1.11 Taylor
"I'm so sorry Madison."
Taylor shivered at the sound of Kilgrave's voice. Well, her voice. For now. She had been trapped in this body for twenty hours, and its wrongness had only grown over time. He reached farther, his steps were longer, his footfall louder. And his hair. Compared to her long swaying curls, she felt almost bald. Even his eyes saw things differently, and the differences went beyond his perfect vision. Everything was wrong. She so desperately wanted out.
But it had been necessary, she reminded herself. Emma and Sophia were too dangerous to be left alone. They had to be dealt with. Kilgrave had been very persuasive on that point. So she had watched, had occasionally helped, as Kilgrave did terrible things to people she had every right to hate. Who deserved worse.
At least, she tried to tell herself that. That she was not the bad guy. A great lie. She was the one making them suffer. She could see it on the screens.
No! That person on the screens wasn't her. Kilgrave was the one doing horrible things. Not her. Kilgrave was the on acting on the screens, and what was happening was beyond her control. The trio had pushed things beyond her control. She was just a bystander at this point, watching events unfold. By someone with her face and her voice. Someone she could stop with the press of a button.
Twenty hours in this man's body, watching your own body, was far too long. It hurt her brain to try to understand it, and her heart had to be breaking trying to accept it. She guessed that meant she was still a good person.
"Love, how are things going?" Her voice! No. That was Kilgrave. Well, Kilgrave talking to her in her voice. She shook her head, hoping to clear the confusion, the worry, the regret. Everything. They were too far in, whatever her fault, whatever the blame, it was too late to turn back now. She pressed the speak button.
"Sorry, yes. I mean - yeah. They've almost got Madison tied up. She put up quite a fight, but it's almost over. That was smart of Emma to lock the door behind them."
"Good girls. Keep an eye on them and let me know when it's time to move. You ready Miss Hebert? You're going to be crucial to the next step."
"Yes. We've practiced this all day. I can do it. I just want this to be over."
"Don't we all, darling, don't we all."
Taylor gave a sigh before resuming her vigil on the Viewers. Viewer One was focused on Taylor's body—on Kilgrave—who was leaning against a wall in the apartment building. The second was looking at the other side of that wall, where Madison was being locked to the radiator.
"OK Kilgrave. Madison's tied up. Get ready to call them."
"Righty oh, I'll start on your signal."
"OK." Sophia was saying something about respecting Madison. "OK, call them… now."
Kilgrave took things from there, talking Emma and Sophia through how to get themselves restrained, Sophia first, doing some tests to make sure the makeshift wiring was enough to keep her from phasing through, filling in some gaps they found. Once Sophia was set, Emma deposited her phone on the other side of the room, unlocked the door and got herself cuffed to the radiator with the other two. Kilgrave then walked over, relocked the door from the outside and returned back to the opposite room. The whole time, Taylor kept vigil the best she could as her brain continued to have difficulty deciding whether she was doing this, or this was all just something happening on TV.
Taylor looked at the Control Room's clock. Now all they had to do was wait another two hours or so. While the primary goal was to keep the trio quiet, there was a second goal of testing Kilgrave's powers. They'd already confirmed the power couldn't work over the phone, though telling the two to "do what Taylor says" had created more or less the same effect. Now they needed to test the time limit: Kilgrave was "pretty certain" his power had a 12-hour time limit, but he said that limit had "varied" and he wanted to make sure it still held true.
So they had to just sit and wait until Kilgrave's power wore off. It was a long wait. Taylor kept herself occupied practicing her talk and keeping Kilgrave filled in on the situation. Madison ran out of tears and just sort of whimpered quietly.
Finally, Emma's unnatural calm started to break, almost right on schedule, being replaced by a look of confusion before giving way to panicked heavy breathing and finally muffled crying through her gag. Sophia seemed to break out of it a few minutes later, though it was much more subdued. She didn't fight, she didn't curse, she didn't panic. Her calm merely turned to a quiet, what was that? Acceptance? Despair? Taylor didn't know.
"OK, Kilgrave. Looks like your power's worn off. I'm about to switch."
"About time. Well, get on with it." Taylor closed her eyes and pressed the button. When she opened them again she was back in her precious, wonderful body. She looked at her hands in wonderment.
"I'm me again. I'm me again!" In that moment, all worry was replaced by simple joy.
"I can certainly sympathize. I think we're probably both quite happy to be back in our respective places. I would much prefer we avoid any future extended stays if at all possible. I can't for the life of me find anything enjoyable about being subject to your little girly limbs and whims."
