by Smith, Maren
Big Daddy gestured at Pluto, glaring at her. Obviously, he wanted her to jump into the fight too.
Seriously?
Sure, she could kick a little butt when she needed to, but she knew when she was outweighed, outclassed, and all around outmatched.
But Big Daddy had given her the order.
Gathering her courage, Chaotica curled up in a crouch, balancing on the balls of her feet. She took a deep breath and then flung herself at Pluto’s back, right as he dealt a vicious uppercut to one of the Robs.
To her utter shock, Pluto pivoted—did he have eyes out of the back of his head or something?—literally caught her midjump, and used the momentum to spin her around and fling her right at Big Daddy. Chaotica screamed, half with shock and half with glee.
If the stakes weren’t so high, that would be fun!
It was a lot less fun when Big Daddy stepped out of the way instead of catching her. Shocked, Chaotica barely managed to control her tumble across the ground.
Ouch.
Her shoulder hit harder than usual, thanks to her delayed response. Unlike Big Daddy and Pluto, Chaotica didn’t have any special superpowers to help her in a fight. Her only power was more defensive. Big Daddy called it a mental shield. She didn’t disappear exactly, but she could send out a psychic signal that made everyone not see her as long as she held still or only moved very slowly.
That was what she did now, resentfully rubbing her shoulder as she glared at Big Daddy. Would it really have been too much to cushion her landing before jumping into the fight with Pluto?
It didn’t look like avoiding her had helped him out at all. Both of the Robs were now scrambling to gather up the loot bags and run. They had an easy exit right out of the back door. Chaotica was on the side of the room with no exits, thanks to her failed attempt at taking Pluto by surprise.
Could she move slowly enough to creep by Pluto and Big Daddy while they were fighting, and escape?
Or should she try to help Big Daddy some more?
Sure, he had super strength and speed on his side, but Pluto was meeting him blow for blow. Without Herc, the fight was depressingly equal.
No... not equal. Pluto was winning. Slowly but surely. The Robs were already gone and Big Daddy needed to escape, but he couldn’t knock Pluto down. Not without help. She knew this was how Herc had gotten caught last time, but... she couldn’t just stand there and watch Big Daddy be defeated. Then he’d go to jail and who would take care of Chaotica? She’d be on her own again, alone and full of guilt for not even trying.
Don’t see me, don’t see me, don’t see me...
She could feel her power, like a blanket around her, as she crept forward, toward the fighting men. Big Daddy was wearing down, not moving as quickly as he had been, not getting in as many blows as Pluto was. The frustration and rage on his face was growing as he realized he was losing the fight.
Chaotica couldn’t let him lose.
Don’t see me, don’t see me, don’t see me…
The blanket around her felt like it thickened. Neither man even glanced her away. Granted, she wasn’t moving quickly, because then her power would be more like a cloud, easily blown away by swift passage, but without her power she wouldn’t be able to sneak past Big Daddy and she doubted Pluto was any different.
Which meant she’d likely only get one chance at this. Especially considering last time Pluto had somehow known she was coming at him even though his back had been to her.
But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained right?
She got a few feet away from them right when Big Daddy’s knife went flying—away from her fortunately. Pluto now firmly had the upper hand. Big Daddy threw a punch… and Pluto caught it in his first, using it to pull Big Daddy forward. They flipped sides as Pluto wrapped his arm around Big Daddy’s throat, wrestling him into a headlock.
The fight was over, even though Big Daddy wasn’t down yet. His handsome face was already reddening as he clawed at Pluto’s arm. It was only a matter of minutes.
Except that she was right there and, thanks to her power, neither man knew it.
The urge to run was so strong but… she couldn’t just leave her Big Daddy there.
Chaotica jumped forward. This time it didn’t matter if Pluto saw her coming, all she needed to do was knock him off of Big Daddy. If she was lucky, she’d totally knock him over and then she and Big Daddy could escape.
It almost worked exactly like she saw in her head.
Somehow Pluto knew she was coming—he jerked back even before she hit them, but that just helped her cause. She basically threw herself onto Big Daddy’s body, shoving both men down at once. There was an angry shout, and then she was scrambling to get away from both of them.
A strong hand clamped down on her ankle. Chaotica shrieked.
And then Big Daddy was moving past her. Shoving her back… shoving her into Pluto!
“Big Daddy!” Her voice came out as a wail, filled with shock at the betrayal.
He didn’t even look back as he left her there in the arms of his greatest enemy, fleeing out into the night.
Chapter 2
The little villain he’d captured sniffled pathetically.
For the first time in his life, he actually felt a little sorry for one of the bad guys. Normally, he’d assume that any waterworks on their part was an attempt at manipulation, but she wasn’t even looking at him. She wasn’t crying beautiful crystal drops of liquid down a flawless cheek.
Nope.
She was curled up in the back of his car, cuffed at the wrists and with her ankles tied together, cuddling the teddy bear he’d gotten as a present for his niece, and she did not cry prettily. The red of her nose and eyes nearly matched the red ribbon around the bear’s neck. And she wasn’t glancing up at the rearview mirror to see the effect she was having on him.
