章 33: 33 Interlude: A Canary's Lament
Lehigh County Parahuman Holding Facility, Pennsylvania
11:30, October 31st, 2010
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Paige Mcabee, better known by her stage name Bad Canary, or just Canary for short perks up when she hears the familiar tune of her song, Without Whisper, faintly enter her hearing, muffled though it is through her thick cell door.
For the past ten months she's been left with nothing at all to do, locked away in this steel coffin with a collar wrapped around her neck. But even worse than the physical restraints is the knowledge that if she were to even so much as start humming a tune to herself that every inch of her cell would turn into a very expensive bug zapper.
Yet somehow, somehow, being treated like a caged animal isn't even the worst thing about her life right now.
No, that dubious honour goes to the fact that she was just sentenced to life in the Birdcage only a couple of days ago.
And for what? Yes, she is a Master, but she's never had any interest in the Hero Villain business, she's never wanted to get into fights or hurt anybody. Hell, the worst 'crime' she'd ever done before all this crap was just smoking a little pot.
That's hardly enough to justify the Birdcage! Seriously, that place is full of literally the most powerful and deranged parahumans in the country; serial killers and rapists and the fucking Faerie Queen!
All she did was tell her asshole ex-boyfriend to go fuck himself! She didn't even mean to use her power, she didn't think he'd actually do it. But even then, he's not even dead! She hasn't even committed manslaughter, never mind murder!
Even fucking Dragon is on her side! How can they still send her to the literal closest thing to hell on earth when even Dragon, one of the greatest Heroes on the planet, is vouching for her?
All she wanted was to sing, to write music and share it with the world. That's all she's ever wanted. It's not like she's even been keeping her power a secret in the first place! Everyone who listens to her music knows about it, and most of her sponsors edited out her power's effects in post production anyway!
She was always very careful with her lyrics to make sure she doesn't inadvertently make anybody do anything. Her songs were all about making people feel better in the first place, so her power just helped people relax when they listened to the music. Provided they were listening to the unedited versions anyway, which always came with disclaimers.
But now, just because she's a Master that loves to sing and happens to have feathers growing out of her hair, she is going to be sent to the Birdcage for the crime of reminding people too much of the Simurgh.
Even her 'trial' was a complete sham. She was forced into Brute rated restraints for a power she doesn't possess, and had a fucking tube shoved down her throat alongside a fucking muzzle because apparently that was the only way to be sure she wouldn't use her power to effect the court's proceedings.
Not like they could have just had her attend over a video call or anything. She's sure it would take practically negative effort on Dragon's part to make some program or tech-thingamajig that could prevent her power from coming through with her voice.
But nooooo, let's just have a trial where the defended is not only incapable of defending herself, but isn't even fucking allowed to talk to her lawyer, never mind hire her own. Because she has no doubt in her mind that Mr Simmons was a fucking rat cunt that was never on her side in the first place, no matter what his fake, smarmy ass shitty cunt asshole smile was supposed to make her believe.
God she fucking hates that piece of shit condescending patronising bastard cuntface so fucking much. Almost as much as she hates her asshole ex who got her into this whole fucking mess in the first place.
The dickhead was trying to tell her that she owed her success to him because he pushed her onto the stage and that he should get half her profits because of it. As if she was never going to get on a stage anyways, all he did was push her to do it before she was ready, the dick.
The best part is that she would have been willing to share her success with him in the first place. Not enough that she would have given him access to her bank account, but she would have been happy to be the breadwinner so he doesn't have to work if he didn't want to.
But of course, she can't have nice things, can she? She probably should have seen it coming anyway, since she usually had to finish herself off when they had sex, she should have seen his insecure ass lashing out coming
Fucking piece of shit. He's lucky she's not half the Villain they're making her out to be, because nearly a year spent in almost total isolation has left her with plenty of time to come up with all sorts of creative ways she could get back at them all for this injustice.
All she fucking wanted to do was sing! To be a pop star! Was that really too much to fucking ask!?!
