Team JNPR was kind of nervous about capturing Watts--he was famous!
However, the whole thing played out both more quickly and rather differently than they expected.
Watts was literally just sitting in some dirty inn room, drinking tea and trying to program a TV into a weapon or some other nefarious device, when they all showed up.
"What the devil?!" He dropped his croissant. [I know.]
For some reason everyone's nervousness evaporated, and they went into kill mode.
"Hiyahh!!!" Nora smashed the TV with her hammer.
Ren kicked the teapot off the table--maybe he thought hot tea could be used as a weapon.
Jaune pointed his sword at Watts' throat, and Pyrrha made all the silverware and tools on the table rise up and hover around him.
Watts, wisely, put his hands up slowly. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Arthur Watts," Jaune said, "you are under arrest."
"Can we do that?" Nora asked.
"You fools," Watts said. "You don't have the authority. What if I yell for help?"
"Do it," Nora said, gripping her hammer and grinning crazily.
"Isn't your picture slapped across the news?" Ren asked. "I think any huntsman could take you in."
"Tie him up," Jaune said.
Ren did so while the others held him at bay.
"I kind of expected more of a fight," Nora said.
"Forgive me if I wasn't exactly prepared for someone to appear in my bedroom." Watts was sore. "How the h--- did you just pop in? That wasn't Branwen's Semblance, I'd wager."
"I think that's our secret," Pyrrha said.
"Wait, I remember that light...Likstar's doorway," Watts said oddly. "What...?" Then he frowned. "She did say she could portal. But surely, there is no way she could know I'd be here."
"Don't answer him," Jaune said. "We don't owe him anything." He frowned. "Let's just take him back to Shade."
They weren't sure Shine could just retrieve them if she was already doing something else, so they walked him out.
"You can't really plan to take me back in," Watts said. "I was framed, I tell you. The plane I was on broke down. I was going to book another flight directly and be on my way, but you know how few people are flying out."
"Shut up," Nora said, holding her hammer aloft.
* * *
Shine got a message later that they were on their way.
"Okay." She joined the others again. "I'm going to need you to put all your petty differences aside for now. I've got to talk to Watts."
"Right now?" Qrow said. "I thought we were going to find Yang."
Shine was not in the mood for his crap after earlier.
With a very cold voice that even Winter had to wince at, she replied, "I have been informed that Watts talked to our suspect earlier today. Raven reported it earlier. If you'll remember. So, who do you think is the most likely to know about this?"
Qrow frowned.
"I have considered this matter more, between the other drama that's going on," Shine went on, not making eye contact with Qrow now. "I see no advantage to us going after Yang. That is just what is expected. I intend to figure out how much Watts knows about this. Using Robyn."
Robyn had joined them by now. She waved. She was recovered from earlier, a little lethargic still maybe.
"After that, I'm going to make him work for us," Shine said.
"You think you can do that?" Tai asked.
"Oh, sure," Shine said. "And I want James here to hear this."
"What? Why?" Winter said.
"Two reasons," Shine said. "One is, fair is fair. I humiliated him in front of Watts, and I didn't like how smug Watts was about it. I'm sure he said some things about it later, so I'm going to return the favor now to even the score. And second, my strategy will work better if James is here."
"The unstable, gun happy James," Qrow said.
"The one who wanted to kill my daughters and a city?" Tai said.
"Your former friend James," Shine said. "And I expect you to behave yourselves, or I'll remove you. Wally will help."
Wally nodded. "Come on, guys, trust her," he said. "She got Watts to do this much. What are you going to do?" He asked her.
"You know how we don't rule through fear?" Shine said.
"Yeah," Wally said.
"I think there's one exception to that," Shine said. "That's when people have violated the proper way of things enough so that you can't deal with them any other way. I won't rule my allies through fear, but Watts is a weasel, and after talking to him twice, there is only one way to make him truly cooperate, I decided. I think I can do it, but I'll need people to make it convincing. Now, all of you, follow my lead. Don't say anything that I don't prompt you to say."
"I think that's a little controlling, isn't it?" Tai said, confused. "You can't just decide what we do and think like that."
"I'm not, you idiot." Shine was angry, and she let herself slip. "None of you have any ability whatsoever to trick people. You don't have a cunning bone in your body. I won't risk you saying something that will undermine both my effectiveness and the whole team's security. Unless you've got a thought-out method of dealing with Watts, I suggest you cooperate. Do you want to get your daughter back?"
