So if we’re about to leave Charlotte to think, is the next step checking on Bryce?

Well, I hadn’t solved the Charlotte problem just yet, but I’d at least addressed it.  If I was honest with myself, part of the reason I told her to wait on her answer was to buy myself a reprieve, give myself time to think.

Ah, and giving Taylor some time to think too.

Maybe that was a bad idea, because being left to ponder let the anxiety build up.  I was worried.  Not just about Charlotte, but about my territory.  Had the Merchants attacked it in the meantime?  Lisa had said they would mostly be at the party, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure.

Hm, yeah, that would be a problem. It really wouldn’t look good to promise protection and then fail to protect the area from Merchants within 12 hours.

Grue would have been watching it for me, but he’d be tired, and he didn’t have the same awareness over the area that I did.

Yeah, he’d have to rely on different tactics of some sort.

Charlotte looked at her hands.  Her knuckles and fingertips were torn up, and she had a shallow cut on the side of her neck.  “This isn’t anything worth worrying about.”

Fair, though John Cleese might disagree.

“The way this city is right now?  You’ll get an infection if you don’t get that taken care of.  Relax.

Oh yeah, good point.

Believe it or not, you’re safer right here, right now, than you’ve been for the past few weeks.  Breathe, think about what you want to do.”

I guess Taylor’s including the whole broken city situation, not just the unknown amount of time Charlotte spent with the Merchants.

She glanced around, and I could tell she didn’t believe me.  Still, she met my eyes and offered me a nod.

Well, that’s something.

Funny, how everything always seemed to tie back to the beginning.  I was put in mind of the conversation I’d had with the Undersiders on our second meeting.  The same conversation that had led to me joining them.

Huh… I guess this is kind of reminiscent of that.

“I’m afraid the full details only come with membership,” I echoed Lisa’s words to me from back then. 

Hah! I love it.

I wonder if Lisa can hear this conversation and is wearing a subtle smirk right now.

“I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?”

I mean, the other option is apparently out, so I guess not.

…the out is out.

“You do.  More than you think.  Don’t give me a response just yet.  Think about it for a bit.  You’re staying at least until you get those scrapes and scratches looked at.”

Yeah, Cleese ain’t gonna let you leave before that.

Her head hung, “I… don’t think I can leave like that.  I wanted to, before all of this, but my zaydee, my grandpa, he refuses to leave, and he can’t take care of himself when the city’s like this.  It’s why we didn’t evacuate.”

Zaydee? Sounds like an implication of Charlotte’s ancestry and culture. I’m not going to google it in case I’m wrong and it’s just a Worm thing (though I find that unlikely), so I’m going to guess that it’s a word from a Native American language of some variety.

“You could tell your mom and grandpa some of what happened.  That the Merchants got you, that you got away, that you don’t feel safe here.”

Yeah, if the grandpa remains stubborn after that, I don’t think I’ll like him very much.

She buried her face in her knees.  “No.”

Oh? Not willing to tell them about it, is that the issue?

“Okay.  So that leaves option two.”

Here we go. If option one is leave, option two is stay. And I don’t just mean in the city.

“I’m not going that route,” I told her, “I don’t want to be that kind of bad guy.”

Oh, okay, sticking to the honesty.

She looked up at me.

“I’m improvising, and you’re going to have to forgive me if my ideas are a little rough around the edges… but two ideas spring to mind.  Number one is that you leave.  I’m offering you an out.”

…

Is my idea actually happening? Because if one option is leave, the other is…

“Leave?  The city?”

I nodded.  “Leave Brockton Bay.  You have any family here?”

Oh.

“My mom.  She’s doing the training to join the construction crews.”

That might put her in contact with Danny.

“You’d leave the city with your mom.  Put all this behind you, the ruined city, what happened at the mall, me, everything.”

Given the state of the town right now, and what Charlotte has been through, it probably wouldn’t be hard to convince her mom without saying “a villain is forcing me to”.

Though I guess the question of “how did you get away” would come up anyway.

“I’m a villain,” I agreed.

“And you’re going to tell me that if I ever open my mouth, you’ll kill me.”

Yeeeah, no, that’s not how this particular villain works. Better still keep it shut, though.

“That is one option.  Or, theoretically speaking, I could hurt you or your loved ones.”

And for the purposes of making her do that, some bluffing is in order.

She deflated, which was pretty impressive given that she hadn’t exactly been brimming with vigor before I’d opened my mouth.

*makes the sound of a balloon letting out air*

It was like she didn’t even have the energy to be afraid.

It’s been a long day. Plus however long she spent with the Merchants.

I sighed, “Look, Charlotte, I’m not your enemy.”

Always good to establish that.

“You saved my life,” she said.

Yeah, I’m glad she acknowledges that here.

Although, as I’ve said, it’s worse grounds for trusting someone than many think.

“That’s maybe an exaggeration.  I saved you from being assaulted by those men, probably-”

I was kind of thinking the same thing, but the way Taylor’s getting cut off here makes me think Charlotte is about to give us more details that show how staying would likely have led to her death.

I could see her shrink into herself.

“-I’m sorry.”  I finished, lamely.

Oh, never mind, Taylor was cutting herself off.

Yeah, I guess this technicality isn’t the best thing to remind Charlotte of right now.

“You’re a villain,” she said, and it took me a second to realize it was more of a non-sequitor than an admonishment for reminding her of what had nearly happened to her.

That moment of confusion is entirely fair. Then again, it doesn’t really need to be a non-sequitur, per se – she might be bringing it up as an implied question about “why”.

But it’s also important as a moment of acknowledgement of that fact out loud between the two of them.

She shook her head with a glum expression on her face.

Seeing that, I answered her question from before, “I brought you here because I wanted you to know that our group isn’t just a few kids in costumes running around.  We’re an organization.”

Oh damn.

Yeah, if she wasn’t already intimidated…

“I don’t want to know this!” she said, clutching her pants leg in her hands.

Ahh, she’s gotten terrified of knowing even more too much than she already does.

“You need to,” I started.  I was about to go on to say something more, but I was distracted as another group of soldiers entered the room.  They carried a white cooler between them, and set it at Bryce’s bedside.

Another group? Subservient to Dr. Cleese, maybe?

I lost my train of thought as I watched to see if Bryce was okay.

The cooler was opened, and bags of blood were hung on the wall beside Bryce.

Oh, going for a blood transfusion?

Once that was done, the soldiers wordlessly carried the cooler out the door.

See ya, maybe.