Little Acts of Villainy

Third Person P.O.V.

The day Hector was half-dreading, half-anticipating eventually came, but it was not how he expected.

Paying more attention to Jackie Chan's movements, he noticed a talk between him and Uncle about a trip to the Himalayas. The mention of this place triggered thoughts about the Talisman resting there… The Horse Talisman.

Hector was waiting for the episode of the Dog and Pig talismans to spare some effort, but the Horse one is simply too good to just let pass.

In the terms of the games that he likes so much, the Ox Talisman increases the Strength status and the Rabbit Talisman increases the user’s Agility. The combo of the Horse Talisman and Dog Talisman gives a boost to the defensive status, like Vitality and Endurance.

The two have regenerative abilities, but the Horse one takes the crown in the healing properties. It can heal not only injuries but also diseases. One talisman prevents you from dying, and the other makes your life pleasant. An immortal, unhealthy life would be a curse, after all.

The Horse Talisman is also a facilitator to many of his future endeavors - like the Genie wish - that will allow him to visit places with dangers that one can’t simply punch away.

In the confines of his small room, Hector retrieved his notebook and looked at the notes he had made about this world.

His eyes focused on a simple drawing of the Horse Talisman, and an arrow at the side connects the talisman to a box with names of fictional worlds.

“A plethora of zombie apocalypse worlds… The Dark Continent in HunterxHunter… Valyria in Planetos…” he reads in a low voice.

His eyes go then to another box. “There are also some ways to use its healing abilities to advantage…” A list of names of sick people and favors he can acquire by playing the doctor is written inside the box.

Bam He closes the book loudly and puts on his inventory.

“But it all depends on how strong the talisman really is… I’m not expecting anything game-breaking, but I believe it will make my travels easier and much more pleasant.” He may gain the goodwill of some important figure and live like a king. “It also protects from magical illments, I think…”

It will also help with his lack of documents and history.

“Let’s go get it.” His eyes become sharp, and he removes his normal clothes before he retrieves a dark suitcase from his inventory.

Time to play as a villain a little.

………………………………….

Jackie Chan drives a snowmobile up a mountain in the Himalayas; his body is encased in thick clothes to protect him from the cold. After half an hour of travel, he finally found the small abandoned temple where Uncle said that the ancient records pointed towards.

The talisman was surprisingly easy to get, like many others. It seems to be a theme; the talismans are unknown, and the challenge is to find information about them. Luckily for Jackie, he has an Uncle who knows his story and a spy organization in the shape of very convenient allies.

The other obstacle is obviously the competition; an easy objective to reach means a lot of competition. Almost every finding of a talisman becomes a battle because of that.

That is why Jackie is only mildly surprised when the dark Hand appears.

The three usual enforcers of the Dark Hand, Finn, Ratso, and Chow, appear wearing similar thick clothes to fight for the ownership of the talisman.

“Chan, leave the talisman behind.” Finn says, pulling an electric short sword from his coat.

“Which talisman?” Jackie Chan plays the fool, raising his arms innocently.

“That one!” Ratso points behind Jackie. “Hm?”

But when they look, they see that the Talisman that they previously saw there has disappeared completely.

“What?? It was just there, right?” Chow asks

“Yes, between the incenses…” Finn confirms

“CHAN! Where is the talisman??” Ratso asks angrily, thinking that Jackie Chan tricked him somewhere.

Jackie, on his end, is also stunned. “No, no, no… hey, guys, I don’t know what happened either-” He was interrupted when the Dark Hand suddenly attacked.

He dodges out of the way while trying to explain himself, but the three villains would never believe him. The fight extends through the whole temple, and Jackie dodges by millimeters while running around them. He pulls a rope from somewhere and is even able to tie them together.

Albeit clumsily, it is enough to stop their movement till he delivers a flying double kick on the three villains, sending them onto a wall.

He sighs in relief “Done… but what happened with the talisman?” He frowns deeply.

Unfortunately, he will not have the time to ponder that because the double doors of the temple are suddenly opened, and Tohru appears, bringing a strong gust of cold wind that makes both Jackie and the Dark Hand enforcers shiver.

“Chan…” Tohru says with a menacing tone “Where is the talisman?”

“I don’t have it!” Jackie tries to explain.

But Chow, still tied together with the other two shouts, “He has it!”