"I don't think we can trust him to help with that," Qrow said. "He probably is part of the reason this happened."
"He will do it," Shine said. "Just be ready to echo any threats I make."
"Ooh, threats," Wally said. "Fun. We don't usually make threats in my work, but Bats does, and it's pretty cool but also pretty unnerving to watch. Are you going to do it like that?"
"No, worse," Shine said.
"Worse?" Wally said. "It can be worse than that?"
"Oh, way worse," Shine said.
"I never thought I was going to end up liking this," Wally mused. "But it's kind of exciting."
"Are you crazy?" Qrow asked him.
"We can bring the General in," Winter spoke up, sounding resigned.
Ironwood was shocked at being let out at all, and the looks he got from Qrow and Tai were enough to make him wonder if this was an execution.
"Am I being shot?" he said.
"No," Shine said.
Team JNPR came in, dragging Watts with them, right then.
"And right on time," Shine said.
"Oh, this is going to be fun." Robyn stood up and rubbed her hands. "I've been dying to get this guy ever since Atlas."
"I didn't anticipate such a welcoming party," Watts said.
Truthfully, he was already nervous. He wasn't sure exactly why he was here.
"Put him in the chair," Shine said.
They put him in a chair and tied him down.
Shine checked her scroll.
"All right, the others are in," she said. "Theo will probably be back soon. Weiss, Ruby, go stand guard and make sure he doesn't come in till you hear us start talking about making a deal. Or warn us if he does anyway."
They nodded and left.
"Everyone else, you can stay," Shine said. "But no interfering."
"Why is he here?" Watts looked at Ironwood.
"Because I asked him to be," Shine said.
"You told me," Ironwood muttered.
"Shut up," Qrow said darkly.
He did.
"You all go stand in the hallway," Shine said. "I need a moment with Watts. Hazel, you can stay."
Hazel nodded.
The others moved, but they heard everything.
Winter was the last one out, silently she pulled out her scroll and set it on a table behind Watts, then nodded at Shine before walking out.
"Arthur Watts," Shine began in her cold, intimidating tone that she used on the others to cow them. "Should I be surprised that you already snuck your way back into the kingdom?"
"I told the others--my plane malfunctioned," Watts said. "But as soon as I can get a new one, I'll be on my way."
Shine thought that was funny, and seeing no reason to hide this, she laughed.
"That's amusing to you?" Watts supposed she was just mocking him.
"No, it's just...it's funny that you think it's worthwhile to lie about this," Shine said. "Be a man and own up to it, Watts. You snuck back in on purpose. Waiting for Salem to come bail your rear end out, right? I wouldn't be amazed if you already got in touch with some of her minions."
"I assure you I didn't," Watts said.
"You're not a very good liar for a famous criminal," Shine said. "But it's okay, Watts. I actually wanted to thank you for sneaking back in. You did exactly what I wanted you to do."
There was a pause while Watts tried to detect her meaning, then he laughed. "Oh, surely not. That's not much of a bluff, is it?"
"The others will confirm if you don't buy it," Shine said. "I let you leave because I knew you would come back."
Watts raised an eyebrow. "To find my associates... Well...there's some sense in that theory, but you can't prove it."
"Sure I can," Shine said. "Because you met with Victoria Kanap earlier today, about 8-9 o'clock, wasn't it?"
The look of sly satisfaction froze on Watts' face.
"I had you watched after you got on that plane," Shine said, leaning on the back of a different chair and looking at him steadily. "But even better than that, would it surprise you to know that your connection with Kanap was not news to me?"
Watts raised an eyebrow.
"You don't believe that?" Shine said. "Do you recognize this picture?"
She held up her scroll and showed him the photos from the shop.
Watts looked surprised.
"An informant confirmed to me that your name was mentioned while this meeting happened," Shine said. "You sent her your regards. Do you remember this event?"
"That's not much proof," Watts said.
"You worked with Pietro's research team at the same time Kanap was working in Atlas, before she moved back here," Shine said, steadily. "When I interrogated you before, we already knew this. But you, so beautifully, confirmed everything we thought. In fact, you let us know that you knew even more about her real dealings than we thought you did. We knew about the Maiden already. I purposely played dumb so that you would tell me more."
Watts stared at her like he didn't buy it.
