Chapter 9: 9 – Convinced

I had to admit, being tied up and carried away by Iron Pack actually felt pretty cool. Yeah, there, I’d said it. Call me a weirdo.

But… but… I wasn’t a complete weirdo. No, I only enjoyed being restrained by Iron Pack. Now that I found myself tied to a chair by a different villain, it didn’t feel that great at all. Although that might have been because he was a man and not a cool girl, or maybe it was his grunts sneering at me that ruined the experience. Either way, I was not enjoying my situation.

“So what does a little girl want from me?” the menacing armored villain asked me with his arms crossed.

“I… uh, g-got lost?” I got the scared little girl act down pretty well. Didn’t even have to try very hard.

“You got lost.” He tilted his head. “You somehow managed to wander into this part of the city, found the hidden door in the fence, found the secret entrance behind the boxes, and navigated the tunnel maze perfectly to get right into my base.”

Wait, a maze?! I had just gone randomly!

“So… finding secrets? Is that your superpower?”

A superpower? What?

“W-what? No, I… I don’t have superpowers!”

“Little girl… how about we skip all of this denial? I don’t have all day. Just tell me who you’re working for and maybe I'll consider letting you live.”

Well, this excursion dropped to the rock bottom on my list of good ideas. Somehow, the villain in front of me was convinced I had superpowers and worked for someone… and if I didn’t tell him who I worked for, I was going to die.

“B-but I really don’t have superpowers! I just got lost! I’m not working for any--” I got interrupted by the villain suddenly bending down and putting his head right in front of me.

“I’m losing my patience. I’ll give you twenty seconds to tell me who you are, who you’re working for, and what you want, or I’ll use you as a test subject for one of my experimental weapons.”

Oh, I was dead. Joy. Well, Iron Pack had told me to stay out of the super business, so I could only blame myself. Maybe I could still get out of this situation though?

“I… my name is Aster! I was looking for someone here! T-then these guys ambushed me! So I ran away! Accidentally found the secret door! And, uh, somehow found this place…?”

“Really now?” I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined his eyes narrowing.

“Who were you looking for then?”

“Uh… I-Iron Pack.”

The villain froze while his grunts exchanged glances.

“Iron Pack,” he stated as he straightened himself again.

“Y-yeah… I… uh, figured her base would be around here…?”

“Hah, really? So you were sneaking around to find one villain’s base, but instead ran into another one?” He snorted.

“I… I guess?”

He began laughing. His goons echoed him.

That was… good? He didn’t seem to be pissed off anymore, so yes, that was good. Maybe I could make him let me go at this rate.

“Interesting. Now, why would you be looking for that savage woman?”

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What? Savage woman? How dare he! Iron Pack was cool and amazing! I would not stand for this slander! Well… mainly because I was tied to a chair, so I couldn’t stand at all. Yeah, I didn’t have much say in my current position, did I? And, uh, he was still waiting for an answer… oh jeez, what could I even say? I couldn’t tell him I had a crush on her! Okay, just play it cool, don’t let yourself blush!

“I… have some unfinished business with her.” I looked to the side, narrowing my eyes and putting on my best stoic expression.

There. Good. That sounded ambiguous enough.

“Unfinished business you say…” I got the impression of his eyes narrowing behind his visor. ”Well, well, well. It just so happens that I also have a bone to pick with her.”

Wait what? That’s not what I’d meant!

“Well, Aster. I must say, you pulled off the innocent civilian act really well. You almost got me there. But… if you say you aren’t working for anyone, how about you work for me then?”

I stared at the man. What the heck was even going on? I was being recruited? Why? Did he still believe I had powers? Well, either way, it didn’t seem like I had much of a choice in my situation. Being tied to a chair and surrounded by a dozen of infinitely stronger and more menacing guys wasn’t a very powerful negotiating position.

I gulped and whispered, “Okay,” while staring up into his visor.

He nodded and motioned to one of his goons, who then came over to me and untied me from the chair. The villain then extended his arm in a friendly gesture, and after eyeing it for a second, I grabbed it and he hefted me out of the chair.

“Follow me.” He turned around and walked off. I followed as he said.

We walked into a closed-off room littered with all sorts of futuristic-looking devices. Fractal walked behind the large decorated desk and seated himself behind it before crossing his fingers in front of him.

“So first things first. What exactly does your power do?”

And it went back to this. I didn’t have any powers! But Fractal was convinced I did. What should I do? Keep insisting I don’t have powers? I had a feeling that would just piss him off. Maybe I could… okay, let’s try to fake him out.

“I’m… not sure… I’m still learning the details,” I said, trying to put on my best poker face while looking him straight into his visor.

“So you’re new. That’s why I haven’t seen you around yet, makes sense.”

I nodded, keeping my outward coolness while hoping to god he couldn’t hear my heart pretending to be a drummer.

“Well, alright. Your first task as my employee is to figure out the details of your power then. And in the meantime, we can’t have you running around as a civilian if you’re gonna be working for me. You need a disguise and a nickname.”

How had a powerless nobody like me gotten into this situation? Maybe I really did have superpowers. The power to get myself tangled in situations way out of my league. Jeez, now I had to make myself a costume and a villain name or something…? Wait…

“I’m already in a disguise.”

Fractal froze for a second and looked me up and down. “You are?”

“Yeah.” I smiled, remembering that all this time, he had been referring to me as a girl, which meant that my disguise had worked perfectly! Damn, that felt really good for some reason! “Nobody would recognize me when I look like this.” I put my hands on my hips with a cheeky grin.

Hah, I’d managed to make a villain dumbfounded. Check that off my bucket list. And shut up, heart, I’m trying to be cool here, stop trying to remind me I was actually terrified.

“Right… and what’s your super name then?”

Crap, a name. It would have been dumb to say I didn’t have one yet. Okay, think. What could I call myself? I wore a fox hoodie -- “Fox…” -- and I kept getting myself in precarious situations. Getting kidnapped and tied up… kinda reminded me of that princess from all those plumber games. Okay, that was it.

“Princess Fox.”

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