That is all Tohru needs. In truth, it’s more than he needs. He would have attacked Jackie all the same.

“Bad day…” Jackie sighs dramatically, knowing that a pointless fight is unavoidable.

…………………………………..

On the corner, leaning on a wall, Hector watches the events unfold.

He is invisible to everyone, but if they are able to see him, they would see him in an infuriatingly relaxed posture. Like all of this was not caused by him.

He is simply watching the show. Stealing the talisman from under their noses was embarrassingly easy… He just floated by them, invisible with the power of the Snake Talisman, and put the Horse Talisman in his Inventory.

Done.

He is even a little ashamed of coming fully prepared to fight both the hero and the villains.

He reveals himself when the fight moves out of the temple. Hector is wearing a full black ninja-like outfit, covering every inch of his body. On his face, a dark mask with a red visor.

He prepared those clothes in the Post-apocalyptic world; they are resistant and comfortable to wear. There’s not enough space to carry things, like how a military vest would have, but he doesn’t need that because of his inventory.

“I will be at the store before Jackie even enters the first plane back.” He says before going invisible again and flying.

But then he pauses and decides to accompany the little altercation between Jackie and the Dark Hand. They are going down the mountain in a very dangerous race on the snow, and an accident can happen.

He will tag along till he confirms Jackie’s plot armor.

“And to think I even mentally prepared to enter a villain persona and all that.” He shakes his head.

He is a little disappointed that he can’t make a grand entrance as a mysterious figure, but the time has passed. 

“It would be awkward to appear now.”

………………………………………….

Uncle’s Rare Finds

“I’m telling you, Uncle. The talisman simply disappeared.” Jackie tries to explain, but Uncle is unconvinced

“How? Did it grow legs and walk away?” Uncle snorts and flicks Jackie's forehead with two fingers. “You are distracted and lost it. Admit!”

“Maybe it becomes invisible. Maybe it teleports!” Jade suggests moving her arms around “We don’t know their powers, anything can happen.”

“A talisman can’t activate by itself; it needs the will of a living being to do that.” Uncle schools her “Jackie was tricked.”

“I was not tricked; the dark hand really tried to get it from me, thinking I had it.” Jackie defends himself

“Maybe it was a third party.” Hector finally suggests. Everyone turns to look at him, noticing their attention, and he shrugs. “What? Maybe the big boss of the Dark Hand noticed the incompetence of those thugs and used those shadow ninjas in the way ninjas are supposed to be used… stealthily. A big plan was created around that quote: ‘To trick your enemy, you must trick your allies’. They probably retrieved the talisman while Jackie was busy.”

“That… makes more sense.” Jackie shows a pensive expression. I didn’t see a single shadowkhan there.

“Then you are distracted. Still your fault!” Uncle reproaches him.

But Hector is not done. “There’s also the chance that it's someone, maybe the information leaked from your spy friends, Jackie. And a greedy someone now wants magical powers… maybe a corrupt politician, an ex-agent, or whatever.”

“I don’t think that is the case. Black takes the Talisman problem very seriously. He is not really on board with all the amgical aspects, but he believes in what he saw… And he saw that the talismans were dangerous.” Jackie says

Hector shrugs and turns around to hide a smirk. “Just saying. It will also not be good to start doubting your allies… There’s always the chance that there's another evil wizard or whatever that entered the race for the talismans late.” With those worlds, he takes some of the books upstairs.

“...”

…………………………….

Netherlands

The Dog Talisman continues with the trend of the easily accessible talismans, just casually staying on a wall of a windmill. Jackie arrived first, quickly digging the talisman out of the wall before something happened with it like last time.

Tohru arrived later.

“Chan… Now you can’t lie.” The giant man says while looking at the talisman in Jackie’s hands. 

“Do you really need to do this? Working with the dark hand, I mean.” Jackie puts the talisman away while talking. Maybe he is only trying to buy time, but maybe he really believes that Tohra can leave the Dark Hand. “Section 13 has dental care and a lot of benefits. I can write you a recommendation letter.”

The two circle around each other. Jackie uses the pillars and gears that move with the power of the wind around them as a shield.

Jackie moves quickly, zig-zagging, trying to confuse Tohru… The opportunity appears, and he takes it quickly, slipping between the giant man's legs and jumping to the window.

