This overlaps with Monster 3.1.
Comparing the two directly adds a lot to the experience.
Cold Shoulder.
I do not wake up with a big-picture plan magically lined up, conjured from the aether of my dreams.
What I do have is a short-term plan: let's feel out Fury in person.
It's something to do while I think, anyway.
Funny thing: I cut through an alleyway on my way to Fury, impatient, and a dude tries to confront me with a knife. Silly boy. I put the fear of me into him and make him hand over the knife. It's a nice, big knife with a serrated edge, and I stuff it into my purse because why not. I could use a weapon. I can't get by entirely on good looks and mastering.
Then I say, "Boo," and jam the guy with more fear and laugh when he goes running.
Okay, a bit flagrant of me... but I need a boost, okay? This whole existential dread thing is a bit of a downer. Teeny bit. Subtlety and gibbering madly, or lack of subtlety and being fucking awesome? Easy choice.
Fortunately, nobody aside from the poor ganger himself seem to have noticed that a big Asian man with badass tattoos just got robbed by pointing a knife at a helpless white waif. So I get to make my way unruffled to Fury's house. Well. Apartment, same dif.
I talk my way in smoothly. The people find me inexplicably likable and my jokes strangely funny. That has nothing to do with my power how dare you suggest otherwise imaginary audience.
But seriously, this is ballsy and a bad plan but I'm doing it anyway because I don't really expect to come back. If, later in the day, they realize that having a strange white girl come in and be welcomed effortlessly is fucking weird and evidence of Master influence, they'll, what, up their security? Good for them. Have fun spending money on shit that won't help because I'm gone already.
There is a reason I'm doing this though, don't worry imaginary audience. It lets me feel out Fury (Actual name: Sophia. Whatever) and her silly family by leading them with questions. Why's Fury so angry? "Dunno."
Huh. Interesting. Not even an off-the-cuff lie? Just a straight admission of ignorance. I mean, this is a wee bit of an artificial situation, but that's still very, very strange. So I ask the mother, instead: "I don't know why that girl does anything. I never did." Angry, frustrated, largely given up on her daughter. This has deep roots. Huh. Curious, I ask if she knows her daughter is a parahuman, and promptly suppress the shock/surprise in everyone that I would ask that. Let's not get derailed people, answer your guest's questions please. The response is... interesting. "Damn PRT taking over my child's life. They have someone go to school as her 'legal guardian', for shit like parent-teacher meetings, as if that woman is her mother. Makes me sick."
Fury herself is giving me a look, and clearly trying to wrestle loose from just sitting there blithely. I mean, everyone is starting to have this inkling that their feelings aren't right, but Fury is more effective at working around her feelings. Huh. Kind of surprised by that, I was thinking of her as someone being pulled about by her feelings, but apparently not? Or maybe the PRT has trained the girl. Would make sense...
Anyway, I'm wandering way off track here. I mean, it's funny just lurching into their house and asking them questions like I belong and making them feel like I do while they're actually going 'wait a second', but the whole point here is that I want to dig the dirt up on Fury.
So, pointblank: "Why are you tormenting a girl at your school, anyway?"
Oh, dull non-surprise from the mom. And the dad. (Wait, he doesn't look anything like Fury or the other kid. Step-dad?) Have to tamp down Fury's fury, they don't like being outed. Silly girl, your family may not have known, specifically, but they find it totally in-character for you. Fury goes mulish, and I start massaging their emotions in the general direction of compliance buuuut... nope, nothin' doing'. Wow, the PRT must have some pretty darn good training. Okay, fine, Twenty Questions time.
"She the wrong skin color?" No, no reaction. "She steal your boyfriend?" Indignant and offended, but like the idea is an insult. Okay, fair enough, Killer isn't much of a looker, and Fury totes is. "Let other people know you're a thug?" Minor offense, but I think she's more irritated by how I'm framing it than by the accusation itself. No suggestion it's the issue. "Do better than you at school?" Little reaction. Not much. Okay, so probably a factor, but not really her primary motive. More an icing on the cake sort of issue. "Have more friends than you?" She laughs. Out loud and everything, so hard she's wheezing after thirty seconds or so. But. There was a reaction to the word friends. Hm. "So something about friends. She steal one of your friends?" There's aggravation at the first part, like she's mad I picked it out. So yeah, I'm onto something. The second part gets an eyeroll. She's also starting to eye her fork idly -no, none of that: apathy. No calmly contemplating mutilating me, plz and thx.
