Villainous Us

Tied Up

The Hauntress

The first thing I noticed when I woke was the intense throbbing in my head. The second was that I was tied up with duct tape in a bathtub.

The curtain was pulled back so I could clearly see Iron Crisis sitting on the edge of a sink playing a game on his phone.

"Are you kidding me?" I grumbled, letting my head loll against the back of the tub. This was turning out to be a very long day.

"Oh, good, you're up," he said, setting his phone aside and sitting on the floor to be closer to me. He leaned back against the sink cabinet and let out a breath. "So, did you know you drool in your sleep?"

I bit my lip to stop myself from losing my temper. In the calmest voice I could manage, I asked, "Why am I tied up, Crisis?"

He laughed, but his expression turned cold a second later. "Because you've been a real pain in my ass recently." He reached into a hidden pocket in his suit, pulling out an envelope and holding it out for me to see. "You know how annoying this was?"

All of my anger washed away then, replaced with delight. I smirked.

He dropped the envelope and shook his head at me. "I had to run all over town to find this." He scoffed, narrowing his eyes at me. "Do you know how many Panda Express restaurants are in this damned city?"

"Twenty-two, I believe," I answered, still holding the smirk. I knew I was right. He only rolled his eyes, so I continued. "It was actually pretty amusing watching how far you got. My ghosts were very good about reporting your status back to me."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You had them following me?"

Too late, I realized my mistake. "No! I'm not a stalker. They were only hanging around the clues. I had to know how far you were getting."

"M-hm."

I leaned back, knowing this fight wasn't worth it. There were more important things to discuss. "Crisis, we're in trouble."

His expression fell and he straightened. "What are you talking about?"

"The heroes are planning something... big," I began. "They're ganging up on the villains and destroying them, trying to put an end to the War Zone. They have a new guy with super senses who can track us by scent. That's how they're going to take us down. They're literally hunting us."

"Scarlet Hound," Crisis said then. "He's the new guy with the super senses. I fought him today."

My heart sank. "Then he already has your scent."

For a second he actually looked worried, but he regained himself just as fast. He took on his usual careless manner again and the side of his mouth curled up in a knowing smile. "You worried about me?"

I blushed, but thankfully it was hidden beneath my skeletal makeup. "I just though I'd warn an old teammate."

His smile grew. "Don't worry, doll. I can take care of myself." He winked.

I only scowled. "Untie me," I commanded.

"Sorry, doll," he shrugged, "but I like it like this."

I closed my eyes to focus. This time with charmspeak, I repeated, "Untie me."

His eyes seemed to glaze over, but he managed to blink it away. He took on a faux scolding tone and said, "Did you really just try that on me? Where have your manners gone, H? It's rude to charmspeak friends."

I stared at the duct tape that encased me like a mummy. "I always thought it was considered rude to tie your friends up and leave them in a bathtub, so I guess we're both wrong."

He feigned offense. He started to say something else, but my attention was on trying to summon Gerard. When he didn't appear immediately, my stomach dropped. My sigil was gone.

I searched the tub frantically, wriggling every which way to look the whole thing up and down. The ring wasn't here. Panic crawled up my throat, and I felt like I was about to choke.

Crisis seemed to notice my frenzy. He smiled knowingly, pulling my sigil from the same pocket he had the letter in. He waved it in front of me like a trophy. "I know you better than that, sweetheart," he cooed. He turned it around, inspecting it closely. "It's a fine piece of jewelry. You know what I love most about jewelry?" He glanced at me before answering. "Most of the time, it's made out of some type of metal."

He held his palm out and levitated the ring above it, taunting me. I mentally slapped myself in the face for letting this happen.

Crisis got a funny look on his face then. "Why so gloom, H? Let me try to lift your spirits." He broke out laughing at his own joke. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just trying to tickle your funny bone."

He continued to laugh, but my glare didn't go anywhere. "Are you done?" I asked plainly.

He cocked his head. "Don't tell me you aren't the humerus type anymore?"

He laughed, and I continued to stare at him. I shook my head, but I allowed myself to laugh. It felt like old times again. I remembered sitting at a table across from him, every member of the Sinister Six present, and he would occasionally send a bad pun my way. Carney would always join in on the jokes. Though Crisis might seem the serious type, he was always the comedian of the Six. He was the glue that held them together. They didn't need me, so I left, but without him they'd fall apart.

He took a deep breath, then pocketed my sigil once more. "Alright, I'm done. For now. But anyway, how've you been, H? It's been a while. It's about time we caught up, eh?"

I blinked at him. "Are you serious?"

He shrugged. "Why not? Just humor me. You've been out of the game so long, I just don't see why you've been keeping your head down until recently. Where've you been this whole time?"

"Does it even matter?" I scoffed.

He stood, then sat on the edge of the tub beside the faucet. He put a hand on the dial, tapping a finger on it. "All it takes is a little water. That's all I need to figure out who you really are, and once I know that, it won't be much harder to figure out what you've been up to."

I held my breath. "You wouldn't."

"Wanna test that?"

I glared at him. "I quit the Six because I went soft. Is that what you wanted to know?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "Like I didn't already know that. Rumor has it, you're trying to be one of the good guys. See, the reason I brought you here is because I'm going to fix that."

Crap. This oughta be interesting.

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A/N
Hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying October so far, the spookiest and best time of the year !!!!🍂👻🎃🕸
Anywho, hope you're enjoying the story (and I assume you are considering you've read this far), so if you are please give it a vote and comment your thoughts/future ideas/something you'd like to see!
- Stevie