Jackie grabs one of the propellers of the windmill and waits till it rolls down to jump safely on the ground, but he was caught by surprise when the windmills stopped, and not because of the lack of wind.

Tohru grabbed it. He is holding on to it for dear life, his feet barely starting on the window while his huge body hangs in the air. He starts putting some force to tear the whole propeller down. Jackie is also already moving to step on his face, but someone beats him to it…

Thud

Suddenly, a male figure lands on Tohru’s back in a crouched position, like a ninja appearing out of nowhere, but the strength behind it was enough to force Tohru to let go and fall on the ground face-first.

Bam

Luckily, he fell into a pile of hay; if not, it would be bad for the giant.

Still gripping the windmill properly tightly, Jackie Chan observed the quick development with wide eyes.

He watches with attention while the figure slowly stands up.

At first, he thought that it was some sort of Shadowkhan, but beyond the form-fitting black costume, nothing else was similar. It is more like some sort of vigilante from an action movie or cartoon.

He is big, almost two meters tall, muscles bulging, straining against the tight costume… but the most eye-catching detail is his belt.

There… There, Jackie can see a bunch of talismans, like he is wearing them as a belt buckle, a dozen belt buckles. Luckily, he doesn’t have all of them. Jackie can see some octagonal empty spaces in that belt; he also can’t see the talismans on his back, but Jackie can clearly see the Dragon, the Ox, and the Rabbit talismans on the front. 

And when the propeller of the windmill moves a little, he can see the Horse Taliman too…

“You…” It doesn’t need to be a genius to figure out that this person is the one who took the talisman last time.

The enemy says nothing. He raises his hand and throws a fireball at the Windmill, not directly at Jackie, but it was enough to scare the man into jumping into a pile of hay on the ground. “Hot! Hot! Hot!”

The problem is that Jackie suddenly stops in the air, like a giant invisible hand grabbed him, and then he is brought down slowly, to become face-to-face with the man clad in black.

‘The Rooster Talisman?’ Jackie is confused; this talisman should be on Section 13.

He is slowly turned around, still floating. Jackie can’t move; his body is tightly wrapped by that invisible force. He felt his back pocket lighter, the talisman floating away till it fell on the man’s hand.

Calmly, he puts on an empty spot of his belt, at his side, making the Dog Taslisman the immediate neighbor of the Horse Talisman.

Then a tense moment comes… Jackie’s mind runs a thousand miles for minute, thinking in ways to escape or to talk out of this, because he is feeling very helpless right now.

But he never needed… The unknown man simply and slowly disappeared from his view if he was merging with the surroundings.

A moment later, Jackie falls on the ground, eyes wide in surprise, relief, and a little frustration.

………………………………..

“I’m telling you, Uncle.” Jackie says on the phone. Right now, he is at an airport, ready to go back home. “There’s really another someone going for the talismans… and he has at least 6 of them!”

“That is worrying…” Uncle speaks in a serious tone “We need to be quick. In the worst-case scenario, this other person will join forces with Shendu, and he will revive!”

“There’s another thing…” Jackie starts but hesitates, like he is afraid of voicing his thoughts “I think he used the Rooster Talisman…” Jackie whispers on the telephone.

“...the Rooster Taisman is under the protection of Section 13. Are you implying…?” Jackie can almost see Uncle raise an eyebrow by his tone.

“I don’t know… He really stopped me in the middle of the air and made the talisman float to him. I was not able to see all the talismans on his belt, but…” Jackie doesn’t finish his thoughts, “Is there some magic, or whatever, that can do the same?” Jackie asked with some hope.

“Don’t say whatever!” Uncle retorts “And yes, there are ways to make things float!” Jackie was almost sighing with relief before Uncle continued, “But not as easily as using the power of the Rooster Talisman. No medium, no preparation, no incantation, and so freely like you told… I don’t know any spell that can replicate the Rooster talisman power so seamlessly!”

“...”

“Come back home, you have to talk with your spy friend.”

Jackie is already dreading this moment.

………………………………..

Bavaria

Hector, still in his dark ninja costume, floats slowly and straight above a city in Bavaria.

This city is famous for being the home of a chocolate factory, and the pig logo is all over the place, so even Hector is surprised that no one has come here yet.

The location of the Pig Talisman is so obvious, probably the most obvious of all talismans.