"I knew you would seek out Victoria if I gave you enough incentive," Shine said, walking around his chair slowly. "After I spoke to James, I knew you would offer to give us info in order to get out. I was sure that acting the way I did would allay any suspicions you had that it was a trick. And you did fall for it so splendidly, I have to thank you. You made my job so much easier. I mean, trying to beat it out of you would have been hard, and using Robyn would have made you catch on to what we were doing too soon. I prefer people being willing to cooperate on their own."
Watts still had an eyebrow raised.
"You thought I was naive, didn't you?" Shine managed to sound really mocking there. "That I was just trying to cut a deal out of desperation?" She chuckled. "It was easy to convince you, because you think everyone is stupid compared to you. You think you're the most clever prick in any room, and there's no way you could be played by someone else."
Watts glared at her there.
"But thanks for explaining what Victoria does to us," Shine said. "I mean, we already knew some of it, but you did give us some bonus tips. You're quite a useful informant--I wasn't wrong about that. A clever person is always more useful than a dumb spy. Still, you might want to check that ego of yours. It makes you very easy to manipulate. I imagine that's why Salem hired you. That blind spot is one she insists all her followers have in order to control them with. Playing her game isn't one I particularly enjoy, but I admit, it's kind of a rush. Bending someone to your will."
She didn't really like saying that last part, but you'd not have known it from her tone. She was a good actress.
Watts at least was convinced--he was too furious to think this might also be a trick.
"You snake!" he said. "You little viper! You dare to mock me in this manner?"
"What, did I hurt your feelings?" Shine was suddenly so scathing that you could have cut yourself on it.
Watts actually winced.
She faced him, eyes flashing. "Does it bruise your ego to think that a little snip like me outsmarted you, the great Arthur Watts, the biggest genius of Atlas? No, you couldn't have miscalculated--I just had to cheat. But let me let you in on something, Watts--nothing I told you was untrue. So, congratulations, you played yourself. All I had to do was plant the idea in your head, and you took it and ran with it. Remember, you offered to tip me off. I didn't ask you."
Watts was going to argue--and then he realized that was true.
There was an odd streak about Watts of assigning credit where it was actually due, the one thing about him that wasn't pure ego--and it kicked in.
While he hated it, he would not stoop to denying what happened just to make himself sound better.
So instead, he managed a smarmy smile and said, "Well, you've caught me. I do like to talk, I admit... Still, I helped you, didn't I? And after all, if you thought I was going to come back, you never should have let me go."
"But that was part of my plan," Shine said.
"Pardon?" Watts said oddly.
"I had to let you go so that you'd come back on your own," Shine said. "I had to be sure you'd cooperate with us."
"Excuse me?" Watts said.
"Well, you said it could be a trick when I offered to let you go," Shine said. "And I conceded that it could have been--but you left anyway and chose to return. I take it then you're okay with being tricked and I won't bother to apologize for what comes next here."
"What comes next?" Watts said, in a tone that said he was going to kill her in her sleep if he ever got the chance.
But Shine just smiled at him.
"You broke your basic parole," she said. "That means we can do what we want to you. You want to know the kicker? If you'd actually gone, I would have let you. Although, as you saw, I could have brought you back any time I wanted, and I almost always can." She held out her hand grandly. "I would have let you leave, escape, do whatever, because I'm not interested in working with a man who genuinely wants out of this nasty business. But you throwing yourself back into it without hesitation shows that you're more than eager to work on this. To put it in the crude, vulgar language you'll understand: I own you now."
Hazel raised an eyebrow at her, but he said nothing.
"You own... Excuse me?" Watts said. "You think you can force my cooperation?"
"Oh, sure I can." Shine suddenly sounded rather magnanimous almost in her tone. "Because let me tell you what happens if you don't cooperate. I have all these people listening right now who want you dead. The kingdom does also. I'm not going to kill you myself, but it was under my protection that you were allowed to live this long---didn't know that, did you? If I'd judged that you were better off dead, your execution would have been arranged for by the end of the day. I don't like to kill, but given the numerous crimes and lives on your hands, I'm not going to stand in the way of justice unless I think there's a better reward for it on the other side. Your release was conditional, and you have now removed yourself from any protection of the law against us. That's why I said you did exactly what I wanted. My plan the entire time was to get you into this particular position where a bargain would no longer be an option."
"What?" Watts had no clever comeback for that bizarre statement.
Shine leaned on her chin, still looking at him intimidatingly.