Taylor tucked in her arms. "So... I guess we need to get this over with?"
"Well, once you're ready and all adjusted of course. There's no harm in making that terrible trio over there stew a bit longer. Take your time and do this when you're ready. Just don't take too long."
Taylor gladly complied, stretching, walking, and enjoying the sound of her very own voice saying her very own words. After about fifteen minutes of delay though she could practically feel Kilgrave getting impatient and decided that she couldn't delay this any longer. As indifferent as Kilgrave was, she had a responsibility to make sure the trio suffered as little as possible. For their sake, she made her way over to give her speech.
She did not make the grandest of entrances. First she nervously fumbled with the key to get the door unlocked. Then she awkwardly shuffled into the middle of the room, barely making eye contact with any of them despite Kilgrave's suggestions. After a moment of silence, the trio because of the gags and Taylor out of nervousness, she finally broke it with a lame "Hello. How are you?"
Blank stares greeted her.
"Sorry, stupid question." She did her best to focus her gaze back onto the three tied to the radiator. "I think we've all been better. Still, past is present. Wait I mean, um, shoot. Uh, basically we have issues we need to deal with. And I really hope we can deal with it quickly. Without hurting anyone."
A long awkward silence greeted her. "Ms. Hebert, you do remember that they're all gagged. Right?" Right, that. Part of the whole plan to make it easier to deliver this speech.
"Um, so. You all should know by now that I have, well, superpowers. According to Sophia they're very strong superpowers. However they're not exactly the most, well, seemly or heroic. They're actually very scary and creepy. I can certainly attest to that. So, uh, I'd really like you three to keep them secret. From everyone. Which is why he... why I made you come here. To make you stay quiet, in whatever way necessary."
Well, that could have gone better, but she had got out the gist of it. She even made that last threat decently. Now, the hard part: she had to make them choose the right choice, the only option she was willing to go through with.
"So there's uh, well, three ways we - I can keep you quiet. First, I can ki – I can make you go away. Disappear. End. That would be extremely easy with my powers. I'm sure you all know what almost happened to Emma in the alley across the street."
She was answered with two nods and a puzzled look from Madison.
"Oh, um, I guess they didn't tell you?"
Madison shook her head.
"Well, darn. I guess I need to explain it for the threat to make any sense. So, the cliff notes version is that the ABB were about to, more or less, slowly I think, well, chop Emma into bits. Some sort of initiation thing. Or sell her into slavery. I don't exactly remember the exact details. Only found out about it last night myself. And Sophia, or Shadow Stalker as I hope you've figured out by now, saved her, so it didn't actually happen. This event somehow convinced Emma to break off our friendship and torture me for two years. I still don't really get it, though she's explained it to me. Several times in fact.
But yeah, the point is, around here, there's plenty of orders I can give which would end in your completely un-suspicious deaths. They would have no reason to suspect foul play. Well, foul play on my part at least.
Sophia, you'd be even easier. I'd just have to order you to make a mistake on your patrols and get shot by some random thug, or tell you to do something really crazy, like pick a solo fight with Lung. Given your record, it's likely none of the other wards would suspect anything out of the ordinary on your part.
So, yeah. That makes sense to everyone?"
She got a frantic nod from Emma, a resigned nod from Sophia, and, well, Madison seemed to have gone paler and froze a bit, but that looked like it might have been a nod. At least it looked like all of them got the idea and she wouldn't have to keep dwelling on this unpleasantness.
"So, yeah, I don't think any of you particularly like that option. And as, well, terrible as you three have been I don't really want to ki- well, end you either. But, um, if you make me choose between my life and, well, yours, you can probably guess which I'll choose."
Let them know your not a monster, but that you will choose yourself over them if they force it. Make yourself the reasonable, restrained one, and put the ball in their court: make it their decision to behave badly, not yours.
"So... next we have option two. You don't die, but, uh, it's probably, um, yeah probably worse. Two of you know what being under, uh, my control for a while is like. Yes? You do both remember, right? I'm not sure if this power affects memory at all."
Nods of affirmative from the two experienced girls.
"So, yeah. Good. Option two, basically, is that I keep you under my control just, all the time. It would take a bit of scheduling to get it all to work, but I'm pretty sure I could keep you three under my thrall all the time. This is obviously not fun for any of us. But it's an option. Do you girls want to explore it more?"
Very strong noes from all in front of her. Good. Taylor wasn't really willing to go through it either. She would basically have to live in Kilgrave's body full time. But as Kilgrave said, laying out all the more terrible things you could do made your final, less terrible offer more appealing.