Hmmm. Friends. Definitely something about friends. "She friends with someone you want to be friends with?" Oooh, closer. Not right, I think, but she's tensing up when I'm not clamping down on that, like she's worried I'll get it right. Awww, how sweet! She's worried about someone else. I didn't think she had it in her, really. "You wanna protect one of your friends from her?"
There. That got a response.
Interesting. Of course, that's still plenty ambiguous. Does Fury know Killer is a parahuman? Does Fury know Killer is a killer? I don't think the latter, at least, and I'd rather not let Fury know if she doesn't already know the former. I'm trying to get closer to Killer here, not give an enemy of hers a heads-up on critical information. Hmmm.
"Physical danger?" Not an actual laugh this time, but still laughable. "Emotional danger?" Pfffff. I think Fury thinks 'emotional harm' is something losers admit to. "Danger to how she thinks?" There we go. That makes more sense, really. Fury wants control over this friend of hers? Probably. So she thinks Killer might undermine her friend. Switch tracks. "Is the friend that other civilian who knows you're a parahuman?" Ha ha bingo. Ooooh, and her family didn't know about that part! Yeah, I'm such a homewrecker, it's beautiful, right? It's going to be soooo funny listening in to the drama after I'm gone.
All right. So. Fury has a friend she thinks Killer might influence. She's tormenting Killer to avoid that scenario. Hmmm. Explains Killer's isolation -if she can get at the civvie friend indirectly, like her words and values spreading to the rest of the school and thereby influencing civvie friend, then what's the point, right? Fury's more on the ball than I thought, +1 respect points. Hmmm. If I recall correctly, civvie friend was also involved in tormenting Killer. So it's not just about isolating civvie friend from Killer. It's about... teaching... or modeling?... or perhaps about refuting Killer's mindset? This is heavy, man, I was just expecting to find out Killer is a bitch or a boyfriend stealer or something. Base, pure motives. This is an ideological war. Hell, +1 respect points again, Fury, I didn't think you were one to give a fuck about this abstract bullshit.
Though I'm not sure how useful it is to me. I rather suspect being able to tell Killer that Fury is that thar Ward over there is a lot more useful, in terms of getting me an 'in' to Killer believing she likes me and wants to hang out with me for her own reasons. Disappointing.
Oh well. At least the chaos will be fun to hear unfold.
I sit up, pushing my chair back and out. "Thank you for your time, family of people I don't actually care about! Toodles!"
And then off I go!
I go back to the hotel to think, and draw a bubble bath. Because yeah this hotel has bubble bath soap. No idea why, whatever. 'tis cool.
Once Fury and her family left my grip, they got into a big, raging fight. I don't care enough to untangle it and guess at what it's about. I dropped multiple bombs, not even counting how they might blame her for the fact that I showed up on the logic that she's a parahuman, I'm (obviously) a parahuman, ergo it must somehow be her fault. Plus they weren't exactly a happy family before I showed up. They might be rehashing an argument they've had fifty times in the last thirty days.
Eventually Fury stalks off in a fury -heh- and... doesn't go to school. Hm? No, it's a school day, so that's not why?... oh, there she goes roof-hopping. Going to crack some skulls, vent some steam? Feelings don't fit, I'm not hearing hymns of battle here. Just determination and fear. Not much fear. Oh, and anger. Fear makes her angry, something to keep in mind. I guess that explains the violence, if being backed into a corner just makes her madder.
Aaaah. I'm a dummy, of course she'd go straight to the PRT. They don't believe her initially, she gets bumped up to... feels like the boss of the place. Definitely someone of at least modest importance. Still not believed. Gets mad. Says... something... that shocks the hell out of the person, though I suspect they keep it off their face. Hm. They still don't believe Fury, not really, but they're acting on Fury's whatever.
Things take long enough to unspool after that I end up focusing on the Jean-pals, cavedude, etc. It's not very interesting. Wait wait wait. One of the Jean-pals is... talking to cavedude? Wait a second, didn't I establish that cavedude was a Legit PRT Person? What the hell, man? Oh man, how did I not put this together before! Hmm. Little Jean, have you turned over a leaf? Are you and your pals actually secretly working for the law? What a tweest! I am slain by this shocking revelation! Okay not really I have no idea what the fuck, but it's definitely interesting. Corrupt PRT dude playing both sides of the game? Faux-criminals working for a legitimate handler, trying to be a sting operation? Something else entirely? It's all interesting, whatever it is.