"Your life is your reward now," she said. "You will submit to interrogation on any matter I wish, with Robyn Hill's Semblance to guarantee that you answer every question as honestly as you know how to, and I'll let you live. Who knows? Maybe Salem will come for you eventually if you do. But until she does, you work for me. Or, I will leave this room, and everyone out there will hold a meeting with anyone who matters in this kingdom, tell them that you violated our deal and the punishment is death, and then I will let Ironwood be the one to shoot you in front of anyone who cares to see it."
Watts' finally gaped at her at how bloody this threat was.
The others were shocked also.
"I will also permit them to beat you beforehand if they want to," Shine added, by way of upping the ante. "Plenty of people here are angry at you, and they would love to take it out without consequences. On top of that, I will make sure this entire situation is broadcast on the news and I will send a record of it to every other kingdom in the world, so that everyone will know that Arthur Watts was brought down by his own arrogance and self conceit."
Watts swallowed.
"On top of that," Shine said, "I will deliver a record of these proceedings to anyone on your team who dares to show their face in this kingdom, before we deal with them in the same manner."
Watts gaped at her.
"So I'm going to ask this one time, and you have only one chance to answer it," Shine said.
She stood up again. "Do we have a deal?"
The silence was palpable.
Watts studied her like he was trying to gauge whether this was a bluff.
It wasn't.
Shine didn't waver.
Watts swallowed again. "Deal," he said with a look of loathing.
"Good." Shine smiled infuriatingly. "One more thing before we get started--I'm sure you'd like to kill me for this later, but a little bit of advice: You'd better make dang well sure that if you do, I'm the last one standing, because if I go down, you go down with me if anyone else is still around to ensure it. There will be no bargaining for it. And any mistake you make, if we find out, you will pay for. So I advise against getting cocky It's already cost you your freedom. If that's all cleared up, I'll bring Robyn in and we'll start that part, and then I will tell you what to do next. We'll untie you for this part. I assume I don't need to tell you not to try anything. You'd be mad to after that."
Watts looked at the floor.
He was clearly furious but wasn't willing to provoke her by saying something to show it.
Shine plucked the scroll up from behind him, to his chagrin, and hit the stop button on the record, then she smiled and stepped out of the room, shut the door, then let out a sigh.
"That was hard," she said.
Everyone stared at her.
"All right, Winter, tag in," Shine said. "Robyn, go. It'll be best to keep him thinking that I'm in charge, and delegating will help with that. I'll look in if I need to. Feel free to echo anything I said if he gets lippy. Make sure to ask him about Victoria in great detail, but stay off the Maiden. The less he knows that we don't know about that, the better for us. If he ever escapes, I intend him to only be able to tell Salem about the side quests."
"Oh, I get it," Wally said.
"You realize what you just did?" Ironwood said, sounding--oddly impressed but also incredous. "He'll want you taken down."
"Either that or I'll earn his respect," Shine said. "We'll see how he feels after he cools off from those burns. He doesn't strike me as quite as petty as Cinder, and I intend to get him more on our side if I can. But this had to come first. You have to break someone down before you can rebuild."
"Isn't that a brainwashing tactic?" Ironwood said.
"It's also an un-brainwashing tactic," Shine said. "Whether for good or evil, every reform must begin by tearing down the old stuff and building off it. If it was to make him my slave it would be brainwashing, but I don't intend to hold on to Watts any longer than I have to to get through this. He'll think the better of me in the end if I can let go of power, or he's a moron. I don't much like the guy, but his confrontation with Cinder told me one important thing about him: He has standards. No one else in that miserable group does. As Lewis pointed out in The Screwtape Letters, it can make him more of a devil than anyone else, but it also may be his own weak point to the Light. That may ruin all. It's a bet, but it's one I'll take over just rolling over and letting Salem have this. Even you knew he was too useful to kill, James."
Robyn and Winter went into the room with a glance at Ironwood that was both baleful and questioning.
"Miss Likstar," Jaune said, "don't be offended by this, but you're terrifying."
"Holy crap," was Nora's version of saying that.
Ren just stared at Shine.
"Wait, was I that bad?" Shine asked Wally.
"If I were Watts, I would have wet my pants," Wally said. "And I mean that in the best possible way. Batman would have been impressed with that, honey. I'll tell him all about it."
"Don't embarrass me," Shine said. "If he thinks I'm trying to copy him, I'll never hear the end of it."
"No, I think that's even more psychologically scary than his method," Wally said.
"I'd argue that the way he got to the Injustice Gang required a lot of cunning," Shine said.
"I'm sorry, you call yourself a good guy and you're willing to do that?" Tai said. "That was...it was like listening to a...I don't know, a villain in a movie."
