League of Legends - third book to Damsel on Distress

Chapter 6 - The Crazies are the worst

            "Cut it with the know it all crap." Chase said. "We know that he basically got so mad at you that he almost killed you. And, instead, you go and work for the man? What game are you playing?"

            I gave Chase a warning glance for jumping in so quickly.

            "Yes, it is true that he made me what I am today, but I should be grateful for it, not scornful. You are who you choose to be after all."

            "What are his plans, Venom?" I butt in before Chase can cause the problem to delve deeper.

            "You are truly an idiot if you believe he told me everything. But you are an imbecile if you don't know who he is and what he wants with that girl."

            Ahh, yes. The little note requiring that we hand over Arabella to Nemesis.  To be honest, I had just assumed that the psychopath wanted to use her powers against us somehow. But now?

            "So, let me get this straight," Chase leaned towards the glass, "you know who Nemesis is?"

            "Of course I do," she laughed, "it's obvious, isn't it?"

            "No, please enlighten us."

            She chuckled again and took a sip of her water. "Let's just say that he has a good reason to want that girl. And it isn't just because he needs her powers."

            "What about the robots that kidnapped all those supers? What's that all about, and don't just say that they were to use as an exchange for Arabella." I push.

            "Oh, those supers won't be supers for long. Though, he has improved on his original plan."

            He was going to take away their powers, and try to find a way to make it irreversible this time. I just knew that was his plan.

            But why not just find a way to mass distribute something that people could consume that would make all super lose their abilities? Why not make it worldwide . . .

            "How is he going to do it, and why will he protect Arabella of all people?"

            She laughed again, but this time it turned into a hacking sort of cough. Soon she was spitting up blood and shaking terribly.

            Sirens started to wail and two security guards came in. They broke into where Venom was being held and I could see them try and hold her head up as foam seeped through her mouth. It wasn't long before her head lolled to the side and her convolutions stopped.

            Venom was dead.

            I would always remember the way her eyes gleamed in amusement as she died, as if she knew she was our only hope.

            Agent Argent quickly walked in and ushered Chase and I out of there. We walked passed guards and screaming prisoners, all confused as the next. We were all the way out of the prison before I shook off the shock of the whole situation and finally asked the Agent the inevitable.

             "Someone must've slipped something in her water for her. She wanted to die before she gave us information, didn't she?"

            Agent Argent sighed. "One of the guards also died shortly before Francis did. He must've been working for Nemesis too."

            "Great." Chase voiced. "Just great. We've got no leads and we've never even seen the guy before. How do we know he's even real?"

            Argent checked her phone and sighed. Bad news.

            "That's not the only thing. One of the prisoners escaped in the chaos that followed her death, a guy who called himself The Manipulator back in his time."

            The Manipulator? That guy had to be like fifty by now.

            He had been a big shot villain back in Dallas about thirty years ago. He'd gotten the name because of his ability to get inside people's heads and twist their will into his own. He could even drive people insane. He'd only been brought down by regular cops who had helmets laced with Merlonium. His apparent weakness to Merlonium also extended to blocking his path into the heads of people.

            I heard that his cell at Alcatraz had been in D-block, where the worst of the worst villains were kept. I'd heard rumors that their cells were even made out of pure Merlonium. And let me tell you, pure Merlonium was rare.

            The fact that he escaped at the same time that Venom committed suicide couldn't be a coincidence. Nemesis had broken out The Manipulator as well.

            Agent Argent's phone buzzed and she took the call.

            "Yes . . . What? . . . Really? . . . Okay, I'll be there as soon as possible."

            She looked over at us. "It seems that the robots in Iris City were just a distraction. A ruse to try and get Arabella out and into the open. Their cars were attacked while going on a secret route to the city. Nemesis showed himself, but he didn't take Arabella. He's given us a three day countdown. Turn in Arabella or face the consequences."

            Looking at everything that we just learned from Venom and the fact that he'd broken out one of the most dangerous villains of our time, I knew that the consequences were most likely death or the loss of powers to every super in a hundred mile radius.

            "I'll have a driver escort you two to the Archer Cave, I need to go back to the base."

            I heard Chase mutter something along the lines of, We don't call it that, before heading with me to a separate car.

            All I knew now was that Arabella was in serious trouble, especially since she didn't know the whole story. That last thing we needed now was for her to go out into the open.

            Let's just hope that the crazy girl doesn't want to face off the guy.