Then my attention swings back to Fury and the PRT, because now? Now there's guards on her home, and a light cordon around the school. I think they're in plainclothes, though, because nobody seems to really be reacting to them. Huh. Fury must've let them know about me, and is... worried for her safety? No no no, don't be silly Cherie. Fury doesn't care about herself. She cares about...
... yes, yes she cares about civvie-pal. She has cornered civvie-pal at the school. Intense conversation, civvie-pal is nervous, eager to prove theirself, ready to do whatever Fury wants I think. Wow, Fury, lemme give you Master 1 'cause I don't think you've got a parahuman ability to explain how devoted civvie-pal is to you. Interesting.
Even more interesting? Killer's tormentors back off.
Hmm. Methinks Fury didn't let the PRT know about her own misbehavior and is now being on her best behavior.
Killer doesn't seem to notice, initially. When she does notice, she gets antsy. Odd. I'd have expected relief. Hmm. Missing something here.
I get bored, go for lunch, have a goddamn heart attack when it looks like Oni Lee is coming my way via rooftop, but then he angles away and I'm good, and then re-focus on Fury and company when school lets out.
Killer is fucking tense, like she expects to be jumped any second now. Wow, lady, calm down. Fury is... also tense, but different. Oh. Oooh. She hasn't gotten her violence fix today, hasn't she? And... she goes on patrol like a good little Ward... but this time? She's accompanied by two people who came from the Rig. And so she doesn't get to have a fight. She has to fake like she doesn't want to stab or punch people, alllll the time.
Pffffhaahahaha. Oh my god this is great. I just wanted information! I wasn't trying to fuck her over, but now she's so paranoid she's fucking herself over! You go girl, go let those restrictive assholes who won't let you get your violence on know about how a big scary Master totally ninjad into your home and did absolutely nothing at all to you.
Hmm. Actually, I seem to recall... something about Master/Changer protocols? Something like that. On TV, from Before. Isn't she supposed to be isolated just in case my icky Master cooties are still all over her?
Meh, whatever.
...
Ugh. Now what? Checking out Fury was a bust, really.
...
New plan: let's just go talk to Killer.
I can't really risk confronting Killer at her school. It's a shitty plan in the first place, but now the place has plainclothes PRT goobers around it every day, all day. Hell, even the Protectorate Pals are swinging by the place a little more regularly! I don't really want to jump her in her home, because I suspect she'd find that threatening as shit. I'm trying to generate a positive first impression here, right? Right. So screw that idea.
That leaves me two options:
Confront her somewhere between school and home, in her civilian guise. Same basic problem as confronting her at home, really, just a bit less urgently threatening.
Or! I can run her down in cape mode. She keeps running around at night, doing... whatever it is she does. That'll be a lot less threatening, and I can be all "Thank you for killing my daddy you big hunky-" errr wait um "-you wonderful, beautiful lady of heroism! Allow me to shower you in gratitude which may or may not be perverse in nature depending on if you find that hot or not and will you please kill my asshole brother for me?" because it's totally logical for me to be grateful to the cape, and... I'll find some way to elegantly sneak in that I already know where she lives and know probably more about her current life than she does.
Unfortunately this means I'm going to have to start sleeping days so I can keep up with her at night... pain in the ass.
Naturally, it takes like a week to run her down successfully. Seriously. A week. Fuck my life.
Killer is ridiculous. She bops about, occasionally shakes down some unfortunate goober, and goes zipping off elsewhere with random changes in direction I get no warning on at all. I can't keep up with her and I can't cut her off. I'm almost tempted to steal a goddamn motorcycle, except I don't think it would help with the real problem. Like, okay, maybe on the second night I would've caught up to her if I had a cycle, maybe, assuming the sound of it coming didn't run her off, but mostly I just have no way of predicting which way she'll go and she's faster than a car when she wants to be!
aaaaaa
On the plus side, it occurs to me I really ought to like... have some cell phones. A burner phone to give to her, if she can't call me from her own home or doesn't have a cell phone of her own -I've never sensed her seeming to be on a cell phone- and a cell phone for me, so we can call each other. 'cause I'm not exactly moving in with her, and ideally I'll be directing her toward Jean-Paul from way, waaaay out of his reach. So the delay giving me time to think was worth something.