The escape attempt she’d made had been pitifully brief as well. That or she’d quickly realized that he controlled the car and everything in it to the extent that resisting was pointless.
Tonight, hadn’t gone anything like he’d planned.
He was supposed to be off duty tonight. Taking a break. Picking up a gift for his niece’s birthday, which was this weekend, and then going home to rest. Relax. Rejuvenate. Normally when he was doing the Pluto thing, he traveled using his powers and the shadows and had no need for a car, but today he had just planned on being regular old Derrick Drake, mild mannered physical therapist and personal trainer. Well, as far as his family and friends knew. He actually was a physical therapist, but his ‘night’ job only involved training himself to fight crime.
He’d just wanted one night to himself.
When he’d been walking to his car and realized the store was being robbed—by none other than Big Daddy—he hadn’t been able to just walk on by. It wasn’t in his nature. Especially because it had been Big Daddy. God, he hated that moniker.
Big Daddy was no kind of Daddy. Just an abusive, power hungry jerk who thought calling himself ‘Big Daddy’ made him sound bad ass.
Idiot.
Dealing with him always made Pluto feel old and angry. Big Daddy made a mockery out of what should be a sacred relationship.
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
Another little sniffle from the backseat redirected his attention—and his brain.
Big Daddy makes a mockery out of what should be a sacred relationship.
Now Derrick could barely keep his attention on the road as he kept glancing in the back seat. When he’d left the jewelry store with Chaotica, Big Daddy’s lady henchman, he’d planned to do with her what he did with all henchmen: interrogate her and then turn her over to the police once he’d wrung all useful information from her.
But what if he did the interrogation a little differently than usual?
His eyes flicked back and forth between the road and the woman in the backseat, curled up around the teddy bear that he’d originally gotten for his niece. Originally, because there was no
way he could give it to her now, when someone else had been using it to cry tears into.
Chaotica wore a riot of colors on her tight-fitting bodysuit, showing off a nicely muscled but wholly feminine and attractive body. He’d noticed. Of course, he’d noticed. He’d have to have been dead not to notice. The mask across half of her face obscured her eyes and he was fairly certain that the pink pigtails were actually a wig, so he wasn’t entirely sure what she looked like, but the overall effect wasn’t unappealing.
Now that he was focusing more on her, the shadows around her licked at her body, sending information back to him.
Trembling. Accelerated pulse. Scared.
While he didn’t know exactly how he communed with the shadows, he did know he could trust the information he picked up from them. They were an extra sense that he’d had all his life.
He spoke in a lower growl than his usual speaking voice. “I don’t suppose you want to make this easy and just tell me where Big Daddy’s hideout is?”
It wasn’t quite a statement, but not quite a question either. Chaotica sniffled, lifting her head to glare defiantly at him.
“I’ll die before you I tell you!”
Trembling faster.
Despite her bravado, her arms tightened around the teddy bear instinctively.
Still covered in shadows as he was, his personal shadows that were always with him, Derrick allowed himself to grin. After all, with the shadows covering his face, she couldn’t see him do it. Dramatic little thing that she was.
That he found her kind of cute now that he was looking more closely supported his suspicion about exactly what the relationship between Big Daddy and Chaotica was. When she’d first appeared on the scene, he’d assumed she was Big Daddy’s latest lover. He still thought that, but for the first time he suspected that this time, Big Daddy might have taken a new kind of lover.
Not just one who enjoyed being a villain’s woman and calling him ‘Daddy’ for shits and giggles, but one who was, deep down, actually a baby girl.
When he didn’t answer her immediately, Chaotica seemed to shrink back into herself, curling back up around the teddy bear. Seeking comfort from a stuffie.
Her loyalty to Big Daddy was undeserved. The bastard had sacrificed her to save himself. Which made her unswerving devotion, even after such a betrayal, all the more impressive. Right now, she looked very much like a lost little girl.
Did she have what it would take to be a good little girl?
It wasn’t exactly ethical, but when had that ever stopped him? He knew he wasn’t a superhero. Not really. No matter how often he fought villains, what he did wasn’t lawful either. The police tended to look the other way when they came across him, but there were a few who were gunning for him.
The same with the newspapers.
But as long as there were shadows, he could never be contained. Which was why he kept the scope and extent of his powers such a closely guarded secret. He couldn’t trust the good guys or the bad guys in his town. All he could do was do his best to keep it safe and not get caught by either side.
Currently Big Daddy was the last big threat in Haden City... if Derrick could put him away, then maybe he could relax for a bit. There would always be a new villain, someone coming up through the ranks or moving into town to fill the vacuum, so it wouldn’t be forever, but a break would be nice. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken a real vacation.
Right now, he had the chance to find out where Big Daddy’s current headquarters was... and maybe catch him there before he had the chance to move out. Because Derrick doubted the man would be so sure of Chaotica’s loyalty that he wouldn’t move. No, the real question was how quickly could he do so?
Could he move everything he needed faster than Derrick could break Chaotica?
Considering what a big chance this was, Derrick had no problem deciding to use unorthodox methods. Hell, this might be the most enjoyable interrogation he’d ever had to do.
