Chapter Text
"Was the slap necessary?"
My exhaustion remained, but my nausea had left, there was no reason for me to have let out the words I had.
I had still said them though. I will stand by them. I watched Panacea's face shift through a mess of emotions before ending on something I didn't recognize. She opened her mouth, only to be interrupted by Brandish, "Why are you here Skitter?"
The older woman's eyes were squinted at my own, her plump dark pink lips pursed. It was probably not smart of me to answer at all, but…
I keep falling for the trick, why not fall one more time?
"I needed a place to sleep and found a building with nobody in it and what looked like a guest bedroom." I felt the world turn upside down again, the pain in my skull hitting a crescendo as I held myself still.
My bugs stopped obeying.
"You just happened to choose this one?" Brandish' voice echoed in my head, I felt the ringing in my ears grow. Why did I bother trying?
"Yes. Just turn me in." If they were going to torture me anyway, why should I bother with trying to get out of this.
"We have a few more questions to ask. Panacea." Her voice rang in return, the blood pumping through my head printing stories of pain and retribution for believing I could ever exist freely.
Glory Girl brought Panacea back over, the blonds face a sharp frown. Her eyes were baggy, dead. She lost someone last night. Fuck. They were going to blame me. Panacea… Panacea had wide eyes, compared to the ones from last night. Her mouth in a tight grimace as she held out a hand to touch my forehead. "Ready."
They interrogation position they had me in consisted of myself laying on the floor, my arms under my back and in restraints of some kind; Panacea being held above my head to keep the barest touch; and Brandish holding her rod to my chest. It was a joy.
"Good. Skitter, is it true Armsmaster broke your armband?" The question threw me for a loop, before I thought about it further. They think Armsmaster may have had a hand in the deaths of Manpower and Shielder.
"You are already torturing me, why would any answer I provide be more truthful than the one you want?" I might not be able to get out of this completely, but I can at least get these people to think a bit.
"Torture? We aren't torturing you. Amy what does she mean?" Glory Girl's voice came from above me, behind Panacea, her confusion as evident as her exhaustion.
"She is currently experiencing symptoms of: delirium, severe migraine, exhaustion, starvation, anxiety, depression, and several older trauma related things." The dry tone was disconnected from the face I saw. Her shaking pupils, clenching hand, and light frown.
"Regardless, you are a criminal, we will gather information from you first before applying any more first-aid. Understood?" Brandish' voice chimed in from my side. Perfect, I get to do try things in this condition. Depression?
"Understood. What do you want to know?" My voice was getting rougher as time went. I couldn't shove my pain into my bugs but it still wasn't reaching Bakuda levels yet. I could still look at this like a cat chasing prey.
"Answer the first question." The stupid biddy didn't get the hint. Fuck.
"I saw the combat happening with Kaiser, something happened, my armband stopped working. Leviathan approached where I was. Armsmaster appeared, started monologuing at it. When I walked up to him to help after Leviathan tugged his arm off, he told me I was dead." Clear, full explanation of enough information to get them wondering a bit, but also give myself some leeway in their minds. Hopefully.
"Panacea?" Brandish' voice was hard, her eyes flashing from my face to Panacea's.
"Truth." Fuck. I knew it was suspicious. To the dogs with them! Fuck!
"Have you killed anyone?" The next question came before my frazzled brain could focus again. The pain was rising.
"Fuck, there was a fat hero that I let drown. I couldn't carry him." These annoying biddies should just let me be healed, or at least have Panacea stop.
"Truth." Panacea's voice was odd in my ears, distant. My plans were crumbling as I considered the world. Shrinking further and further to the faces I could see around me.
"Any others?" Brandish wasn't letting my roundabout wording escape her. Oh balls.
"No." I know I haven't killed anyone.
"Truth." Her voice was a bit more wobbled. I couldn't think of why. Staring at her lips, they looked fine. Small, plump, cute even. Why?
"Who did you work for in the Undersiders?" Finally we are getting somewhere!
"Coil. Thinker with another thinker kid locked up in his basement telling him the future." There, please, bite.
"Truth. How long have you known this?" Panacea's voice was stronger, it fit better, the pouty look she had in the hospital returned a bit.