Finally she jumps a dude who was threatening another person -some fairly intense shit going on there, the person Killer rescued was fearing something worse than losing their wallet- when I happen to only be a couple of blocks away. I mean, I've basically resigned myself to not catching up... but she lingers. Well. Not lingers, but doesn't go jumping back up to the goddamn rooftops. Wanders off to... talk to someone on a cell phone? Maybe? Whatever the case, my heart rate goes up, my palms go sweaty -some part of me is convinced I'm going to make it tonight!
Shut up body, stop that.
I switch over to a jog, nonetheless, idly working on shunting aside people. Same principle as the pizzaboy: people coming our way get nervous, edgy, whatever, and they feel better as they get further away. Doing this to a large number of people is a pain... but we're in a kind of shitty part of town and it's late at night -have I mentioned how tired I am fuck this seriously quit making me work for this Killer- so I don't need to do too much juggling. It's a distraction, but not much of when except when ASSHOLES LIKE THIS ONE PIECE OF SHIT are being particularly stubborn, demanding more personal attention on my part.
I slow to a more normal walk and try to tune Killer so she'll hold still. Be cool, Cherie. I'm walking in like a badass who went straight from Toronto to the Bay and tracked Killer down easily and is just smooothly handling this like it ain't no thang. Killer will be so impressed she'll fall all over herself in her hurry to please me! Hell yeah! You go girl!
"Heya, Killer."
Killer panics and throws herself behind a car.
...
Shit.
Not sure what Killer is thinking. She seems pretty analytical? Whatever. Still that undertone of panic. Let's do something about it.
"Jeez girl-" Minor confusion. Um. Is... Killer... trans? No, never mind. "-I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to thank you." I dose her with calm down girl. Subtly, because I don't need to be setting her off. It.. works, but not as well as I'd like. Her mood is doing that stable thing again, and she's... ping-ponging in a way that makes me think paranoia. I can't get it to stop, either. Hm. Too tied up in her nonemotional thought processes? I'm used to paranoia as an essentially irrational state. Strange. And frustrating. I swear under my breath, frustrated -shit, I think she heard me- aaand she's shifting about and fuck this let's be blunt. "This is about Heartbreaker!"
Killer goes still, in every sense of the word. Okay coo- goddammit she's hyping up for a fight. She must think it's a trap or something. Let's nip that in the bud.
"Will you stop that! I can tell you think this is a trick or a trap or whatever, but it's not!" Instant suspicion. She's going full-on paranoid. "Not a fucking mindreader." Oh my fucking god I hate how she's reacting, stop that, stop that I'm not a mind reader. "It's emotion reading, stop that, stop being so suspicious, I was trapped, I tried leaving the family, but he'd just send some of my brothers after me and I'd be back in Toronto or Bumfuck Nowhere, Canada, wherever he was at the time, barely two weeks later, no matter how far I went or where I went or how well I covered my tracks, and it fucking sucked. I'm happy he's dead."
"Jesus fucking Christ -shit I'm talking to myself." Stoppit Cherie just because she's annoying and resistant to my manipulations and -oh godfuckingdammit she's still being suspicious of me. "I'm here to join your team! God." Hahahaha I love myself. Yeah. Join her team. No, I'm here to turn her into a missile aimed at Jean-Paul and then sit back and eat popcorn afterward while I watch. Buuut trying to make her like me and trust me. Works better if I pretend to be going for the subordinate-
-whoops she's confused. She doesn't have a team, wasn't planning on one, doesn't think I should think she has one. Misstep! Abort, abort!
"You don't have a team. I... fine, whatever, I still want in. Call it gratitude-" Fuck that's making her more suspicious what the fuck lady "-okay don't call it gratitude you paranoid psycho, call it I like being around interesting people. I can help you with stuff like tracking threats-" Oh thank you baby Jesus she's actually reacting to that positively "-Yes more of that please, seriously. I can track, I can scout, I can forewarn you of oncoming threats, I can do the social infiltration stuff, which honestly I'm pretty sure you're shit at-" A sort of resigned depression. Yeah, she knows she's shit at the social stuff. "-yep, called it- and I can do all kinds of other stuff too." Hehehe other stuff come on-
seriously lady
girl
I am hitting on you stop feeling confused
ugh
Oh! She's mulling it over as a posit- SPIKE OF SUSPICION OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
"Oh for the love of- Okay. Fine. I'm going to leave now. I'm leaving a burner phone." I lean down and drop it. "It has my cell number on it, it's-" SPIKE OF SUSPICION arrrrrgh "-fuck. Why are you making this so fucking hard?"