“What good spy organization…” He scoffs. The only thing that can redeem them is the fact that this chocolate is not famous outside this country. “But them don't find it… Before the internet, things were hard, huh?” He remembers when anyone just had to take a picture of something, and Google would research it.

He continues to slowly float till he is face-to-face with the clock tower, which is the biggest building in the town.

He doesn’t wait for the right time, when the pig-cuckoo would come and beat his plates. He extends his hand and forces open the small door through which the pig-themed alarm of the tower passes.

Floating inside, he found the Pig Talisman in the hat of the pig.

“So easy…” He says and makes the talisman float to him before putting it into an empty slot on his belt. “7 from 12… The Rooster, Sheep, and Monkey are on Section 13. And the Tiger and Rat will only appear at the right time.”

Now he just needs to wait…

He was ready to fly back to Vhinatown when he heard a small sound.

“Hm?” Looking at the side, he saw a large figure jumping from gear to gear before aiming a drop kick at him.

“Flying Dragon Corkscrew!”

“You really should not shout in a sneaky attack.” Hector deapans before quickly sidestepping the attack.

With the Rabbit Talisman, he became a blur and reappeared three feet to the side. The attacker passed by him without even grazing him.

Hector gives the opponent the courtesy of recovering his foot - he could have attacked - and waited till the figure rolled around himself and landed perfectly.

“Cat lands on feet and bare claws!”

“Pffft! I forgot how fun it was hearing you shout your every move, Hak Foo.” Hector laughs. “ A little cringe, but the good kind of cringe.”

“Do you know Hak Foo?” The martial artist with a red-lion-like mane turns and strikes a stance. “How? Hak Foo rarely keeps his enemies alive to tell about me!”

“Trade secret…” Hector says, before allowing himself to be brought to the ground by gravity “That is good. You are a very strong martial artist… The perfect training dummy.” He says while warming up, rolling his shoulder, and stretching his limbs.

“I was just hired for this job, I bet the pay will be good if I bring all those talismans back.” Hak Foo declares while also preparing himself for a fight

“Too bad you can’t have it, but don’t worry, I will not use them…” Hector says with a condescending smile. “It will be my Second Phase… not that you will even bring my health bar to 50% or anything.”

“HAAA! Angry crow takes flight!” Hak Foo lunges at Hector.

Despite being such a telegraphed attack that he practically announces what he is doing, Hak Foo's attacks are fast and… weird. His flexibility and acrobatics allow him unusual attacks that balance his “nerf”. Announcing attacks but unpredictable moves… It goes back to square one.

But Hector still has better stats, even without using his talismans or his overpowered vision to predict the attacks.

He dodges one.

“Serpent pounce technique!”

Dodges twice.

“Float like a lotus bloom!”

Three times…

“Flaming Stance!

‘Enough is enough…’ Hector thinks

The fourth time… Whe Hak Foo stands in only one leg, the other foot stretched to kick Hector, the black-clad man puts one hand behind Hak Foo's extended knee and shoves him upwards.

Hak Foo was sent flying in the air, but he was good enough to spin himself to recover his balance. He even attacked again, upside down, his hands in the shape of a mouth.

“Shark attacks bottom feeder!”

“Human uppercuts idiot…” Hector says in a deadpan tone and uses a Gazelle Punch to meet Hak Foo's attack.

His fist goes through Hak Foo's fingers and straight to the martial artist's face.

He releases an ugly grunt and is sent flying till he hits a small ramp.

“C’mon, stop playing and fight for real…” Hector doesn’t chase, he stays still, straight as an arrow, a hand behind his abcn while the other makes the universal sign of “Come”

Hak Foo doesn’t need to be told twice… he continues to shout his moves, but his attacks got sharper, faster…

Hector dodges most of them, trying to parry others… Sometimes he accomplishes that, but sometimes Hak Fook changes his stance and tries to attack an unprotected part.

‘Parrying is difficult, but it is very rewarding… Defending is a last resort… Dodging is still the best; if I follow up quicker, it can be almost as good as parrying.’ He understands while fighting.

Hector fails sometimes, but Hak Foo's attacks do minimal damage against Hector’s durable body. Something worth noticing is that Hector is using his Genie-given ability to age himself to his early thirties.

His body is very muscular, in his own words, like a “Part 3 Jojo character or a comic hero”. Very different from his usual lean frame.

