Authors' Note: Dark Calamity is a mass crossover, taking villains from The Incredibles, Oliver!, and Inkheart. Selena's "Silvertongue" ability is also from Inkheart. Although it's possible to understand without having knowledge of the stories, as the personalities of the characters are broadcasted loud and clear.
Also, Rylan, Cyrus, and Selena are OC's. You're not expected to know them.
Rylan ducked as a chair flew past his head. "Show yourself!" he yelled at the figure in the shadows. "And knock it off, I'll go with the police if that's what you want!" he added as a brick narrowly missed his ear.
Selena had no need to shout... she didn't even have to speak. You know they would take you back right away if you did, she thought maliciously. Besides. Only some tough git who was full of himself would dare to try and arrest me. She lifted up another brick and sent it flying.
"Wait... Sele-" he said, but was interrupted with a brick colliding with the side of his head. "OUCH! DAMN IT!" he swore as he fell on his side. Rubbing the sore spot where the brick hit, he shouted, "STOP IT, SELENA! I know it's you, only you would be able to throw bricks at me without moving, only you would be able to avoid arrest and scare the living hell out of me at the same time. Now show yourself!"
Selena's mouth twitched. It was as close to a laugh as Selena got. She stepped out into a ray of moonlight, only because he had succeeded at her guessing game. "Right here..." Her pale eyes twinkled.
Rylan blinked rapidly. He hadn't actually expected it to be her, it was just a guess. "Listen, Selena. I was wrong. You were right. I did need you. You know I was imprisoned shortly after you left. You were better than I gave you credit for." Maybe if you're nice, she'll come back. Maybe you can regain all that power. Shit, forgot she could read minds! DAMN IT.
"You needed me just as much as... well." Selena stopped. She was glad she was the telepath- what had almost slipped out of her mouth was an odd thought. But no. Her heart was much darker than Nancy's. Hell, it was darker than Sikes's. It was just a coincidence. "Well. Screw what I was about to say. I've been doing absolutely fine without you... I don't need to help you at all." She glared at Rylan.
His eyes began to glow bright green. "Of course you don't need to help me," he nearly whispered. "But the question is, do you want to? You're much better than I. I'm asking you nicely."
Oh shit. He's… craaaaaap...
Selena stared. After all of the things she learned after being fired, she had lost her ability to withstand this.
"Uh..."
"Come here, Selena." He smiled as gently as is possible for a psychopathic murderer.
Selena tried to close her eyes, to close her mind, but...She walked.
"Now then..." he whispered. "Are you going to help me?"
COME ON SELENA, WAKE UP! THIS ISN'T YOU! THIS IS RYLAN! HE'S GOT YOU, DAMMIT!
"I..." Selena stopped. She heard something screaming...
And then she put it off.
"I will." She said.
"Thank you." He smirked. "I'm so glad we're working together again." His power had been drained more than he had noticed, and his eyes lost their green glow and became dark once more. Unluckily, he didn't realize it until it was too late.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO TO ME?!" Selena shouted. She lifted him up by the neck.
"You will hang if you don't ANSWER!" She yelled.
Rylan began to claw desperately at his throat. No... this couldn't be happening... he couldn't be beaten by her...
"I used my ability. Surely you remember that part of me?" he managed to croak out. The world was beginning to darken on the edges of his vision.
She dropped him. "WHAT ABILITY?!"
Rylan fell and gasped for air. "My ability," he said, panting, "that lets me control minds."
"Well, that most certainly would explain me," she growled, more to herself than to him.
"Yes. You were young and impressionable. It was almost too easy. Although, obviously, since you've grown, you've gotten stronger, and controlling you has taken its toll on me. After a while you just started going on you own, and you corrupted yourself. And that was when I started to worry."
Selena snorted. "Worry? YOU? Only for YOUR power!"
Well, she's got you there.
"Yes, I do."
Selena looked up.
"Erm. I mean… You didn't say anything at all. Uh-uh."
"I know. And I'm impressed. Now I know that you have issues with me, but they're in the past. So I'm going to ask again, but this time with a slight change. Would you like to work alongside me, as my right-hand person?"
"What are you planning on now...?" Selena asked, glaring at Rylan. "Because it's bound to fail. Better not be too important."
"I don't know yet..." He looked down, embarrassed.
Selena's mouth twitched again. "What exactly do you want me for, then? Besides power, that is."
Rylan remained silent. He didn't really know.
And then, the smallest chuckle came from Selena's throat. She jumped a bit. It was something she had never heard.
"Well. I must say. You are a fair example of how the bad guys get terrible publicity. Always caught..." She snickered.
"Wait..." he glared. "You were the one who ratted me out, weren't you?! Seeing as how I just so conveniently got caught right after you left!"
"Come now, how would I do that... I'm just as wanted as you are..." She, however, let another snicker out.
"It's called an anonymous telephone call."
Shut UP, SELENA!
"Yes..." She growled a bit. "I was the one."
"I KNEW IT!" Rylan jumped to his feet furiously. "I KNEW I COULD NEVER TRUST YOU, YOU DIRTY LITTLE BITCH!"
"Coming from a fucking little son of one, I don't see why you're talking? It's your fault for releasing me." She glared. "So much for my idea, then."
"I had to release you, otherwise you'd have become... this," he spat, "much faster. And what idea might that have been?"
"Never you mind, I can just take care of it myself." She most certainly could. "Besides. What's it matter to you what I become?"
"I don't know, maybe I just wanted to help. You can go far, kid, but if you want to make it there, you need me. You know it."
"Hell if I need YOU. You've obviously had little access to a paper these days- Personally, I prefer the Times... They get most of the details on my latest attacks correct, compared to the others."