Wait what was that she reacted to something internal fuck fuck fuck WILD MASS GUESSING TIME "Oh. Lovely. No, I'm not whatever whorebag I remind you of. Okay? I'm not..." oh Jesus that's right okay what's her issue um oh I know! She's got no friends at school, so they must've ditched her! "... disloyal?"
Close, no cigar. "No, traitorous. I'm not going to cozy up to you and then kill you, or manipulate you into getting yourself killed, or abandon you. I'm not going to be your best friend-" Wait what "-Jesus, really? Best Friend equals brooding anger? Huh. I guess that explains something."
No, seriously, what?
"Look. I'm clearly not going to be able to convince you to trust me, but if you don't try, you're never going to get that-" Reaction! I hit some kind of nerve! Thank everything. "-back. That's not how it works, I can tell you know that's not how it works, and I realize trusting a supervillain's daughter when you killed her father sounds, on the face of it, stupid, but trust me when I say I would've killed the bastard myself if that's what it took, if I'd thought for even a moment I could pull it off."
Whew. I think I salvaged it there. Trust! I felt it! Tinged by- for fuck's sake, more skepticism. Trust with skepticism. She finds it plausible, doesn't actually believe it's the truth. Of course it sounds plausible, it's the truth! (Mostly) "Because it is, god!" Seriously, girl, truthiest truth that ever did truth. Mostly. Kinda. Come on, just stop making this hard.
...
No, she's not stepping out of cover and throwing herself at me. Okay, do I do my trump card? Let her know Fury/Sophia is a Ward? Hmm. No, she's already anticipating manipulation, that's why this is so damn frustrating. I... think I need to step back, give her space, give her time to think on it, and find a new angle if this one doesn't work. Also? Jesus this is exhausting.
Okay. Plan: Back The Fuck Off is a go.
"... all right, I'm leaving the phone here. If you think it has a fucking... I dunno, bomb inside of it or whatever exactly you're thinking, you can just break it, or leave it, or whatever. I'd appreciate it if you actually took it and called me. We can have a conversation without you feeling like danger is looming, you can ask questions, and maybe then you'll believe me, trust me enough to give this a shot."
Ugh. Just... caution. Lack of trust. Anticipation of a negative sort. Uuugh.
"... Okay. Okay." Deep breath. "I'm leaving now. At least consider it, don't dismiss it out of hand, or you'll always be alone." Killer recoils, emotionally, damped down but still fairly strong. "Seriously." Second verse, same as the first.
Then I walk away. I am a cool babe -no pun intended- and she will like me and trust me and-
SPIKE OF LOATHING AND SUSPICION
"FUCK!" Wait I said that out loud again. Stoppit Cherie stop saying words outside your head that belong inside your head.
blargharghle this is the worst.
Okay. Okay. Relaxing in the bath again, phone at the ready. Killer is... going somewhere. Hits roughly the edge of town... keeps going. Jesus, she's paranoid. What does she think I was going to?... hm. Maybe she thinks I employed more conventional tracking. I mean, I didn't exactly mention I have range enough to comfortably hear the orchestra of her brain from anywhere in the city or from a fair bit beyond it. She... might think I'm a short-ranged empath. Okay. Still a wee bit paranoid.
Finally she comes to a stop, and starts focusing. She's intense, but there's not a lot going on there. The suspicion has died away, replaced by an almost Zen-like laser attention. Hmm. Interesting. She has some weird... not guilt, but a moment where she's got loathing aimed at, I suspect, herself. No idea why. What possible reason could someone have for self-loathing while handling a cell phone? Hm. Maybe she hates herself for actually calling me. Ugh, that's not a useful theory. I give, whatever, she's a bundle of loathing, hatred, and suspicion. That's fine, that's good, I can work with that. Perfect for aiming at Jean-Paul.
Though wow she's fast. Mobile. I sort of figured she was just fast on top of rooftops or something -that's when she was fast back in Toronto, and it's what she did here- but she's fast even outside of city limits. Hmm.
Then my cell phone starts ringing. I wait. I'll know the instant she's getting impatient, and then I'll answer the phone. Make like I was in the middle of something, like she is absolutely someone I'm prioritizing but also like I have many irons in the fire so she shouldn't just blow me off because I have connections and power.
...
Okay, this is taking longer than I thought it would.
...
There we go!
I hit the button to take the call, and get in the first word. "Hello... Whatever you call yourself." Come on, girl. Tell me your name. It's a great opening, you get to say something badass and clever to impress me and we do verbal sword-fencing and- she's not going for it. She gives no fucks. Dammit. Okay, fine moving on.
