Page 61 of All Superheroes Need PR
“Shall we begin?” They stalk around the island, coming to stand on its other side, right in front of me without a barrier to separate us. They smell like sugar and syrup and a splash of darkness that cuts through both. They step right into my space. Place both hands on my hips and pull me close.
“We know that he’s begun his reversion. You’ve been helping with that, documenting his recentheroicsand giving us clear evidence of his transition, but has he been recovering his purpose?” I stare at them blankly, feeling dumb, numb with terror. Their fingers squeeze into my hip bones with implied threat, painfully, with nails sharpened to a razor’s edge. “I know you’ve perfected this doe-eyed stare that’s clearly got his fiery hotness so enrapt, but it won’t work for me. You see my eyes? They don’t glow for you. You do nothing for me, darling.
“I haven’t found my key yet. It’s not supposed to be a person. Ahuman,” they sneer. “You see, I thought our keys would come to us with time. I thought they would be intangible, something encoded in our genetics. I was just ... waiting ... instead of scouring the fucking planet for a human to use to unlock my gate.” Their hands squeeze me even more tightly, hard enough to cause pain, but being here, in this house, I don’t feel it. Pain doesn’t exist. Because it’s like breathing. It’s everywhere.
“You can’t hurt me here,” I whisper, because I’m a fool.
Their eyes round, and looking at them from this close, I feel like I can see a little bit of East Asian heritage, though I know it doesn’t matter. They could be from anywhere but here. Because they aren’t from Earth. And they hate me because they seem to know something about me. It makes me wonder about my first encounter with Roland. He hated me then too. Does he know something he hasn’t told me? Does he know who this is? Are they in cahoots? Is he using me?
Fuck off, Vanessa. Nobody would ever want you ...
“Who are you?” I whisper as their fingers dig in to my skin tighter and tighter.
“Tell me now, and I won’t get angry ... Has Sixty-Two spoken to you about his past?”
I shake my head, though I didn’t mean to; the action came involuntarily, and that seems to make whoever this is even angrier. “He doesn’t remember? Or he doesn’t trust you to know?”
“I don’t know.” Probably the latter.
“You’re telling me that you’re the key to his reversion, the key to his gate, and he hasn’t even bothered to tell you that his memories are coming back? Does anyone trust you with anything? Or are you fucking useless?”You’re so fucking useless, Vanessa.
I don’t respond. My breathing exercises are a fucking joke here. No amount of therapy could have ever prepared me for this. So I retreat, moving deeper and deeper into my mind; the cabinet that was reserved for things I never meant to relive or remember now hangs open, the lock broken, the door bent on its hinges. I lie curled within it, hands bound in the dark.
No ...
No.
You’re a fucking badass. I suck in stale air and jerk violently at the sudden invasion of Rollo’s voice in my thoughts.A good fucking girl. Who runs her own company.He promised me he’d try for me. He could have manipulated me by doing and saying much less. He didn’t need to lie to me about that.Marry me.
My chest shudders as I attempt a feat foreign to me. Bravery. I stutter, “If y-you th-think I’m use-useless, why did you bother asking me? Why don’t you just ask him yourself?” I take in a deeper breath, and my words come out more evenly, acerbically. I spit, “Are you scared of him?”
The whack of their fist against my face doesn’t come as a huge shock. I think if I were standing anywhere else, it might have. But not in here, where my face and body are already so used to it. I barely even feel the pain. It’s a slight burn. My lip took one of their rings, and I taste blood. But I do something I’ve never done before in this wretched, damned place. I don’t keep my gaze on the floor, even after the sting settles. I look back up.
Their eyes meet mine, and I don’t break. I watch their jaw clench. A muscle stands out in their neck. They clench their back teeth. “His behavior is counter to the plan. But ... if you’re not lying and he reallyhasn’tstarted to recover his memories, then that would explain it.” Theyexhale, and I detect relief in their tone as they add, “He might not have even found his map.” They tap my hip, contemplating while my mind fires in shock.The map. My mind instantly snags on the strange squiggles I saw on Rollo’s skin, and I hate myself for being so obvious.
“Has he found the map?” Anger clouds their face. They give my hips a hard shake. “You have him too distracted. Tell Sixty-Two that he needs to get his head out of your pussy and find his weapon, open it, and complete his reversion. He should get his memories back then, and once he’s fully reverted, he’ll be ready.”
“Ready?” I pant. “For what?”
Pain makes its presence known when they squeeze my hips one final time. I still don’t crumble. Not yet. Not here in this kitchen where I’ve crumbled so many times before. At least, not in front of them.
“To lead,” they whisper. I can’t hold back my wince this time, and seeing it, they smile. “But only after he’s finished getting what he needs from you. You can try to delay it, but it is inevitable. He’s started to revert already. You’d best not stand in his path. Because if he finds out you kept this information from him, he’s going to be angry, and then you’ll burn first when he remembers his past. I’m sure of it.”
No.
“No.”
“No?” They smile at me, a condescending thing.
“You’re wrong,” I insist, even as I start to sweat.
They shrug. “Better to be the right hand of the devil than stand in his path, and maybe he’ll let you exist in the new world. At least, for a short time.”
“Or maybe he’ll burnyou.”
“You really want to bet on that once he remembers?”
I don’t answer.