"Learned about Dinah less than an hour before the alarms went off." My voice was starting to rise, my ears felt like they were ringing, I would be useless soon.
"Truth. Were you really—" Panacea's voice started choking again, I didn't understand what I did wrong, but the interruption was more shocking.
"Why did you turn back to fight Leviathan at the shelter?" It was Laserdream. The woman staring at me like I had betrayed everything she had known.
"What? Well, I wanted to be better than someone else. I didn't want to leave people behind by running away." I couldn't say shit about Mr. Gladly. Fuck, dad. "Hey, so—"
Before I could get my question off, I was interrupted by Brandish, "Don't get carried away Skitter. Did you truly attempt to go undercover with the Undersiders?"
"Yes. I originally spoke to Armsmaster about going undercover to learn more about the Undersiders and then their boss. Coil." Simple, True even!
"Truth, why did you run?" Her voice was soft, though steadier than her last statement, her eyes looked a bit watery for some reason. Is she struggling to keep my power in check?
"I had no side to turn to. The heroes had all left bad impressions, especially with Shadow Stalker, and the villains now knew I was going to betray them. After Leviathan. Bitch pulled me out of the water while her dogs sacrificed themselves for my sake. Do you understand that?" I gave up on keeping my eyes open, the blurry faces around me showing how useful they were as my voice got rougher, "The hospital staff gave me no news regarding my family, I do not know if they are alive, but I know Leviathan ran through the area. I just wanted to sleep somewhere comfortable."
I heard the world through the muddy silt, the grit the flowed around me. The voices filtered in, wobbly but semi-understandable. "She is telling the truth. Anything else?"
I heard a reply before I could try my own, my head pounding, "Why did you hold hostages with black widows?"
That was easy, "They are well known, though less dangerous than people think. I already made them unable to bite, it was easy to make them sound scarier. Needed to make an impression on the team."
My voice, rough and scratchy, was interrupted by coughs on occasion. It was annoying, but no more than the pulse writing my life on my skull.
"Truth. She is calming slightly, though the delirium is growing. Ask your last questions now before I heal her if we need her."
Panacea is nice when she isn't threatening cancer or holding my friends safety from me.
"Why did you interrupt the charity gala?" It was a voice that demanded attention, a voice that wanted answers.
I smiled as I gave them. "It was the last mission needed before I could first meet Coil. From there it was gathering what I could before I decided when I would inform the heroes."
"Um… Truth. All of it. I'm not saying sorry." Panacea's voice hummed into my ears, my head pounding with each syllable.
This sucked.
"Why did you go undercover in the first place?"
Oh, Laserdream, that was simple. Though, I guess I could also blame Armsmaster for that?
"I was mistaken as a villain by both the Undersiders and Armsmaster after I first took out Lung with the Undersiders help. He nearly burned my hair. I gave the credit to Armsmaster so I could think about going undercover. I wanted to be good. Prove I was a hero." My voice was fading. I needed water, badly, but the water is probably not potable right now.
"Dammit. Dammit. Truth. The little spinnuh is telling the truth."
Panacea is dropping into the accent I try to hide, its kinda cunnin from her. Probably from the rest of her family too.
"Fine. Let's finish this up, you can heal her, and then we will talk a out Dinah. There is a lot to think about from what she has already told us. Any other questions before we finish?" The severe tone had lessened a bit, though it was frankly still…
Terrifying.
"Skitter, why did you refuse any other option when it came to the situation with Shadow Stalker?" Glory Girl is being particular with words?
Her voice is soothing.
"She caused my trigger." They can't blame me there!
She didn't even have to tell em about the bullying!
"…Truth."
There was a sigh from above me, before I heard a tired voice say "Skitter. If you could be a hero, as long as you didn't have to work with people you had issues with, rather than a villain, would you?"
Why the easy questions? That's so easy from what I have told them already. Of course the answer is "I would. I was going to go on a crusade for Dinah after I woke up. But I got caught."
My head felt heavy as my bugs returned, as my pain went away, as I fell into a soft nothingness.
Still, as I was losing consciousness I heard one last remark, "You sure about this? She was a villain."