"... sorry to keep you waiting, I was in the middle of something, but I'm good for however long you need. Ask whatever you like."
There. I am an important lady who has many things going on but I am totally willing to spare time for you honey. Aaaaalll the time in the world because you're special, you're so special -heheh- don't you feel special?
...
Goddamn is Killer ice cold.
"Why on earth would you come all the way to Brockton Bay out of 'gratitude'?"
Lame. Come on, girl, give me something cool to play against. Fine, whatever, let's keep up the vibe. "My dad is dead and most of my family is locked up or 'reforming' by now."
Your fault I'm here, Killer. Totes your fault. I have all the time in the world because I am a cool lady, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Pick up the subtext.
Nope, nothing. She's just listening calmly. Fine. Keep going.
"I don't have anywhere specific to be, and I didn't want to be a part of their crap anyway. Why not?"
100% truth. Also. Killer, it's your fault. You owe me. It being your fault means you owe me. Feel guilty goddamn you.
Well, she feels something negative, but it's pretty minor. Aaargh.
"And you're here, so I'm here."
IT IS YOUR FAULT 110% KILLER FEEL BAD AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU OWE ME.
...
...
You have got to be shitting me. Nothing. Not a fucking thing.
Okay, new angle. I want in on whatever she's doing. She's got to have a plan, right? Normal people aren't aimless fuckwits because their dad is a brainwashing asshole, right?
"Look, if you're not going to buy a noble motive, can I give a different, no less true angle?"
She makes a vague noise. Emotional response is still low. She's listening patiently, but she's not really reacting. Okay, fine, keep going.
"I stuck with my dad for as long as I did partly because the asshole would send family to recapture me, but partly because I thought the man had ambition. Get a cult-slash-family going, produce parahumans he can shape over their entire life for loyalty to him and his goals, conquer, I dunno, Alaska or something. Crown himself king, with the family as his superhuman enforcers. Thing is, he didn't pay any attention to me or any of my siblings, beyond punishing us if we annoyed him, and trying to trigger us. Before you came along, I was starting to suspect he was exactly what he appeared to be: a man granted an incredible power but with no vision."
Okay Killer, if guilt won't motivate you, will greed? Are you power-hungry? You want a minion who believes in your vision? I'm here, come on, be thrilled.
...
Killer, that is not thrillsville. Stop feeling skeeved out and... what is that satisfaction there? You haven't done anything! You're just listening to me talk!
...
You know. She's fast. Lethal. Ventured... pretty far out to kill daddy. Nilbog was a similar distance... eeeh. It's still such a stretch.
Let's stroke her ego and pretend she did it anyway.
"If he was planning something big, world-changing? Something that would get him and his a bigger piece of the pie that is life? I wanted in on that. You? You have vision, I'm thinking. You killed Heartbreaker, and... I'm thinking it was you that hit Ellisburg."
Wait. That's panic.
Wait a goddamn second. She did? Holy fuck, she did. Holy fuck, Killer killed Nilbog, wrecked the city's monsters? Not the Protectorate? They took credit for something she did?
Ohmygod I need this.
Stay calm Cherie. Keep going, paint the image, make her want you. Just... be smooth, Cherie. Be smooth.
"Hit a major villain nobody wants to take on in a suicide mission, decapitating strike. Twice, both in the northeastern North American continent. It's not a string of three, not yet, but it looks like the beginning of a pattern to me."
I am utterly full of shit and yet I'm completely right, going by Killer's reaction.
This is amazing.
"I'm not going to lie to you and pretend I share your presumably altruistic motives. Wouldn't have told you about what I thought my dad's plan was, how I wanted to be part of it, if I was going to fake that, you know?"
Okay, there, satisfy her suspicious suspicions of paranoid suspicion. See? I have a selfish motive, Killer. I won't betray you unexpectedly, because you can trust in my selfishness. It's logical, it's easy, it fits into your paranoia that everyone is an asshole with an angle. See? You know my angle, you know me.
"So I'm thinking you're trying to take down the worst of the worst out there, make the world a better place or something, and I'm not going to tell you that I particularly care about the world being a better place. No, I'm interested because you're going places. Kill the biggest, baddest monsters out there, guys who shape the world by existing? By yourself, no Protectorate backing, no government backing, nothing but you, your power, maybe some friends? That's insane, that's awesome, you'll go down in history as a legend."