Sighing to herself, she slumps down onto the uncomfortable steel slab they call a bed here as her righteous anger leaves her just as quickly as it came, a bone deep weariness taking it's place as long dried eyes threaten to spill tears once more.
She just wanted to sing.
That's it.
That's all she's ever wanted.
The muffled sound of her song Without Whisper grows louder and she feels her rage rapidly returning in full force.
Now will they shut the fuck up! What is this even supposed to be? Is treating her like an animal not enough that they feel like tormenting her with her own music now!? For what? To remind her of what she's lost? To make sure she can't forget the life that has been ripped away from her!?
Well the jokes on them because she hasn't stopped thinking about that since day one!
The music grows louder and whether it's the result of how she's been treated recently, but she starts to seriously consider trying to punch anyone who opens the door right in their fucking face, damn the punishment.
And really, what more can they do to her? Her life is already over as surely as if she'd gotten a Kill Order. So fuck them, and fuck Dragon too. She knows it's unfair of her to curse the Canadian Tinker, Dragon has been nothing but kind with her, and has been literally the only person on her side this entire time.
But even still, a part of her can't help but resent Dragon for not doing more. She doesn't even think it's all that unreasonable of a thing to ask. Dragon is an internationally recognised Hero. She's heard people debate over who has done more good for the world, Dragon or the Triumvirate.
The fact that people would even make that comparison speaks highly of Dragon's accomplishments. But it's the fact that the debate is Dragon against the entire Triumvirate, instead of just one. The fact that it's not even really in doubt who has done the most good for the world shows just how much fame and pull Dragon should have.
Yet the Hero can't save one measly musician from getting the second worst sentencing possible to come out of a court trial just for a little Criminal Mayhem. What kind of charge is Mayhem anyway? What is this, a cartoon world? Is she going to get tomfoolery added to her sentencing posthumously? It wouldn't surprise her with the kangaroo court she went through.
And she only even knows the term kangaroo court because one of the many guards that has dragged her around the past few months actually seemed to sympathise with her and discreetly let her know that not everyone is happy with the shit she's going through.
Apparently her fans are doing a little rioting, which probably shouldn't make her feel better but honestly knowing that there are people who support her enough to riot for her, however ineffectually, does actually make her feel a bit better.
Of course she'd be even happier if she wasn't going to be introduced to the worst the world has to offer within two days.
But right now, what would make her most happy would be if her jailers would stop mocking her with HER FUCKING MUSIC!!
Finally having enough of it, Paige jumps to her feet and begins stomping over to the door, completely lacking any composure she might have had before experiencing 9 months of complete isolation.
"Will you turn THAT FUCKING SHIT OFF YOU MOTHER-"
Right before she can reach the door to start banging on it, an offensively loud and sharp tearing sound has her recoiling back and covering her ears as a noise even worse than nails being dragged along a blackboard rake over her.
So intense is the sound that her mind blacks out for a second, all thoughts leaving her and her eyes closing in the barest hopes of reducing any kind of sensory input.
Only after a moment that felt far too long, does the sound finally come to a stop, and it's only when she unsteadily stands that she even realises that she was crouched on the ground.
Slowly bringing her hands away from her ringing ears, Paige hesitantly opens her eyes, and her jaw immediately gapes at the sight before her.
The previously indominable seeming door of solid, multi-inch thick steel has been pulled open as if a simple curtain of cloth. As she stares, the buff, and for some reason shirtless, man, who presumably is the one who tore her cell door open, takes a step back and to the side.
Her mind can hardly even finish rebooting enough to wonder if he's going to say anything before someone else saunters into her cell. Paige's brain that is already struggling to catch up to the sudden turn of events gets another shock as she takes in the woman's dress.
She is, for some reason, wearing what could only be described as a slutty witch Halloween costume. It doesn't even have a skirt, just the black one-piece corset thing that looks like those one-piece swimsuits, only made out of leather. Or spandex, honestly she has no idea, she just knows cloth isn't s'posed to be so reflective.