"I threatened him with justice. What villain would do that?" Shine asked, but she seemed a little offended.
"It's not like we never use violence," Qrow said. He was shaking his head. "I wouldn't have done that, but it worked...I think. We could have used Robyn from the start to get info out of him. Was your real concern that it would have been too easy?"
"She could only have made him tell us what we could think to ask," Shine said. "Tricking him was more effective--he volunteered information we might not have thought to ask for. Sure, we could have tried, but even the best worded questions don't cover everything. The classic Monkey's Paw of the genie in the lamp thing--we're not that smart. Using his own wits against him was the only way to be sure he'd play himself. After all, when you're the opponent, you have to play yourself."
"Can I ask where you learned how to do this?" Ironwood asked. "People train for years to do this."
"Do they?" Shine said. "I guess I have trained for years, talking to villains and good guys alike, listening to how they lie or how they don't, and seeing what they do, predicting patterns. If you've a quick mind to study and a willingness to see things in people that you both like and don't like, it's amazing what you can learn from listening to them. You see, James, posturing and threatening them isn't enough. Threats only work on people who think that you're above them."
"And you really think Watts thinks you're above him?" Ironwood said.
"I don't know," Shine said. "But he knew Robyn would make it impossible for him to get out of this. So he didn't argue. I mean, we know he's willing to piss Cinder off, but is he willing to face that kind of humiliation posthumously? I thought that might shut him up."
"Would you have done all that?" Qrow asked.
"Yes," Shine said. "Empty threats are easy to see through. Someone had better think you're serious if you're going to use threats. And I have no moral problem with letting you guys do what you want. Watts is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, and he displays no remorse. Should I care if he dies? I only care in that I hate to see anyone perish, but justice still must be upheld. If he will not provide a reason to spare himself, I could not stand in your way any longer."
"So is that how this works?" Jaune asked. "You defend people who you think might give you a reason for it? But how do you know who will?"
"You go by what they've done to get to this point," Shine said. "Emerald defied Salem, so did Hazel. Mercury came to us from them." So far, she thought to herself. "Given that, no one should be dismissed who has shown any inkling that they may change their course. But, if after repeated attempts they will not, then the Word says 'let no eye pity them.' We should not pity people who could have been saved but willed it to be otherwise."
"How do you know that they really don't want to be saved?" Pyrrha asked. "That they just may not have believed you were sincere?"
"Any sign of that kind of doubt, I would be patient with," Shine said. "And have been before. Also so has Wally. But plenty of people know perfectly well when you're trying to help them, and they spit in your face out of pride. There are some, as Lewis said, who would not have Heaven, but would drag everyone down to hell with them instead. And in such cases, the feeling of pity must be cut off from them so that those of us who will be saved cannot be stolen from by those of us who won't. Otherwise, the fall of mankind would perpetually happen again and again throughout all time. That is why immortality, without goodness, is a curse. Who can stand to live forever with humans who will not learn? It's like hearing nails scraping on a chalkboard for all eternity. Wouldn't you go mad?"
"You say that like you're not human," Ren noted, grimly.
"No, I say it because I can imagine what it would be like to live with myself, had I never been lifted above the pit I lived in," Shine said seriously. "Coming to see it a bit like God does made me realize how fortunate we are that He still provides us a way out at all. Just as I did with Watts. Let's hope he's serious about taking it."
"That makes me think, in a way, this was an act of mercy." Pyrrha had her hand on her chin, looking bemused. "Because if you had not set this up, and he'd done what he did, we would have had to kill him or risk him selling us out again. But in a strange way, working for you would save his life. It would seem like using him to anyone who thought that he should just be let go, but ignoring his crimes, that would be insane for us to do. So our only choice is to employ him or kill him. But he's such a weasel that it looks like employing him would only get us hurt in the long run. However, if we can ensure he tells the truth, and that he has no possible method to escape us because of your gifts...then he has no motive to sell us out until his chances are better... Putting it that way, this plan was...astoundingly well thought out."
"Was it?" Shine said. "I did try hard to cover any openings. I mean, it's not perfect, but assuming he's got any sense at all, it should be sufficient."
"You played him like that, in the cell, on purpose?" Ironwood said. "I thought you were a fool, going on like that in front of him. But it was intentional? To goad him into... Likstar...how did you know it would work?"
"People skills?" Shine said. [This story has had a lot of Good Azula Shine moments, I must say. I can't un-see it ever since my sister brought that up in the X-men story.]