He doesn’t believe that he reached some great accomplishment with the Hercules Method, like the ones in the Luther Strode universe, but his body is absolutely beyond peak human.

The two fight for a considerable time, limbs flying and clashing, and slowly Hector gains the upper hand. Like a gamer learning the boss movements, he starts moving much more sure of himself, reactive in countering, dodging by just a small margin, striking in the openings.

And relaxed… Anyone would be able tos see by the way he moves. He is holding back, making the fast last so that he can learn more, enjoying his growth and progress.

Thud

Hector pushes Rak Foo with a double palm strike on the man’s stomach, just after he crouched to dodge a high kick. He doesn’t chase, he simply straightens himself up and joins his fists behind his back, posing like some great master.

“I think I know my level now.”He says. He also thinks he has a vision of his fighting style… a path to follow. “You have been demoted from training dummy to punching bag.” he declares.

And the talismans on his belt shine with power for a moment.

“You can interpret this as me giving you some respect or as humiliation… I don’t care.” He calls for Hak Foo again “Come. I want to play.” He says that, but his objective is more than simply bullying Hak Foo.

He wants to know the difference between using the talismans and fighting without their assistance.

“Angry crows take flight!”

He got his answer… a very big difference.

He immediately understood that the Rabbit Talisman is, in gaming terms, “busted”... Or better yet, he concluded Speed is probably the most overpowered physical stat. The talisman does not give him the speed to compete with speedsters across fiction, it's not something that will go that far.

Hector predicts that, maybe in a decade, the talismans will become obsolete after he outgrows them. But this magical object is very… user-friendly. It gives him an enhanced perception of time and other “sup-powers” that should help a speedster.

‘Like a nerfed Speedforce… Well, magic ignores physics.’

So that is why, when he concentrates, he sees Hak Foo moving in slow motion…

Again, his speed is still not enough that he can act cool and “walk” in the “slowed time”, but he pretty much feels invisible.

The talisman also helped him go from fully stationary to maximum speed instantly, ignoring the laws of inertia. He can also change direction easily and make sharp turns.

That is why he plays a little….

While Hak Foo is still in the air, Hector dashes forward and lightly taps the man. He doesn’t use the Ox Talisman yet, and he held back, but even the attack was much more potent thatn expected.

‘Good to know that acceleration still holds weight.’ 

Hak Foo barely recovered before Hector quickly appeared behind and punched him again, and again, and again. He went back and forth, attacking and immediately moving out of range, a blur of activity that was impossible to react to or defend against.

The red-haired amrital artist tries to fight back, but every time he tries to attack Hector, he is not there anymore… Hector is playing with him, staying long enough just to bait for an attack before moving quickly to another position and hitting where it hurts.

Then the Ox Talisman starts giving hector power too, his hits become stronger… Strong enough to almost end the fight. Luckily, he held back. Hector changed his way of fighting.

First, he grabbed Hak Foo's wrist and spun him around like a rag doll. The martial artist screamed like a coward person in a roller coaster. Hector starts throwing Hak Foo around.

The man was barely keeping himself from landing badly despite hector only doing casual throws, but Hak Foo barely had time to straighten himself before he was grabbed again and tossed in another direction.

“What if I become invisible?” Hector asks himself, and the situation gets even worse for Hak Foo.

Now he is fighting a ghost, a fast and strong ghost.

With the Snake Talisma,n Hector changed to mental warfare. He just makes sounds and taps Hak Foo to catch his attention and keep him tense. He only really attacks one of five times, but the red-haired man is already looking worse than when he was being beaten up.

“Bat hears-” Don

Hak Foo closed his arms to try to use some made-up technique when Hector slapped his two ears.

“That is not how echolocation worlds… You need to emit a sound first.” Hector says, but Hak Foo can’t hear him. The man wobbles and falls on the ground. “Now, let’s test the Pig Talisman… you are gonna run and I’m gonna chase-Hm?”

Looking down, he noticed Hak Foo was completely unconscious.

“...” Hector pauses, then shrugs almost imperceptibly and walks away, losing interest quickly.

He flies a little away before settling on an open space between some trees.

“I told Uncle and the others that I went back to College to talk with some teachers…” He sits cross-legged and pulls some rocks from his inventory. He makes them float around him. “I will use this time to prepare…”

Now that most of the talismans are in his hand, the final confrontation is much closer, and the end is near.

………………………..