"So then. Option three. My preferred option. You keep your life, your free will"
Well, mostly, but she didn't need to draw attention to that in the pitch. Kilgrave really was scary good at this whole manipulation thing.
"and just go on with your life"
Again, mostly.
"after promising not to tell anyone. Of course, I'd have to apply some, uh, conditions. Yeah. So I could make sure you really are keeping the secret."
Said conditions, of course, will be explained only after you've gotten them to agree to the deal. Explaining them first might make them think they're negotiable.
"But, they're pretty reasonable. Now, if you break your promise there would of course be, well, consequences. First, of course, we could revert to option one and two. Even if you three escaped my power directly, I would have many, many ways to- um, uh..."
"Punish, Taylor, the word your looking for is Punish. Good job so far though, just keep it going to the end darling. Remember, be confident."
"Thanks. Oh, punish. That's the word. I have many other ways to punish you. First, there's your family and loved ones. You know I could hurt them. Two of you have already told me exactly how to hurt them.
Second, there's blackmail. I have everything I've collected on you two, and I can make that you three if necessary, and I have copies of it on the three phones behind me. If you agree to option three, those phones will be our personal way to communicate, just for us. And if I need an extra supply of the blackmail, I can get it off any of your phones. It can also serve as a, shall we say, reminder of what you risk if you tell. Of what could happen if you're other, companions, tell."
Now, it was time to wrap up the performance with the big reveal.
"Finally, if all else fails, if somehow you defeat me entirely in some great clever plan, there's Kirby. Kirby? Are you here?"
The phone in her pocket rang. Taylor answered and put it on speaker phone, filling the room with the voice of one of her least favorite people: Kilgrave.
"Well hello to you to Ms. Hebert. And of course I'm here. I'm always here. But enough about me, I need to introduce myself to these fine little things on the wall. Hello girls. It is good to finally, formally introduce myself after watching you little nosy things for so long. Our dear little Emma already knows me as 'Kirby', my 'screen name' as Taylor so delicately explained. As far as you three scoundrels need to know, that's my civilian identity. If you absolutely need to give me a hero name, you could call me 'Vision'. Unfortunately not particularly flashy or notable, but given my role in this, fitting."
Kilgrave had the trio's full attention. Taylor marveled how Kilgrave, without a single use of his power, could take control of an entire room.
"Now, I've got a particular set of powers which, well, you don't really need to know. All you need to know is my powers alerted me to Taylor's immense, shall we say, potential. I got in contact with her and we both agreed that if we partnered together we could make quite the team and do a great deal of good in the world. The two of us had plans, plans you three unfortunately interfered with. Now, Taylor, bless her heart, is an incredibly nice girl. Almost too nice if I say so myself. She wanted to give you the option to save your life and freedom. I wanted to just get this over with and end you."
Taylor knew Kilgrave was just playing a role, bad cop to her good cop. Trying to make her seem better than she knew she was. A better person wouldn't have gone this far. But, the past was the past, and all that remained was forward. And a compliment was a complaint, no matter which horse's mouth it came from.
"Her outstanding sense of right and wrong is one of her great assets to our team. Helps us both stay on the straight and narrow. But, if you were to do something to my little Taylor here, well, you wouldn't like to see what I can do without my little cricket reigning me in. Taylor's power can certainly be quite frightening. I can be much, much worse.
But, little caged birds, if you are willing to accept Taylor's very generous terms and conditions, you three won't ever have to see how bad I can be. Well, I've said my part. I'll leave it to Taylor to wrap up the proceedings." And at that, he hung up and Taylor pocketed the phone.
"So, well, you've met Kil- I mean Kirby. I trust you all fully understand the choice I've offered you. Now who wants option one, death?"
Universal nods of no, Emma and Madison quick, Sophia taking a worryingly long time to seemingly consider it before also nodding no.
"Very well, we have zero votes for option one. Now, how many for option two, constant slavery?"
None of the girls required any thought to reject that one.
"Once again, no votes for option two. So, I assume you all agree to option three, keeping secrets?"
All agreed, Madison eagerly, Emma in defeat, and Sophia once again after taking a concerning amount of time to consider it.
"And I also assume you now fully understand the price of abusing my mercy?"
Also universal nods, though universally reserved.
"Very well then." Taylor walked over to Emma, and undid her gag. "Now, tell me…" She closed her eyes. When she opened them again she was back in Kilgrave's body.
"Of your own free will, will you keep my secrets?"