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“Hey, little miss ‘future leader', why don't you come too?”
Panissa felt a lump form in her throat as she looked up at the expecting adults. An interrogation, they weren't uncommon but Panissa usually stayed away from them, her mother often helped keep her out of it but with her on vacation, the girl was pretty much free game. In a small moment of desperation, she glanced at her father. He quickly looked away, crossing his arms and avoiding the situation entirely. Panissa frowned, looking back over at Prosciutto who offered. She shrugged.
PANISSA: I guess.
Prosciutto lifted her head up with his fingers under her chin, holding it in place before removing his hands, glaring down at her.
PROSCIUTTO: Don’t speak with such a weak tone, come on now, you're the future of La Squadra! Be more confident!
She gripped onto her skirt tightly, desperately fighting the urge to look down as she tried to come up with a different response. Formaggio came up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
FORMAGGIO: Come on! It’s fun! Rucola always has a blast when she’s in there!
RUCOLA: Oh yes, watching someone get their head brutally smashed in with a chair is quite the thrill.
Panissa cringed at her uncaring tone, looking over at the two kids who seemed indifferent about the situation. Tacchino offered her a glare, motioning his head back towards his father. Panissa turned to look back at him, he raised an eyebrow, waiting.
PANISSA: Yes, I’ll go..
Prosciutto went to make another comment but was stopped by Risotto, placing his hand on his shoulder and silently motioning towards the room. Prosciutto rolled his eyes, dropping the conversation as they all migrated over. Rucola came up to take Panissa’s hand, Tacchino scoffing at the action.
TACCHINO: She’s not a child.
RUCOLA: It can be scary your first time, let her have some guidance.
Panissa remained quiet, not wanting to argue that she was just a child. Walking into the familiar meeting room, Rucola led her over to the head chair, both of them sitting down together. She watched as some of the adults sat down in the seats next to them, trying to avoid the man that was tied up at the end of the room. Tacchino leaned onto the armrest, pulling out Song Machine before glancing behind him at Rucola, who just nodded. He looked around the room, waiting for a confirming nod from his father before clicking the stand on. Ghiaccio ripped the blindfold off the man as well as the gag, he gasped for air, shaking his head as he tried to look around. His eyes met hers and she frowned, he stared at the three of them in confusion. Panissa looked over at Tacchino, watching as he pressed a button and flicked the switch before bringing the speaker to his mouth to whisper into it.
TACCHINO: You want to introduce yourself, tell them why you're innocent.
Almost immediately, the man straightened up, finally speaking.
AVERE: My name is Avere, please I- I’m only 19- you can't kill me. I didn’t even want to be in this gang. I was just trying to help my family.
Panissa felt sick, gripping her skirt tightly as she watched him look around at them all desperately. Tacchino looked over at Rucola again, she shook her head, so he directed his attention to the boy.
TACCHINO: Tell me about your family.
Avere looked him up and down, tilting his head as he began to speak.
AVERE: Come on, kid, what the hell are you doing here? I’ve got siblings younger than you.
Rucola nodded, leaning back comfortably in the chair. Her glasses almost shone, the evidence to the other stand users that she had received the information she needed to activate her stand power.
RUCOLA: Got him.
Tacchino pressed another button on his stand, flicking the switch up a level to increase it's power.
TACCHINO: This drug run, where’s it operating out of?
AVERE: I don't know-
RUCOLA: He’s lying.
The guy hesitated, stuttering over the rest of his sentence before going quiet. After a pause he shook his head.
AVERE: This is ridiculous, this is what Passione has come to? Using kids? Why? You think I'm just going to talk because I’ll feel bad for them?
TACCHINO: No.
Tacchino snickered as he turned on the knobs, Avere suddenly convulsing, choking on nothing as his heart rate kicked up before suddenly going back to normal.
TACCHINO: You either talk or you die, whatever you want.
Catching his breath, he looked up at him in shock, glancing over at the other two girls before looking around at the adults in the room. Ghiaccio grabbed his head, forcing him to look back over at the kids.
GHIACCIO: Are you deaf, asshole?!
AVERE: L-Look, come on, I don't know anything, honest.
Their heads turned back towards Rucola, who kept her gaze directly on him.
RUCOLA: He’s lying.
Tacchino repeated the heartbeat shock, Panissa watching as the guy began choking and gasping for air, shaking in his seat as he was just stuck there.
FORMAGGIO: Hey, we got the blood girl in here, try doing something new for once!
Tacchino blinked, glancing over at Panissa who looked back up at him, terrified by the suggestion. He pondered for a moment before getting up.
TACCHINO: Ok, I got something, hold on.
Digging around in the back for some tool, Rucola pushed Panissa up, motioning for her to stand more confident with her chest out. Panissa looked at Avere, who seemed to not want to admit to anything. She stepped forward, moving in front of him, fiddling with her fingers.
PANISSA: We don’t have to do this. Just tell us what you know and you can leave..
AVERE: How many times do I have to tell you I don't know anything! That stupid girl doesn't know what she's talking about!
ILLUSO: Stupid?!