Wait. Did... did she not realize?... she's genuinely confused here. She never considered that angle. Did she let the Protectorate take the credit? Killer is a strange lady. Whatever, it's all good. Kill Jean-Paul, twist her around my finger, have fun.
"And if I'm there, hey, they'll remember Cherish too."
Like Cherie, but cooler and more likable.
"Cherish?"
Oh. Right, I guess I maybe should've mentioned that back during the frustration-a-thon.
"Oh. Right. 's what I'm calling myself, now that my dad's dead."
's what I came up with while I was hunting you down you frustrating bitch.
"Oh."
Don't you 'oh' at me!
No, stay calm Cherie. Stay. Calm.
"Though I was actually thinking if you let me aboard I'd probably call myself Beauty or something, try to play off whatever your name is."
Awww. She doesn't like that name. Sad. Whatever, once she's mine it'll be fine.
Okay, come on Killer. Jump at the offer. I'm safe. I'm a selfish glory hog. You apparently don't care about the glory, so it costs you nothing to let me have it. I am a free minion you can actually trust.
...
...
arrgh Plan C.
"If you don't believe that either, which, honestly, I'm not sure I'd buy it if it were me on the line, true as it is... last thing I've got to say on the topic. You keep this up, I'm a part of it? There's going to be rewards. Even if officially we're condemned, there'll be money, power, guys and girls throwing themselves at us-" What is that mess of confusion? "-all that good stuff. It's great. That make sense?"
I am in it for the rewards because I am selfish. This makes me trustworthy. Trust me goddamn you.
"Sure, I guess." A pause. "You sound like you've put a lot of thought into this."
What? No! No I have not you little- Christ, she's still expecting this to be a manipulative plan where I'm going to screw her down the line. She thinks I set this all up and plotted it out and prepared a little speech, rather than winging it with my glorious insight into the music of the human mind.
Deflect, deflect. Any good response just reinforces her belief. Off the cuff, sound off the cuff.
"No, really? And here I thought we met through blind chance and I acted on impulse."
Sarcasm is always a good answer. Baffle them with bullshit if you can't give a coherent and intelligent response.
"Point. But most people-"
Oh fuck you.
"Really? I'm not 'most people'. My family was a power-enforced harem. My father punished us with superpowers. I was just talking about how I was legit expecting my dad to carve out Alaska as his own kingdom, using an army of brainwashed cape children. It would be a miracle if I was 'most people'."
Grow a goddamn brain, Killer.
"I meant that family is important."
Yeah yeah sure you did. Whatever. Asshole.
"My dad was a supervillain. My siblings were my competition. My dad tried to trigger us." She finds that repellant. No shit. "Yeah, he was an asshole. On the topic of powers-"
SPIKE OF SUSPICION AND PARANOIA
Redirect! Don't ask about her power!
"-I'm surprised you haven't asked about mine yet."
Smoooth Cherie. You are a smooth operator.
"I was sort of assuming it was basically Heartbreaker's, I guess. Weaker or less diverse, or something? I've heard so little about his kids I honestly forgot they existed while I was planning. I would've heard about you if you were literally Heartbreaker all over again, or something like that? I didn't think about it, really."
Okay, fair enough. Ignorant and wrong -how new to this scene is Killer?- but understandable. Let's correct her, extend trust. I show you mine, you show me yours.
"Well, yes and no." She's confused about something. Weird. "I've got a power that's similar to dear old dad's, in the same way an ostrich is similar to an eagle. His power let him directly dictate the way a given person felt emotionally on an arbitrarily selected topic. You already know the main way he used it, and in all honesty the only other vaguely clever thing he ever did with it that I saw was 'blasting' people with intense feelings. Subtlety of a sledgehammer, dear old dad. I sense emotions. Same general idea, different details. I can make people feel pretty much whatever I want them to feel, but it's just a random feeling from 'nowhere'. Heartbreaker could look at someone and make them love him. I can look at someone, pay attention to when they look at me, and have them feel a random surge of affection that they interpret as being caused by looking at me. Do it often enough, and it becomes real."
Killer, I am telling you everything. I am trustworthy. Give. Back. Some. Trust.
She feels shock. She's probably putting two and two together. Brainwashing! Hell of a drug. Yes, Killer, I am telling you this. So you know (think) you can protect yourself from it. Trust. Me.
Urrrgh still not working. Coup de grace!
"Not nearly as precise as dear old dad, but then he didn't track people at the outer edge of a city from inside a nice, comfy hotel room. Good trade, I say."
