She knew she was wrong. She knew she was wrong, and she knew she would suffer the consequences.
"Well, Candi?" the voice whispered almost softly in a tone made to sound approachable, but authoritative. "Where is it then?"
She hesitantly turned from her stance facing away from him, her palms sweating more amply than before. The poised cane had just entered her view when she opened her mouth. It took a moment for her throat to finally choke out indistinguishable sounds, then words. "I… I-I don't know… what you—"
Candi was scarcely able to drive the few words of trembling speech out before her knees buckled underneath the hard crack laid upon the backs of her thighs. Her chest forced out an animalistic shriek before an unreal, stiff power drove her skull into the brick wall, knocking her feet out from under her in the process. What escaped her lungs abated to a hushed whimper, and she was able to glimpse the sight of his cap settling onto the ground in her periphery. She had forgotten his speed.
After a few moments, the incredible force pressed into her temple slowly eased to release. He retracted his arm, dense with lean muscle, and regained his posture. He seemed taller than before, now towering over her fragile body as it dropped to scrape itself along the timeworn mortar and finally the hot, damp pavement below. The ringing in her ears hardly allowed clarity in hearing his next words.
"Remember, Candi. Remember and tell me who it is you're working for," he uttered, tone as calm as ever. Her weeping reclaimed some of its strength, each sharp breath pushing more of the potent stench of city grime and ruined asphalt inside her. Salty tears and beaded sweat began to stream into fresh wounds and drip staining crimson onto the dirty sidewalk, but all fell on deaf ears and lay before blind eyes as the cars rode by. Candi would welcome invisibility, but each light that came and went was another soul who cared nothing for her or her hardships. Her suffering was witnessed, only there was no humanity to be had. Not under him.
He permitted but a moment's passing. Rough fists clenched harder under threadbare gloves, and he allowed his fury a stronger presence. "Tell me!" he growled. Despite her delirium, the instant transformation in his tone registered enough to make Candi wince, and she began trembling even more intensely than before. Such force was familiar only to those who crossed him. She was now one.
Labored effort made gasps and desperate cries begin to compose themselves. "You…" The sound produced could only faintly be understood as language. Her breathing had become more deliberate, yet even more unruly, and she was unable to compel her body to create truly discernible speech. "You're—!"
He stepped down and gripped her forearm as lightning, hardening his grasp with such power she could swear bone splintered off and pierced muscle. Her wails rang yet louder with her head contorting in all directions, the rest of her instinctively both cowering and struggling in a futile bid for freedom, but her tear-soaked eyes could not evade his own savage gaze. Eyes were wild and bloodshot, wiry mustache alive with fury, teeth clenched under thick saliva, and face blood red and consumed with rage to envelope everything. All composure had been tossed aside, and the raw indignation which remained served to enhance his message, delivered in full force.
"I'M-A LUIGI, NUMBER ONE!"