Formaggio held him down in his seat, snickering at the interaction. Panissa just frowned as Tacchino finally came back up, Rucola trailing behind.
TACCHINO: Do you like magic, Avere?
The guy didn't respond, Tacchino moving to grab one of his hands, positioning it so only one of his fingers was pointed out.
TACCHINO: Y’know those tricks, where the magician saws the girl in half and then puts her back together?
Avere suddenly moved his hand, shifting his fingers around so they weren't just sitting still. Tacchino pulled out Song Machine again, messing with it until Avere’s hand was positioned how he liked it.
TACCHINO: It’s a cool trick, honest, she’s gotten really good at it.
Holding the radio in one hand, he held onto a cleaver with the other. With one quick movement, he brought it down onto Avere’s finger, cutting it clean off. He went to scream but Rucola caught him, using the gag from before to hold his head back and muffle the cry. Panissa flinched back at the sudden action, covering her own mouth instinctively as she looked down at the finger on the floor. Her stand activated willingly, clotting against the wound to stop the blood from spurting out. Tacchino motioned from Avere’s hand to the finger.
TACCHINO: Well, come on, show him.
Given the permission to help, she quickly grabbed the finger and put it back onto the hand. After a moment, the skin had semi-healed back together, Avere shakingly moving it around to rest that it was ok. He looked up at her in horror and confusion, she frowned.
PANISSA: When you have a wound, your body clots up the red blood cells and creates scabs, this can take days but I can create them fast enough in large quantities that the healing can be done within a few minutes..
RUCOLA: Impressive, huh? She can do it as many times as she wants.
TACCHINO: So, ready to talk?
Avere was breathing heavily, biting down on the gag like his life depended on it. He didn't give any sort of response, Tacchino shrugged.
TACCHINO: Not impressed? Here, she can do more than just fingers.
PANISSA: No-
She didn't get a chance to talk before the cleaver came back down, though the child wasn't strong enough to cut clean through the whole wrist, having to pull back out.
TACCHINO: Oops.
Panissa wanted to run, to get away from the situation but her resolve to help was too strong. Desperately trying to keep her mouth shut and eyes closed as she had Sugar Magnolia help the poor man. His cries were becoming unbearable, muffled and strained as Rucola ruthlessly held his head back. This torture went out for an hour before he finally caved, spilling whatever it was they wanted to hear. After it was all over, she felt better, finally, he could leave-
PROSCIUTTO: Alright, we’re done with him, Formaggio.
In an instant, Little Feet came out, slashing the man across the forehead. The shrinking effect began immediately as he tried to pull out of his bindings.
PANISSA: What.. What are you doing-?
FORMAGGIO: With him? Dunno yet, I mean I could feed him to the cats.
MELONE: Gross, those poor cats.
FORMAGGIO: They won't care, they’ll eat anything I give them. You guys know where the blender is?
PESCI: Oh, I do.
They all got up, leaving the room and Avere behind as he continued to struggle and cry.
AVERE: Wait! Please, please you can’t kill me! Please, I have a family! My mother and sister!
In the midst of his struggle, his chair fell forward, slamming him into the ground at Panissa’s feet as he continued to cry.
AVERE: Please, please girl, you can't let them kill me! Please! Help me!
Panissa stood, traumatized as the man cried to her. Tacchino and Rucola coming up to her, Rucola wrapping herself around her arm to lead her out of the room as the boy scoffed.
TACCHINO: How pathetic, at least die with some pride.
RUCOLA: Just ignore him, Izzy, he deserves this anyway.
The three walked out, leaving the cries behind them as they closed the door. Prosciutto and Illuso came up to them immediately, Illuso picking up Rucola into a hug.
ILLUSO: Oh, principessa, you did so well!
The girl smiled at her father, hugging him close as he held her in his arms. Prosciutto gently ran his hands through Tacchino’s hair, cleaning it up as he lifted his head up to look at him.
PROSCIUTTO: You as well, signorino, I’m very proud of you.
Tacchino brightened up, thanking his father as the others came up.
MELONE: Oh, that magic trick bit was so good, I didn't even know your stand could do that, Panissa!
The girl remained silent, just lightly nodding as she stared at the floor. Her gaze slowly trailed up as someone came to stand in front of her, making eye contact with her father. Risotto looked down at her with a blank expression, bringing his hand up to gently pat her head.
RISOTTO: It was impressive, you’ve gotten really good at controlling your stand.
Again she nodded, her eyes flicking back down to the floor as Risotto placed a hand on her back, leading her out of the room. He took her back to her room, stopping in front of the door to kneel down. The two of them looking at each other for a moment before he moved to hug her. Panissa didn't react for a moment, just processing the action before she cautiously moved her arms up to hug him back. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, longer than they should've she was sure. Yet once he pulled away, he left a gentle kiss on her forehead.
RISOTTO: I’m sorry, Panissa. You did really good today, I..
He trailed off, just shaking his head before standing back up, patting her head one more time before leaving her alone. Once in her room, she went straight to her bed, crawling under the covers and burying herself in the darkness. She couldn't cry, she knew she couldn't, she wasn't supposed to.
But she wished she could.