Last time our heroes on Magicx began their interrogation of Diaspro, unaware that what they had was really a decoy, while the real Diaspro forced Sky through even worse torments, with Bloom helplessly watching. On with the show!
Chapter 8: Outrageous Truth
The interrogation of Diaspro wasn't going well. Both Laura and Shawn attempted to scan her mind, but found that they couldn't penetrate Diaspora's mental defenses. Elise volunteered to hypnotize Diaspro, but all that did was put her to sleep again.
Steve, Michael and Kodatchi threatened to break every bone in Diaspro's body. She didn't even blink at the threat. Fay offered to slice her into little pieces. Again, Diaspro didn't even blink. Tenchi offered to do what he did to her on their last encounter, (see 'Magic and Martial Arts' chapter 28 for the full details). Diaspro simply ignored him.
"This is getting us nowhere," said Morgan, while Jill was talking to Diaspro alone, "It's like Diaspro is made of stone."
"Or at least her heart is," said Flora.
"You couldn't be closer to the truth," said an exasperated Jill as she came out of the interrogation room, "I just talked to her about her siblings deaths. I mentioned that perhaps her madness is due to the fact that she blames herself for what happened, that she feels responsible for her siblings deaths.
"You know what she said? She said that she was glad that they died, that they were out of her way. She is one cold-blooded, egotistical, psychotic bitch."
"And I thought Icy, Darcy and Stormy were heartless," said Stella, "How can anyone stand to be like that?"
"Some people are born bad," said Timmy, "Like Icy and her sisters, it's genetic."
"That's it," said Violet as she tied her hair back in a ribbon, "That's the key to getting to her, genetics."
"What 'choo talking 'bout, Violet?" asked Riven.
"Well, Elise said that Diaspro made several trips to Bandalon," said Violet, "The main planet of the Tleiaxu, and that the Tleiaxu are high-level experts in genetics. It's more than obvious that Diaspro is into genetics."
"Where are you going with this?" asked Brandon.
"If I can engage Diaspro in her favorite subject," said Violet, "Maybe she'll relax enough to let something slip. Maybe I can get her to tell me where she took Bloom and Sky."
"It's worth a shot," said Jill, "But be careful, Violet. It's also obvious that you'll be face to face with a lunatic. Don't let her get to you."
"Never happen," said Violet as she went into the interrogation room.
"She certainly confident," Tecna said to Jill, "You must be very proud of her."
"I am," said Jill, "But there are times when I worry about her."
Violet calmly sat across from Diaspro. She didn't say anything at first, waiting for Diaspro to make the first move. She did, "So what excruciating thing are you going to do to me?" she asked.
"Nothing," answered Violet, "I just want to talk to you."
"About what?" asked Diaspro.
"Oh, a little of this, a little of that," said Violet, "From what I've heard, you've been to the world of the Tleiaxu a lot."
"So what if I have?" asked Diaspro, "Is that a crime now?"
"Not as far as I know," said Violet, "It's just that, you don't strike me as the type of girl who's into genetics."
"And you don't look like a cop to me," said Diaspro.
"I'm not a cop," said Violet, "I'm a Paranormal Investigator. But what I'm first and foremost is an inventor. So there's more to the two of us than what's just on the outside. So tell me, what's so interesting about genetics?"
"The Tleiaxu believe that genetics, that DNA is the language of God," said Diaspro, "I'm not that fanatical about DNA, but the concept that one cell can contain all the information that makes up a living being, it's just fascinating. Now you tell me, what's so fascinating about being an inventor?"
"Ever since I could remember," said Violet, "I always loved making things. Sometimes I would take a machine apart and put it back together as something else. Other times I would take used, discarded objects and make new gadgets. You should have seen some of the crazy stuff I MacGuyvered together."
"I'll bet," said Diaspro.
"They're just talking," said an irate Julie, "Why doesn't Violet get down to business?"
"She is in business mode," said Shawn, "Violet is trying to gain Diaspro's trust. Hopefully she'll let slip something useful, like where she took Bloom and Sky."
Yet nothing happened. For the next half hour Violet and Diaspro traded stories of invention and genetics. The lack of progress wasn't having a positive effect on Julie.
"Enough of this sh$t!" said the hawked-eyed sniper, "I'll make her talk, she'll have no choice." With that she charged into the interrogation room, her left pistol out with the safety off.
