System Supervillain, Chapter 93 (Patreon)

Chapter 93 – Interrogations

“Well,” Stepford said, his voice cold, and even, “under Guild traditions of hospitality, traitors give up their rights of safety, so there’s no concern about dealing with him, or his entourage. However, simply eliminating the man out of hand seems wasteful, when it would be good to know exactly what the terms of selling us all out were.”

Maestro growled like a cornered beast, as he looked for a way out. His Chorus were four women, each of whom were dressed in fetching outfits that were most definitely not combat-rated. Even so, before he could turn, and order them to attack, Web Mistress snapped her fingers, and the four women disappeared.

“I edited their position data within the server. They are now in a holding area, so we can safely deal with them later.”

Stepford nodded, and said, “Thank you, Web Mistress, that simplifies things somewhat.” Turning back to the rest of the group, he said, “So, the situation is like this. Maestro is all but helpless without mental powers to support him. Most of us have abilities that can fight without using mental attacks, or our various companions have such things. Is anyone here skilled in interrogations without the use of mental abilities?”

Most of the villains just shook their heads. Why bother getting skills for such things, when you’re used to ripping secrets from peoples’ minds directly, right? Still, some of them did look up.

Party Girl was the first to speak. “I have the ‘familiarity only’ thing with the System thingy. So, unmodified roll of 8 or lower. But with it being opposed by an EGO roll? Don’t know if I can do much, on my own.”

“I have the skill,” Dollmaker said. “At least, I have it at the lowest version after familiarity. I have a 15 or under, according to this System.”

“That beats me,” said Hypnodomme. “I only have a 13 or under. And can I just complain that, even if it has been two years, it still sounds strange to be talking about my abilities as if we’re in some sort of game?”

That got a few laughs from everyone but Maestro, who was still nervously looking for any way out of his predicament. I raised a hand, and said, “I have the skill, as well, however, certain facets of my powerset make it so that I do not have the same Presence when dealing with men as I do with women, so I would be about as effective as Hypnodomme in this case.”

“Master,” Bloodmoon said, touching my shoulder, “in that case, why not let me try? I have a 17 or under on my Interrogation skill, and it is not limited by gender.”

I looked over at the rest of the villains. “Any objections?”

“I object!”

I glanced over at Maestro, and said, “Any objections from people who actually matter, I mean.”

Mistress Midnight actually laughed at that. “Really, Maestro? Did you actually think any of us would pay attention to your objections, after you betrayed us? I hate most of the villains here, and would gladly kill them under other circumstances, but I did not sell out the group, like you did.”

Stepford looked around, and said, “I don’t believe there are any objections. If you would, Bloodmoon?”

Bloodmoon nodded to Stepford, before looking over at Web Mistress. “Webs, can I get setting four?”

“Of course, Moony,” Web Mistress smiled. A wave of her hand, and the conference room turned into an operating theater, with tiered seats in an audience on three sides, and a steel operating table with straps on it to hold down any resisting prey. At the wall were rolling carts, with all the fun medical implements that one could think of for an operating room.

Bloodmoon uses Martial Grab (-1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab two limbs, 50 STR to hold on)

Bloodmoon’s Attack Roll (Maestro), OCV 9 = 10 (Hits DCV 10) (Hit)

Bloodmoon’s Grab: 10d6 = 34 (9 normal BODY)

Maestro’s Escape attempt: 3d6 = 15 (4 normal BODY) (Grabbed)

“Thank you, Webs!” Bloodmoon said cheerfully, before she moved with a quickness that Maestro couldn’t match. Before he knew what was happening, Bloodmoon was behind him, her arms pinning his to his sides. He tried to break free, but she was stronger than he was, even out of costume, and he could not beat her techniques. Even as he thrashed about, trying to get free, the winged villainess lifted him up off the ground, like he was little more than a child.

I nodded, approvingly, before looking over to one of my other pets. “Tammy, help Bloodmoon secure Maestro, and get him out of his costume. He won’t be needing it anymore, and I would rather him not have the benefit of any support features it might have.”

“Of course, Master,” the maid replied, before moving to support Bloodmoon.

In short order, the two had Maestro stripped naked and bound to the operating table. By that point, his futile struggling had turned to begging, as he quickly realized he was completely helpless. Naturally, my opinion of him reached new lows.

As the rest of us moved to the seating area to enjoy the show, I found myself sitting between Mistress Midnight and the Tamer. Midnight was the first to speak. “Tell me, Iceblade, what are the limits of this space? Web Mistress seems to have unbound powers here.”

