I just drove home with a villain passed out in the back seat.
What am I doing?!
I kidnapped a villain and took him to my house.
What am I going to do now?
After I kidnapped him I got to the alley where my clothes were, and then had to come up with a way to get him to the car without being suspicious. Luckily for me, I’m lazy; a while back I planned on going out as Intelegant, but ended up changing my mind. I left my extra change of clothes in the bottom of my purse. I completely forgot about it until I was frantically searching for something to disguise him with.
Since I live alone, I was able to transfer him to my barren basement without anyone seeing. From there I tied him up, and now I have to get info out of him.
I don’t have a truth serum or lie detector. Intelegant does not need such things and Jackie Smalls doesn’t either. One simply hasn’t had the need for such a thing and the other other is too obsessed with looks to take it beyond a thought.
Now, because I was too proud to think I’d need it, I need to figure out how to get information out of people, and how to keep a villain from creating an army when you don’t know what he needs to do to make the freaking armada of skeletons he almost overwhelmed you with just an hour ago!?
As I’m worrying over what I should do, I see movement. Looks like Death Raiser is waking up. I back up into the wall of the basement so I can see if he summons his army while he gets his bearings back. I watch his head dart side-to-side as he gives a frantic scan of his surroundings.
“Where am I?” he demands. “Let me out of here!”
He reminds me of a spoiled rich kid demanding the impossible because they already have everything else. I might be lulling myself by comparing him to a child, but I see no signs of danger.
Even if he keeps acting like a child, he probably won’t tell me anything, but I have to ask, “How do you make the skeletons?”
He looks at me for a second before laughing. “You are a child!”
My immediate thought is that it’s ironic, but I gloss over that, channel my mom and ask in a serious tone, “What’s that supposed to mean?” I even give him the imitation of my mother’s death glare. He probably can’t see it because of my costume goggles, but I didn’t realize that until now, and I’m not gonna stop in case he can see me.
“You have no experience in interrogation. Admit it, you have no idea what to do.” He’s smirking at me. He’s definitely a proud teen. He was probably just spouting whatever he thought would make people take him seriously. To his credit, it worked, but now I’m a little annoyed.
“I’m sure your mom would ground you if she-” he cuts me off.
“Shut up.” I know he’s just a kid, squeaky puberty voice and all, but there’s something scary about the words.
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I look at him again. I heard anger, but looking at him, I see determination.
He’s still a kid, but I don’t think I should underestimate him.
“What do you know?”
He raises an eyebrow and smirks again, the determination disappearing behind it. “I’m not going to tell you.”
“You are.” I try to sound sure of myself.
“No, I’m not,” he’s still smiling. “I don’t have to.” The smile grows. “And you won’t do anything about it.”
“You don’t want to know what I’d do.” I try to sound scary.
“You never hurt anyone, you don’t even steal! You’re just in it for the fun. You don’t have the guts to be a real villain.”
“What makes a villain ‘real’?” By the time the question leaves my mouth, I know it's a mistake.
“You have to be willing to kill.”
I know it’s impossible, but with that look on his face, I’m starting to believe he might not be lying. I know it can’t be true. I know that, but…
I think I need to take a break. I’m starting to believe obvious lies and fear him.
I take a single step before he snips, “Scaredy cat.”
He’s right, I am a scaredy cat, but I’m a smart kitty so I’m going to knock him out before I leave.
I mimic his smirk before walking over.
“What are you?”
I grab the dart gun from behind him and stab him with a tranquiliser dart.
As soon as he’s down, I bolt up the stairs.
What to do, what to do?
As I pace around my house my eyes catch on the burner phone Ash gave me.
She probably knows something about this stuff and since she already knows who I am… I don’t have a lot of options here to begin with and she’s been meeting up with me so much lately. At first I thought it might be because she liked me, but then I remembered that I’m dealing with a manipulative blackmailer.
She sucks, but calling can’t hurt. After picking up the phone, all I have to do is hit one number and,
Bring
Bring
Beep.
“You kidnapped someone!” Ash sounds angry.
“Yeah, but-”
She cuts me off. “I know you’re used to doing whatever you want, but you can't kidnap people!”
“I-”Again, I’m interrupted before I can get out anything useful.
“How do you plan to deal with him?” I think she pauses to give me time to answer, but then she hikes up the volume. “Is that why you’re calling? Do you need my help with getting rid of someone.” She’s outraged. “I thought you were a little smarter than this.”
“I’m sorry that I kidnapped someone, but-” She cuts me off once again.
“I’ve been trying to call you ever since you kidnapped a supervillain on TV! What were you thinking? Don’t you know-”
“Ash.” I’m the one to interrupt her this time. “I took him because he said he killed Naturalist.” I pause to see if she’s going to cut me off again, but she doesn’t so I continue. “He came into my house knocked out so he has no idea where he is, and I’m only going to see him while in costume so he won’t be able to recognize me.”
She makes a sound of agreement, but says nothing.
“The reason I called you is because I need your help with interrogating him.” I almost said, I need you. “Whether you help or not, I’ll make sure this doesn’t blow up on you.”
“... I’ll be there in ten,” she says in a slightly calmer voice.
“Thank you. Now why were you so-”
Beep.
She hung up on me.