Yeah, Killer is putting two and two together.
Wait shit she's going to maximum paranoia!
"No, I can't manipulate you at this distance. I need line of sight, or something like that, to work that part." goddammit she's still on maximum paranoia "Even the sensing part of my power gets relatively weak this far out."
Filthy blatant lies, that last part is. Maybe if she thinks the song of her mind is being played on a shitty, half-dead radio she'll feel less like I'll be able to control her with a thought.
NOPE.
MAXIMUM PARANOIA.
Why am I doing this to myself?
Okay. Well, that thing she does provides a kind of resistance. Let her know about that, give her some assurance she's actually safe from my devious manipulations. (But not really)
"Whoa, slow down there girl! Yeah, I'm sharing everything, but it's not whatever you're thinking. Thing is, your power messes with mine. I don't know what your power is, so I can't speculate why, but a lot of the time your emotions are very stable, very dim. I was actually trying to calm you down when you were hiding behind the car, get you to listen to me and, I'll freely admit, maybe get you to associate me with calmness so you'd want to hang, but it wasn't really working. I frankly have no idea why, but you're protected from me somehow. And I could tell, even before you had this little freakout, that you're a nice little goody-two-shoes that can't stand the thought of mind control. So, better to let you know before we partner up, rather than having you realize I'm borderline mind control and instantly murder me because you're mostly immune and not so moral you won't kill Bad Guys.'s part of why I'm interested in you. Not used to that particular combination of morals."
Oi. She's creeped out. Shouldn't have admitted that last bit. Too much honesty, Cherie.
Back up. Give her a new concession, so she'll let me in that inch I need.
"Oh come on, it's... look. I can't do it to you. I'm totally cool with you being head honcho on this. You want me for my tracking ability and stunning and totally natural good looks? Sure, I'll do that. Honest, swear on... I dunno, pretend I'm Christian and swearing on a bible applies. I won't touch that part without prior approval, and I can't cheat and make you give approval."
Slight improvement, not enough. Um. Christ, I'm really reaching here. Okay, um. She's stuck on this emotional manipulation thing, I think? Which I mean really people do that all the time, just without superpowers. Let's point that out.
"Plus, it's not really that different from what everybody does everyday." I can feel her disagreement like a jackhammer. Push on! "No really. You're trying to be, like a real-life Batman-" wait why is she confused by that name are you kidding me Batman is the best"-oh wow. Um. Never mind, point is, you're trying to make people afraid of doing something so terrible you come after them. I can totes help with that, it's not really any different from scaring the shit out of them by being a spooky-ass vigilante."
Yes I-
MAXIMUM PARANOIA
-very calmly set the phone down, speaker blocked. Then I take a deep breath, dunk myself in the bath, and scream.
It helps a little. I throw a shampoo bottle, one of those glass fancy-pants bottles only the rich can afford, and it shatters. Fucking hell.
Killer is sort of faintly puzzled in all this, in a distant way. I hate her. I hate her so much. I'm done with her. Done playing games. Fuckit, just saying whatever.
"Seriously. I can't get to you at this range. I can't do anything to you at all sometimes. A lot of the time, really, and anything I do doesn't stick."
Semi-truth. Does she buy it? No, she's
MAXIMUM PARANOIA
...
Screaming into the water it is.
...
Okay, better.
Seriously, actually, truly done with her. She's fucked in the head.
"I think you have an actual problem." Reflexive denial, I give no fucks. "I'm becoming concerned you don't know how to trust people."
Reflexive denia- wait.
Wait.
"Oh thank god." It worked. She's panicking. She's being introspective and she's panicking. She can't refute me! She believes it! Hahahaha oh my god why did that work that should not have worked. Everything I know is wrong, Killer. You are beautiful and I love how incomprehensible you are- wait. Brain, what are you doing? No, focus. Killer is having a breakdown and totally, utterly panicking. Can I head that off?
"Look before you go into some spiral of self-loathing or whatever, can we just agree to this team-up thing and figure out the next big bastard to kill?"
No, she's not even paying the slightest attention to me. Fuckit, I'll come back to this later.
"You know what? Never mind, just call me again when you're not having a complete breakdown."
And click goes the phone. Why do phones make that click, anyway? Weird.
Jesus. I'm bathed in sweat, like I just ran a marathon. That was hard. That was... that was the most difficult conversation I've ever had that didn't involve being beaten up or Paulina. (But I repeat myself)
...
I need another bath, and then I need to sleep.
Jesus.