"Where are they!?!" Julie demanded as she aimed her gun at Diaspro's head, "Tell me where you took Bloom and Sky! Tell me now!!"
"She's ruining everything!" exclaimed Virgil, "Get her out of there, now!!"
"Tell me where you took them!!" said Julie as she pressed the barrel of her pistol against Diaspro's left temple, "You've got till the count of three. One! Two!!"
Julie never got to 'Three,' for the door burst open and in came Max, Steve, Brandon and Riven, with Morgan watching from behind.
"Get her out of here!!" shouted Max as he and Brandon grabbed hold of Julie's arms, while Steve and Riven grabbed her legs.
"Let go of me!!" exclaimed Julie as she thrashed against her restrainers, "I almost had her talking!! Let go of me now!!!" Just then Morgan grabbed Julie at the base of her neck and applied pressure, knocking her out.
"Nice trick," said Steve as they carried the unconscious Julie out of the room. Max then sent Laura and Shawn in to keep watch on Diaspro.
Julie woke up a few minutes later with an angry Max standing over her. "What the f#ck$ng-hell were you thinking!!?!!!" he demanded, "Violet was making progress in there, and you blew it!!!"
"So what!?" asked Julie, "It's a waste of time making conversation with that piece of sh$t Diaspro!"
"You still didn't answer my question," said Max, "What the f#ck$ng-hell were you thinking!?"
"That sack of pig vomit, Diaspro," said Julie, her voice betraying her emotions, her eyes brimming over with tears, "She used my image to cause emotional pain. I cannot forgive that! I can never forgive that!! She deserves to die!!!"
"It's okay, Julie," said Fay, trying to calm her down.
"It's not okay!" moaned Julie, "She used my face to hurt others, my face! Yet she had the impudence to doctor it up so it would look attractive! I mean look at me, look at my eyes! my scar! I'm ugly!!"
"No you're not!" said Fay, "Don't ever think that way about yourself. That scar was an accident from the past, but you wear it to remind yourself to be careful. As for your eyes, I think they're the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."
"Really?" asked Julie.
"Would I lie to you?" asked Fay.
Julie didn't answer with words. Instead, she embraced Fay and kissed her on the lips. Fay kissed back eagerly.
"Whoa!!" exclaimed Michael, "No offence there, I am happy that you two realized your feelings for each other. But if you're going to do that, do it on your own time! Like Max always says, the mission comes first."
"He's right," said Fay, "We'll finish this later."
"Yes," said Julie, "Later."
"That solves that crisis," said Stella, "But we still don't know where Bloom and Sky are."
"Diaspro knows," said Carmen, "We're just not using the right methods."
"Well what do you suggest?" asked Morgan, "'Cause I've got nothing."
"If we were back at The Bureau," said Aaron, "I could whip up a truth serum in no time."
"A truth drug?" asked Flora, "You think that would work?"
"It might just do so," said Aaron, "If I had the right chemicals to work with."
"Tell me what you need," said Elise, "And I'll 'borrow' the ingredients form the potions lab back at Cloud Tower."
"If you could have made up a truth drug," said Tyler as Aaron made the ingredient list for Elise, "Why didn't you offer to do it before?"
"Nobody asked me to," said Aaron.
"Well you should have suggested it before," said Andrew as he checked his watch for the seventh time within ten minutes, "Every second that passes diminishes our chances of finding Bloom and Sky in time."
Fifteen minutes later Elise returned with the requested chemicals. Aaron soon had a vial of his concoction ready. He, Jill, Andrew, Denise and Steve went into the interrogation room.
"Okay, Diaspro," said Jill, "You've beaten around the bush long enough. We're going to get some answers out of you whether you want to talk or not." Quick as lightning Steve and Denise grabbed Diaspro by the arms and held her to the chair.
"Let go of me you barbarian ignoramuses!" she exclaimed.
"I may not be the smartest apple in the barrel," said Steve, "But I'm not retarded."
"And we're certainly not barbarians," said Denise.
"I don't care!" snapped Diaspro, "Just let me go!!"
"They'll let you go," said Aaron as he took out a syringe and filled it with the truth serum, "Just as soon as you've taken your medicine."
"You can't do that to me!" exclaimed Diaspro, "You can't drug me! My lawyers will have your heads on a silver platter!!"
"I thought we made it clear that no lawyers will be involved in this," said Andrew, "Aaron, do that voodoo that you do so well."