At least the leather boots go up to the woman's thighs, so it's not like her entire legs are on display?
Actually, looking at it in front of her, the boots just make it all seem even more slutty. A thought that isn't helped when she finally looks the woman in the eye and observes her sultry smirk.
...She's been in prison for a while now, that's her excuse for why she got caught checking out her rescuers.
They are here to rescue her, right? Why else would they be here? Oh god, are they part of the people who want to kill her for having feathers growing from her hair? It's not like she wanted to resemble the Simurgh! She just wanted enough powers to help her career! They said-
"Bad Canary! I'm such a huge fan!~"
The strange woman interrupts her train of thought and as if smoke in the wind, Paige's rapidly rising anxiety evaporates like it was never there.
"Uh- um, nice to meet you?" She asks before immediately mentally kicking herself for such a bad response.
A shirtless muscle man just tore through the solid steel of her cell so that a sexy witch can tell her how much of a fan she is, so forgive her if she's a little off balance right now.
"I'm sure it is~," the witch singsongs, walking up to Paige with a swing to her steps that has her swallowing a suddenly dry throat.
Without even really thinking about it, Paige moves back in time with the woman as she approaches until her back hits the wall. With no more space to flee, she can only watch the woman close the distance between them until they are so close that their chests push up against each other, which is unfortunately more of a compliment for the woman than a statement of Paige's own bust.
With the woman pinning her to the wall, Paige would have expected to feel her anxiety, but instead she is left only with unsteady legs and a rapidly growing heat in her core.
"I know it's Halloween," the sexy woman whispers, even though Paige can hardly hear it over her own beating heart, "but my name's Valentine. It's nice to meet you, Canary~."
Paige's mind blacks out for a moment when the woman, Valentine's, lips suddenly push against her own, a tongue swiftly finding its way into her mouth, pushing against her own in such a way that she can feel her knees buckle.
The feeling of Valentine's roaming hands after so many months in isolation is like a pair of hot coals running up her waist until they claim her mounds like a treasure, each squeeze sending jolts of pleasure through her spine as the woman massages her breasts in just the right way that she feels herself clench down just from the sensation alone, a breathy moan tearing its way from her throat.
And then the feeling disappears.
The world snaps back into place so quickly she's half surprised she doesn't get emotional whiplash, and the first, instinctual thing she does is shove the woman in front of her as hard as she can.
Which turns out not to be very hard...
The woman barely stumbles a step back, her cheeky grin never leaving her face as she looks Paige in the eye with noticeable amusement.
"W-w-what the fuck was that!? Did you just Master me!?!" What kind of a joke is this? She's locked up here in the first place for just being a Master! Is this supposed to be ironic? Well she isn't hearing the fucking laugh track! Should she turn to stare at some hidden camera!?
"Maybe just a little," the woman admits, yet Paige suddenly can't find it in herself to be mad about the fact. "But really, what's a little Mastering between friends?~"
There are so many things wrong with that statement that Paige wouldn't even know where to begin. Well, not that she really feels like responding right now anyway. Maybe she'll give the witch a piece of her mind later.
"Well, anyway, greetings have gone on a bit too long and we are actually on something of a time schedule here, so I'll get to the point." Paige gets the feeling that whatever is about to be said is very important, so she makes sure to give the woman her full attention.
"You, Paige Mcabee, are at a crossroads right now. Before you lies two choices. You can either stay in this cage, and patiently wait for them to shove you into The 'Cage," she certainly doesn't want that, "or, you can come with me," that sounds like a much better option, "and become a Villain in truth," never mind, that's a horrible option, "the choice is ultimately yours to make."
Feeling motivated again, the first thing Paige does is scowl at the woman giving her her options. "Stop Mastering me. How can you expect me to choose to follow you when you keep fucking with my head?"
