I could easily have brought any number of villains under my control to take you. You're not in my league, even if you've managed some manner of free will - you are still a puppet."

"I suppose that's true," Egad smiled, "But then there's a reason you didn't just free your son and had your henchmen take me right away. Because if you did that, you would be left with your question, forever paranoid about the one weakness you don't know about, not knowing whose truly under your control anymore, maybe only a step away from ending up in Zeraxies' bloated stomach as that cop."

"You can only work with these people under the belief that they are completely under your control, that they could never betray you, but when the tiniest fox with no special powers or abilities can manage to resist your control, what will become of you when it happens to one of the villains that could take you and your entire operation out in one fell swoop?" Egad finished with a devilish smirk and Damian was momentarily lost for words.

"... Alright." He kept thinking and thinking, never before had he been pressured like this before, where he previously thought of the fox as another of his underlings, he for the first time saw someone actually capable of rivaling him.

"Give me Daniel, and I will tell you how I have become immune to your control. He will be my necessary leverage, since you obviously care enough about him to let him take his own path and protect him to such extend," Egad opened his palm to gesture an offer.

"I DIDN'T LET HIM DO THAT JUST TO GIVE HIM OVER AS YOUR BARGAINING CHIP," Damian roared and slammed the table.

"Helplessness," Egad summarized his feelings in one word, "How does it feel? Even if you feel responsible for him as a parent..." Their eyes met as the fox gave him the closest thing he could muster to sympathy, " He was bound to clash with your world sooner or later. Clearly he is not capable of entering our ranks, but at least this way he did not end up in a card, a sphere, an amulet... or worse."

"You're not doing this to help me, fox. Don't try and trick me into some false sense of security so you can set me up again. I am not a pawn on your chessboard, and your petty and false compassion will win you nothing," Damian snared with a raised voice. Though the fox was standing up to him, he was still far from shaken.

"My point is, you have a choice to make. You can be the father or you can retain your power as the boss of the underworld... for now," the fox concluded.

Damian sunk into thought again... he didn't desire to give the fox anything and he was always used to getting his way, this was new and foreign to him. But the fox's words held truth to them: It wasn't dealing with the fox that was the problem, it was all the other much more powerful villains that concerned him. In the back of his head he knew monsters like Sylas or Zeraxies would only need a split second of free will to put him under a spell.

Daniel wasn't as much of a son to him as a project to pass on his legacy, but he had still taught the boy everything it took to become a powerful villain so he could one day pass on the ring and retire, knowing everything he had worked for wouldn't collapse the instant he let go. But the boy grew up and had wishes of his own, different from the path his father had laid before him.

When he saw his son captured inside the glass... he didn't see his own flesh and blood anymore, but a reckless hotheaded stud that loved to show off his body and strength, the exact kind of man the event was designed to capture.

Nothing he could do could protect the boy any longer, he had made a promise... to enslave the world. His contract with the sin of lust didn't permit him to create a second safe world for his son to live in, and Daniel had only escaped capture because Damian had put all his efforts into misdirecting the villains and covering every track of the boy's existence.

...If he willingly decided to go against the contract he had made, his ring and power would cease to exist and then it wouldn't matter how he felt, both of them would end up captured as such. As much as he dreaded the thought of being cornered, for now his only option was to rectify his mistake.

"He's yours," Damian nodded.

"I will answer your question now," Egad wicked smile had returned, "... As to how your power is failing."

"It of course started with extensive forms of therapy to discover the change in behavior from the influence of your ring. A memory restoral invention by the same very same inventor made it possible to dispel the effects quicker, but of course none of those things made it possible to act freely in your presence..."

Egad looked Damian in his eyes, "It's when I found out about Daniel that did the trick."
"What? How does he affect anything?" For the first time the large rat's eyes widened, unable to understand what the fox meant.

"You've never shown weakness, obviously complete domination takes a completely dominative person. But the moment I saw a soft side in you, I stopped believing you could satisfy my desires. With other words, you gave me reason to disbelieve in the desires from your fancy ring." Egad's statement left Damian wordless and staring at his ring.

"...So, you're saying that because I showed you weakness, the ring can't affect you anymore?" Damian asked and Egad nodded, "It's no different from the selfless hero you have problem swaying. It's not because the ring doesn't affect them, but the willingness to sacrifice one's own life to protect someone else has a stronger conviction than your ring's influence."

"But your actions are hardly selfless! Villains like you don't believe in anything but short met desires and you'd never put your life on the line," Damian accused but Egad shook his head, " I would rather perish than give up my belief, it is my drive force and life's purpose... I believe that anyone can be dominated, no matter how strong and powerful he might be, but I couldn't find any weakness in you... until I found your son. "

Damian weighted his forehead against his palm as he tried thinking about it again, but now Egad got up and took his briefcase with him. "I'll be teleporting him to my dungeon when the tournament's over..."

Daniel as a Trophy
[Click to Enlarge]

"Nice chair, by the way." Egad said as he closed the door behind him, leaving Damian to his sour mood and quiet thoughts.