She took the latest newspaper she had stolen and threw it at him.
"READING would do you good." And then she chuckled again.
Rylan bit his lip. He was more or less at a loss for words. How did it come to this? If he hadn't let her go, he wouldn't have missed three years, they would've been fine... And now look where he was. Speechless in front of a former subordinate trying to convince her he was worth something.
"Well. I suppose you would be good for something, then... if you really do have a power and it's just not your behaviour..." She pulled a book out of her black coat. She always carried THAT with her... "This is a book. Maybe you've heard of one?" Selena said. She knew he could read, but she just loved to see him squirm. "This one's Oliver Twist."
"I know what Oliver Twist is. I'm not stupid." He grimaced. "And I'm guessing from your attire that you know who Sikes is. Well, so do I, he was my favorite character."
Shock crossed Selena's face for a split-second, and just as fast as it came, it was gone. "Well. I know for a FACT that he would try killing anyone within a mile of here. Not that it's bad, but he wouldn't listen to me, period." She paused, hoping Rylan's mind hadn't been dulled by jail.
"And this matters why? He's a fictional character. Of course he would try to kill everyone, but he's not REAL. Have you gone insane since I've been gone?"
She chuckled. "Oh, I've done many things since you've been gone." She opened the book. "Would you like to find out?"
She shuffled through the pages.
"I suppose," he said with a smirk. Whatever she was about to do wouldn't be that bad... right?
She snorted. She had heard that. "Oh, if done correctly, it can be terrible... I need an animate object- bird, cat, something! Quick!" she snapped.
"Ugh. Why do I bother..." She leaned out the window.
"There are a bunch of alley cats outside..."
"I see that now, fool." She lifted one up by the throat. It was soon dead. "Now... It's not quite animate anymore, but it'll do."
Rylan blinked.
Selena began to speak. "The man who growled out these words, was a stoutly-built fellow of about five-and-thirty, in a black velveteen coat, very soiled drab breeches, lace-up half boots, and grey cotton stockings which inclosed a bulky pair of legs, with large swelling calves;--the kind of legs, which in such costume, always look in an unfinished and incomplete state without a set of fetters to garnish them.
He had a brown hat on his head, and a dirty belcher handkerchief round his neck: with the long frayed ends of which he smeared the beer from his face as he spoke. He disclosed, when he had done so, a broad heavy countenance with a beard of three days' growth, and two scowling eyes; one of which displayed various parti-coloured symptoms of having been recently damaged by a blow."
Her mouth twisted and turned, the words had a sense of malice... The cat, not long dead, disappeared, and before the two was the stout man described.
"NOW, RYLAN! WHILE HE'S CONFUSED!"
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"
"GET HIM!" She screamed.
Rylan's confused state vanished in a blink as he realized what she was talking about, and made eye contact with the newly materialized Sikes.
"What the BLOODY HELL is going on here? DAMMIT, WHERE AM I?!" Sikes started to shout... but he lost his anger when Rylan finally got it.
"Whew..." Selena said. The only man that gave her any worry at all... was standing right in front of her.
"Now what?" Rylan inquired.
"Actually... um... " Selena started. "I… forgot." It wasn't her fault, everything going through her mind disappeared when she started reading of Sikes.
"Well, isn't that just great. I can't hold him here forever, you took a lot out of me. Luckily he's not too hard."
"Shit," she said- and then she GIGGLED.
He's not too hard! HAHAHA!
"WHAT THE HELL?!" she shouted at herself. She was back to normal again.
Rylan realized his innuendo and almost burst into laughter himself. Luckily he had learned how to maintain his composure when controlling someone.
"Shut up, it wasn't that funny."
"Um... Hang on." She took the book back out and read the sentences in backward order. Sikes was gone, and that dead cat was back.
"Next time, I'm going to think before I do." She said. There was something wrong with her...
Rylan snickered. "Now you know how I feel."
"Truthfully, YOU know how I feel, but yeah." Selena was giggling like a little girl. This was NOT good. Did she lose her evil temperament when she read Sikes into the world?
Selena's giggling slowly tapered off. Good. She was back to normal again. "Alright, now, here's what I want to... erm. Well, let's just get this over with- DO." She snickered. "I want to use these villains to prove that bad guys don't always lose... Villains including Sikes and Basta from Inkheart. Now, they're both not the brightest of the bunch, but we need strength on our side too. We'll take the world by storm…"
"Has your 'Silvertongue ability' spread to films? Because I can think of one very useful person from an animated film..."
"Uh... sorry, no. Films leave no imagination left, they're as close to real life as they can be." Selena sat in the chair that she had thrown at Rylan earlier and crossed her legs. "Besides. As much help as Syndrome would be, we've got enough brainpower."
He was about to say "You read my mind" when he realized that she had. "What about fanfiction? And I had more than one reasoning for bringing him here… I also wanted to test my ability on... people... closer to my intellect. I don't know how it works on them since I've never met one. No offense intended."
"Sure." Selena said darkly. "Anyway... It depends on the fiction. As close as it is to the real character... I haven't seen a film in ages. I snuck into a musical once… using the back door... but that's another story."
"Well, if it depends on that... I'm sure we could find something. Although it'll take a while to find a good one. Meaning we should probably put it off for a while and just concentrate on the others."
"Yes... so you're with the idea, then?"
"Villains never win. I'm, quite frankly sick of it. So yes."
"Great," Selena said. "Now... we need to bring Sikes back here... and after the last incident, it might be a bit...harder." She smirked a bit.
"Don't mock me."
"Prepare yourself," she snorted. It just wasn't getting old. "Alright. Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Selena opened the book again. She realized she was looking forward to having Sikes back...she began to read again.