"Meh, you're making a mountain out of a molehill here. It's not like I'm going to Master a decision out of you, that would just be asking to get stabbed in the back. I was just Mastering you for fun and convenience.~ But don't worry, that's part of the fun!"
"It's not very fun for me," Paige grouses, narrowing her eyes when it causes Valentine to smirk.
"I don't know~," her singsong voice returns, "you sounded like you were enjoying it quite a bit earlier~."
Paige's face flushes with both anger and embarrassment. "That doesn't count! You basically drugged and sexually assaulted me! That's not a good thing stop looking so proud about it damnit!"
Valentine just laughs. She laughs so hard that by the time she calms down she has to wipe a tear from her eye before she can respond. "Wow, you are just a riot, Canary~. But as much fun as this is, that schedule I mentioned is getting tighter, so Imma need you to answer real quick."
"What? Oh, right, that." Paige shakes her head in a vague attempt at clearing her head. Too much is happening too fast and she's struggling to keep up.
"I'll repeat the offer," Valentine interjects and she hates that the gratitude she feels for that is probably genuine. "Basically, either leave with me or let yourself spend the rest of your life in the 'Cage, where we both know you'd have to become someone's Bitch to survive past your first three days."
...Can she get a third option? Why are both choices so bad? What the fuck did she do wrong to deserve all this shit?
God she just wants to go home.
"It's not really much of a choice, is it?" She eventually answers, honestly feeling more exhausted than anything else at this point.
She's just tired.
"I'd say it's a pretty simple one. Honestly, why are you even hesitating? I mostly just gave you the options as a formality, we both know what you'll choose."
"You know saying that makes me want to let them 'Cage me just out of spite right?"
"Haha, I can tell," and Paige has no doubt that she can tell, "but I also get the feeling you've got an unnecessarily bad opinion of me."
The deadpan look she gives the woman speaks more than words, and she chuckles again at the sight of it.
"Ok, yes, I may be a Villain, and I may be a Master, and I might be a really bad person with at least one screw loose, but it's not like I'm going to try and make you copy me, I'm literally only here because I like your music and because you're a Master too. If you come with me, I won't even ask you to do El Crime, I just want you to keep making albums so I can keep illegally downloading them off the internet~."
"...You don't even pay for my albums?" Paige asks, feeling oddly defensive.
"Villain~," Valentine responds as if it answers everything, which.... it kinda does. "Now stop dallying, we really do have to go now, so either agree or don't, but do it now."
Sighing to herself, Paige hopes she isn't going to regret her choice. More than that, she hopes that she will still be herself by the end of it.
Risking getting regularly, or permanently Mastered beats out getting disappeared into the 'Cage, though only barely.
"Fine, I accept."
"Nuh-uh, you have to say 'Please save me Valentine!'"
"What happened to being on a time limit?"
"This is important."
Sighing again, Paige deeply hopes that this isn't a representation of what her future is going to be like. "Please save me Valentine."
"D'aww, you're so cute~," the probably crazy woman coos, making an obscene expression that only now makes Paige realise that she's not even wearing a mask.
Great. The only capes that don't really wear masks are the crazies with nothing left to lose. Or those New Wave people, but she's not even really sure if they're still around. Didn't they get killed by Nazis or something?
God Brockton Bay is a weird city that that is a sentence she just thought.
Whatever, that hardly matters right now.
Instead, she chooses to focus on following after her new 'Master', and she does feel terrible about making that pun but she'll take whatever distracting thoughts she can right now.
Of course, she can only distract herself for so long before she can no longer ignore all the people writhing on the floor that they pass.
"W-what did you do to them?" She finds herself asking, and quickly regrets opening her mouth when doing so earns her the return of Valentine's attention.
"Oh that," Valentine waves her hand, speaking lightly and with a knowing smile, as if she's silently laughing at some inside joke. "I just played a certain melody in their mind, that's all."
"Will they get better?" Once more she curses her stupid mouth for letting itself speak right now.
"Who knows~. The effect of my power will fade, but whether or not they forget the song is another thing entirely. After all..."
