DELIRIUM • MARVEL

03: Weird puppies and strange sparkles

    —Steven struggled against the cuffs as Frogtail glared at the two officers. After she kicked the female officer Frogtail was quickly scolded by Steven saying that violence isn't the answer to everything.

She personally did not agree.

Frogtail wanted her pyramid statue back. She tried to get it back from the mail officer but was quickly caught and chastised. The officers threatened to put cuffs on her too if she misbehaved again.

Frogtail responded with sticking her tongue at them.

"Wow. Lookie, lookie. Guess what we've got here, Billy." The female officer stated.

"Go on. Tell me." The male officer antagonized.

"Get a room." Frogtail replied.

"I'll duck tape your mouth shut, don't test me little girl." The male officer bit back.

Frogtail quickly became quiet again, glaring at the man once more.

"We've only got ourselves a full-blown, international fugitive." The lady continued.

"It's not...it's a mistake. It's not me." Steven explained.

"Marc Spector was part of a team of mercenaries that hit a dig site in Egypt." The lady stated while looking at her partner.

The female officer then flipped the photo on her tablet to the next slide.

"Here's what they did to the archaeologists. Zip-tied and shot in the back of the head, execution-style." The lady finished.

"That's dark, man." The male officer replied looking at Steven.

"No, you're lying Mr. Marc would never." Frogtail exclaimed, defending her friend.

Mr. Marc was a mercenary but he wouldn't kill someone so brutally like that. Especially innocent archaeologists. Would he?

This was the same man that taught her different tricks with cards, kept making sure she was safe off the streets, same man that comforted her when she whined like a baby, the same man that listened her ramble about frogs and the same man that offered to help with her past.

"Did you find anything on the kid?" The male officer asked.

No she wouldn't find anything cause there's nothing.

I'm nothing.

"Nothing in particular except an article written about two weeks ago about a fire in one of those houses that live in the forest. It was in Mexico. The fire was so out controlled that it almost teared down the entire woods there. The fire started in the home that was occupied by two people. One of the body's were so badly burnt they couldn't identify it but no trace of the other body." The officer lady stated, looking at Frogtail in the eye.

"So we got an international fugitive and an arsonist on our hands." The male officer taunted Steven and Frogtail.

Frogtail wants to yell at them, to scream at them, to say that they were lying but how could she. She doesn't even know herself what's the truth or not.

Steven looked over at the kid and noticed her saddened expression at the news. He tried to move close to her as much as possible for someone being in handcuffs.

"Hey, look at me," Steven spoke to her in a gentle tone.

Frogtail hesitantly looked back. She hadn't even noticed when her eyes started to brim again.

Don't cry. Only babies cry. Push it down.

"Whatever happened it was not your fault, okay. I promise you, Frogs." Steven reassured her, giving her a smile to let her know that she was safe. That he wouldn't judge her.