"Gladly," said Aaron. He held the needle upright and tapped it as to get all the air out. He then tied some rubber tubing to Diaspro's arm, slapped the arm to get a vein to show and injected her with the truth drug.
"In less than two minutes," said Aaron as he removed the needle and tubing from Diaspro's arm, "You will have no choice but to tell us where you've taken Bloom and Sky."
"Never!" said Diaspro, "It'll be a cold day in Hell before I tell you mutant scum anything!!"
"Call us that one more time," said Steve, "And I'll take you apart, one bone at a time!"
"Relax, Steve," said Jill, "We'll just wait about 90 seconds, then we'll see how cocky the little princess is."
"You think I'll talk that easily?" asked Diaspro, "Well let me just ask you something, Captain Jill Sparrow Carpenter of The Ramblers," she then paused. The drug was apparently beginning to take hold, for she suddenly sat straight up, her pupils dilating, "Are you interested in frolicking in a leafy glade?"
"I beg your pardon?" asked a confused Jill.
"Yeah, I saw a yard gnome once," said Diaspro in an all too happy tone, "It didn't scare me!"
"What the f#ck are you saying, girl?" asked Denise
"My mantis looks dashing in a tux," said Diaspro, a huge goofy grin on her face, "Would you please pass me one of those wall decorations!? My, they look lovely!"
"What the hell was that you give her?!" asked Andrew.
"Just a truth serum," said Aaron, "This shouldn't be happening to her."
"Well it is," said Andrew, while Diaspro babbled something about fish dramas, "Maybe you got the formula wrong or something."
"I am the lizard queen!!" shouted Diaspro, "I can do anything!!"
"Is there anyone in there, Diaspro?" asked Jill, "Or have the worms already eaten into your brains?"
At that point Diaspro was talking so fast that no one could understand what she was saying. Even if she slowed down the interrogators doubted they could understand what Diaspro was saying.
"This is way messed up," said Brandon, "We're trying to get her to talk, not make her lose her mind."
"Who said she had a mind in the first place?" asked Morgan
"At this rate we'll never find Bloom and Sky," said Stella, "I don't think this day could get any worse."
"I think it just did," said a disgusted Michael, for Diaspro was apparently melting into a puddle of goo.
"Oh gross!!" exclaimed Musa.
"I think I'm going to be sick!" said Flora.
"What the f#ck?!" exclaimed Steve.
Within seconds Diaspro had completely dissolved into a large, flesh colored puddle. All that was left was her clothes and her jewelry.
"I think I know what just happened," said Elise, "I think we've been dealing with a Tleiaxian Clone all along."
"A what?" asked Steve.
"A Tleiaxian Clone," said Tecna, "Diaspro must have made a copy of herself and subtitled herself for that copy."
"Well if that thing was a clone," said Andrew, pointing at the puddle that was Diaspro, "Then why did it melt like that?"
"I'm not positive," said Elise, "But there have been incidents where clones have been destroyed in similar manners. Remind me, Aaron, what exactly was in that truth serum?"
"It was of my own formula," said Aaron. He, Elise, Timmy and Tecna went over the list for the serum.
"I see at least two chemicals that have been proven fatal to clones," said Tecna.
"Why did it start babbling nonsense?" asked Musa.
"The fist thing to destabilize in a Clone," said Timmy, "Is its speech processors in the brain."
"Well this is just great," said Brandon, "Now we're back to square one."
"Square zero is more like it," said Timmy, "We're no closer to finding Bloom and Sky than we were before we decided to kidnap Diaspro."
"Don't count your sligs before they hatch, Timmy," said Elise as she checked her laptop, "I've just compiled Diaspro's financial data for the past two years. Apparently she transferred a large sum of money to a discrete Tleiaxu account several weeks ago."
"Clones are not cheep," said Tecna, "And the Tleiaxu aren't well liked. It isn't surprising that Diaspro would use back channels to purchase her clone."
"There's more," said Elise, "She also purchased a moderate sized manor on the 4th moon of Eraklyon. The house is connected to a large underground system of catacombs. She had the tunnels renovated, and installed various equipment in said tunnels."
"If that isn't where she took Bloom and Sky," said Steve, "I'll eat my power-pole."
"That's going to hurt," said Morgan.
"Then what are we still doing here?!" asked Stella, "Let's go!!"
The end of chapter 8. Next chapter our heroes head to Diaspro's lair to save Bloom and Sky. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!