Valentine pauses right as they reach the threshold of the building, twisting her chest enough to face her, and even with the light of day silhouetting her form, Paige won't be able to forget the wide-eyed, maniacally grinning expression on the woman's face, no matter how much she'd like to.
"...Her song has never left my head."
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Subject Title: Valentine
Subject Name: Cherie Vasil
Power Classification: Master 7 (Sub: Thinker ?)
Affiliation: Villain, Heartbreaker (Formally), Heartbroken, Clowns*
Place of Residence: Canada, Varying**
Date of Birth: October 2nd, 1990
Status: Active
Height: 5'7
Weight: 130lbs~
Class S Threat: No***
Appearance: Conventionally attractive, Dark hair with one red streak running through, Self confident, Irreverent.
General Assessment:
Cherie Vasil is the second daughter of Nikos Vasil (See: Heartbreaker). It is unknown what childhood was like for her and her many siblings, but she eventually joined her father's work with her remarkably similar power.
During this time, she had proven herself to be as much as both a hedonist and a sadist as her father, not showing any hesitance to leverage her power to use and abuse whoever she felt like.
This lifestyle lasted until [REDACTED] when [REDACTED] killed her father after [REDACTED]****. With her father gone, Cherie took control of her family (See: Heartbroken) and has started rapidly expanding her network with far greater efficiency than Nikos ever showed.
Her connection to The Clowns is suspected but unconfirmed.***** Act with the assumption that she is counted among their number until further notice.
Amendment: 2010/11/03 15:06: Connection to The Clowns has been confirmed after the subject has started posting selfies with Canary (See: Bad Canary) online with the 'Verified Clown' tag.
General Personality:
Intelligent and completely lacking in empathy, Cherie is a pure Hedonist with no morals or limits. She enjoys experiencing highs, either from drugs, sex, alcohol, or simple adrenaline highs. She also appears to enjoy forcing others to experience lows, being an extreme sadist who finds pleasure in causing physical and emotional suffering to others.
Beyond this, she is noted to be blatantly deranged and occasionally bipolar. A trait that only started showing in her after meeting [REDACTED].
Treat her words with caution and never trust her, even if you believe with every fibre of your being that you should.
Powers:
Emotional manipulation, limits unknown. She has shown to be capable of effecting someone from a distance of one hundred and thrity-two(132) feet. It is believed that her power produces stronger effects the closer she is to the victim.
It is likely that she is limited to line-of-sight with her emotional manipulation like her father (See: Heartbreaker). The most noted difference between Cherie's power and Nikos' is that her power's effects appear to be less permanent than her fathers, as rehabilitation of her victims has shown to be easier than Nikos' victims (See: Page 11).
It is possible, but unconfirmed, that she possess the ability to sense emotions at a much greater range than she can manipulate them.
Additional notes:
*The Clowns are not an official organisation, but rather a colloquial term used for the large group of Parahumans with clown-like themes that are each in contact with one another, having formed an alliance of sorts, under the heading of Lusia Abel (see: Clowns).
**The Heartbroken typically do not stray far from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
***Due to the nature of her power, any contact between Subject: Cherie Vasil and any potential Class S Threat is to be avoided at all cost.
****It is unknowns why [REDACTED] was [REDACTED] but it is assumed that [REDACTED] is at least somewhat friendly with Subject: Cherie Vasil, as otherwise she would likely be dead. It is possible that [REDACTED] was influenced by Cherie's power before the events of [REDACTED]
*****(See: Amendment: 2010/11/03 15:06)
******Profile pending revision.
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Been a while since I did a profile, but provided I don't keep forgetting, I'm gonna want to do a bunch more of them. Partly cuz they're surprisingly fun to write, but also because if I do enough of them then I might actually end up with detailed notes on all my characters!
Also, this was supposed to be the last interlude for now, but what was supposed to be the first half ended up being an entire chapter, so next chap will be the last interlude before we're jumping back into the plot at canon times.
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