As they got closer to his home, he exerted his power over the shadows. In the backseat, Chaotica squeaked with surprise and fear as the darkness slid over her eyes.
“I can’t see!”
“Calm down, little girl,” Derrick growled out, pleased when he saw her immediately still. She continued clutching the teddy bear, but also listened and didn’t panic. “I can’t have you seeing where we’re going, that’s all.”
Rather than answering, she buried her face in the teddy’s soft fur. Derrick had no doubt that she was closing her own eyes now, trying to pretend the lack of vision was her choice. It likely made the utter darkness seem less scary.
Scared was good though. Not that he enjoyed scaring her exactly, but it served a purpose. She should be a little scared, of both him and the situation she was in.
Pulling into his garage, Derrick’s lips twisted. He didn’t have a secret lair to bring her down to, but he did have a large basement which served a similar purpose. There was an interrogation room down there. Cement walls, tiled floor with a drain in the middle of it, and one bright light hanging from the center of the ceiling. That was where he normally brought any prisoners he picked up that he wasn’t ready to turn over to police yet.
Getting out of the car, he opened the back door and scooped the trembling woman up into his arms. She squeaked again and curled into a tighter ball around the teddy bear.
Tears, the shadows whispered to him. Tears from her eyes.
Hmm. He’d been planning on showing her the interrogation room first, but knowing that she was already crying, he decided to change course. Keep her off balance. Skip the stick for right now and go straight to the carrot.
So rather than heading for the basement stairs, Derrick carried her inside the house and upstairs to a room that hadn’t been used in far too long.
Chapter 3
The teddy bear was the only thing keeping Chaotica from falling apart completely. Actually, being captured by Pluto wasn’t at all like her fantasy of being captured by Pluto. It was way scarier. Except that he’d had a teddy bear in the backseat of his car. She’d latched onto it like it could save her—and so far, it kind of had. If it hadn’t been for the teddy bear, she’d have panicked ages ago.
And when darkness had started to cover her eyes, she’d almost completely freaked out. As it was, she had cried into the teddy’s soft fur, unable to do anything else. The teddy bear had been surprisingly comforting. A little spot of something familiar in the middle of uncertainty. She thought longingly of her own stuffies, lovingly purchased after every successful heist, and wondered if she’d ever see them again.
What was Pluto going to do with her?
Her fantasies had always gone somewhere along the lines of a naughty sexy spanking and then him whisking her off for further punishment and keeping her from ever returning to a life of crime.
This was... well, it was obvious what he wanted. He wanted to know where Big Daddy was. And then he’d probably turn her over to the police and Chaotica would go to jail where she’d be all alone again. Just the thought made her want to wail.
Crime and shinies were only fun if you didn’t get caught.
Being carried by him—up a staircase no less!—only made it clear how outmatched she was. He was bigger, stronger, and more powerful. Taking him on had been a huge mistake and she was full of resentment at Big Daddy who had used her to escape. Big Jerk was more like it.
Chaotica braced herself as she felt Pluto start to lower her—and then jerked in surprise when he set her down on something soft. The darkness in front of her eyes streaked away and she blinked in shock. She’d been expecting a hard chair and a bright light hanging over her head, maybe even some torture implements or something. Some kind of interrogation setup.
But this room...
This room was pink. Soft. Full of stuffies and toys and everything a little girl’s heart could desire. She hugged the teddy bear even tighter as her traitorous heart thumped in her chest.
Don’t trust him. Don’t
trust this!
Pluto was like a big, dark stain in the room, the darkness still obscuring him completely. She stared up at him, refusing to look around at the room, at all the temptation there. The third shock came when the darkness receded from his body and all of the sudden there was just a man in a mask standing in front of her.
A very handsome man from everything she could see of his face.
Dark skinned, although obviously not as dark as the black shadows that had been covering his body, he had gorgeous green eyes that matched the green fitted shirt he was wearing, and closely cropped black hair. Stunned, Chaotica stared up at him. Wished she could see what he looked like without half a mask covering his face. Then was glad she couldn’t, because if she could identify him that would probably mean he meant to kill her.
The light sank into the mask rather than being reflected back, like it was made out of shadows, and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it was.
Licking her dry lips, she rubbed her fingers against the soft fur of the bear, trying to reassure herself. “What... what do you want?”
“I want to know where Big Daddy’s lair is.” His voice was firm, but not threatening.
Chaotica was brutally confused. This was not at all the interrogation she’d expected. Her eyes darted around the room. This was more like heaven than hell.
“No!” She said the word loudly, as if the strength of her denial could be communicated by volume. But the truth was, there was a small, traitorous part of her that wanted to bargain, to say that she’d tell him where the lair was if she could live here and have him as her Daddy. This was far nicer than the room Big Daddy had for her—a room that she’d had to decorate for herself. Stuffies that she’d had to buy for herself.
She held the teddy bear tighter, glaring at Pluto defiantly.
It was no surprise that he didn’t appear to feel even remotely threatened by her. His expression didn’t change one bit.
“That’s okay, little girl, you don’t need to tell me right now.” His tone of voice hadn’t changed either. Chaotica was more confused than ever. “We have a few things to take care of first.”