The Marvels

Ep. 37 | Girl's Night

It was raining. A flash of lightning illuminated the sign, the words Where the Devil Does His Business lit up in a dim red that was barely noticeable through the downpour. Lady Marvel stood outside the door and watched the sign sway, stalling for as long as she could bear to be out in the rain.

There was no good way to do this, not with Anka always looking through the slot before she let people in. Lady Marvel's best option, as always, was to barge in by force and hope she caught someone before they ran out. If she was desperate, she'd run after them.

Lady Marvel sighed and rammed her shoulder against the door, snapping it clean off its hinges. She stumbled into the lounge, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Anka jump out of her chair and bark at everyone to scram, though there weren't many people even present to heed her warning. Within a second, Lady Marvel scanned the room, chose the guy upside down on the couch, and zeroed in on him as everyone else ran for the back door. She got on her knees and had both hands on his shoulders and was holding him in place before he could even widen his eyes.

He held up his empty palms in surrender. "I—"

"You're Henry Green, correct?" she asked. "An on-again, off-again employee of Silvera?"

His bloodshot eyes narrowed slowly, and Lady Marvel felt an annoying ping of regret. She'd chosen to go after him instead of the woman at the bar because she already knew who he was, but the glazed, unfocused stare and the fact that he was lazily hanging upside down on the couch was starting to tell her that he wouldn't be a great source.

"Yeah," he said finally. "That's me."

"You're a regular here, aren't you? And you frequent other places."

"Yeah. I guess I do."

Lady Marvel smiled. "Then you must hear quite a lot."

Henry squirmed as if he wanted to sit up straight, but Lady Marvel pressed her hands harder against his shoulders, forcing him to stay in this position. Nothing made people talk faster than being made uncomfortable.

"If this is about the break-in at Magnum's old lab and the theft of some evidence," he said quickly, "I swear, I had nothing to do with that!"

Lady Marvel's smile fell. "I didn't know about that," she murmured, "but noted. Actually, I wanted to ask about the New Humans. I've heard that some of them are up to something."

"I don't—"

"Of course you would say that," she interrupted, "because you're wary of them, but it's not humans they hate, understand? It's not you who has to confront them and clean up their mess." She tilted her head down so he could look directly into her eyes. "So, Henry, for the sake of my sanity and your shoulders, I implore you to tell me the truth."

"All I know," he said, "is that they killed a guy in Pasadena when he refused to pay for damages after they crashed into his car, and that's just from the news!" He held his palms up even higher. "I swear, I haven't heard anything!"

"What about anything about a mysterious new drug hitting the black market?"

He shook his head frantically.

Lady Marvel sighed, considering. These were the answers she wanted, no sign of trouble, but that didn't mean they were the right answers...but that, in turn, didn't mean that Henry was lying. He was drunk and scared, and she believed he was being honest.

She took her hands off. "Go."

Henry fell to the floor in an effort to sit right-side-up, scrambling back onto his feet and running out with uneasy, limping steps. Lady Marvel shook her head and stood up, trying to figure out her next move, when a voice startled her.