I chuckled, and said, “That’s a complicated question to answer, Midnight. You could say that the limits are everything and nothing at the same time. In this place, all of us are, in essence, computer data, in a digital realm. And Web Mistress is an adept at manipulating data. That is how she remodeled Titan into Titania, after all.”

The Tamer frowned as he listened in. “So, the only thing keeping us safe is the Guild’s hospitality rules?”

“Yes, but that is little different than back when we were at Stepford’s lodge. The only difference is that you had more of a chance of taking down anyone who broke hospitality there than you would here. I hold to the Guild rules not because I am forced to, but because doing so encourages others to do the same with me. Even when dealing with people I know would like me dead, like Midnight, here, or Hypnodomme, it at least lets us interact as civilized people.”

“Hmph,” Midnight shook her head. “You are the strangest incubus I have ever come across. Most would have already pressed their advantage in this space, and used it to try and take control of all the women here. They are unruly, untamable creatures of lust, after all. But then, men are only slightly better.”

“Fortunately, I’m not an incubus. Merely borrowing the power of one sealed away. But I’m not going to preach at you, or try and convince you one way or the other about me. Or men in general. Hell, I might even agree with you on some points. But I also meant what I said before. You are the villain out of all of these who I would least like to take on in anything approaching a fair fight.”

“Really?” The Tamer asked. “You’re that scared of her? And not the others?”

I looked over at the man in a boy’s form, and said, “Her powers are the most difficult for me to counter out of everyone here, and she has more varied attacks than the rest of you. Also, while she has a chip on her shoulder the size of a baseball when it comes to men, she doesn’t let it control her, which means she doesn’t fly into a rage when someone tries to provoke her. Unlike some people who hate being compared to a kid.”

The Tamer stiffened, but I continued. “Your fight against Psyren was a clear fumble on your part. You didn’t secure a means of escape, essentially betting everything on your success, and then you let her draw you into a trap, because she enraged you beyond reason. That is something you have to work on, especially with the System making those kinds of weaknesses even more of a liability.”

The Tamer took a couple breaths to calm himself, and then nodded. “I see. That is something I will have to take under advisement.”

“Ooh, are we doing talk about different people’s weak points?” Party Girl asked as she draped herself over me from behind, her breasts resting on my head. “What about me, then, Icy? What would you do against me?”

“Yours is too easy, Party Girl,” Midnight chuckled, shaking her head. “Especially since he has an actual angel as one of his slaves, who can throw around holy attacks, or make an area holy ground. That would end you fairly quickly.”

“As she said, PG, I would drop some holy ground on you, which would make the fight easy. Most of the people here have some sort of good counter to most of their powers. Especially if you are defended from mental attacks. Midnight is the only one I wouldn’t be able to do that with, since while people say that she is weak against sunlight, actually getting her into the sun, with her mobility, is next to impossible, unless you have some kind of forced teleport. She can just hide out until nightfall, and then you’re on her home turf.”

Mistress Midnight frowned slightly. “You’ve given this a lot of thought, I see. So, you were serious about avoiding conflict with me?”

“Sure. I doubt we’ll ever be friends, since our mindsets are too far apart, but if I could convince you to take me off your list of kill targets, that’d be great.”

“Well, since you’re proving to be surprisingly reasonable, I would consider overlooking your existence, when you’re not doing anything that I despise in front of me. But, as you said, the System makes things difficult. The only reason I’m not itching to start a fight with you right now is because I have so many targets nearby, that the System isn’t letting me focus on just one.”

“I know you won’t accept, but Web Mistress could help with that. As mentioned, everything here is data, right now, including us. She could ‘rework’ your System disadvantages, if you like. Or you could go to the Guild for it, if you don’t trust her, through her connection to me. They have some psychic surgeons who know what to look for. But unless you want a reduction in points, you’ll have to replace the Disadvantages with something else.”

The Tamer frowned. “How do you know so much about the System, Iceblade? According to what I read on the forums, you have been consistently one of the most knowledgeable ones in terms of the intricacies of the System.”

“Not just that!” Party Girl added. “I actually was talking with Prohibition from the New York Knights, last time I was on a tour of New York. She was there, just making sure I didn’t start anything they’d have to take action on, y’know? But anyways, she was saying how you showed up in their headquarters just a few hours after the System launched, and gave them ideas on how to keep villains locked up without putting them in comas!”

“Master,” Web Mistress said, as she walked up the stairs nearby, “perhaps this group is one that can be trusted, once we’ve finished wringing Maestro out of any information that we can get.”

“Hmm,” I said, considering that for a moment. In truth, there wasn’t as much need for complete secrecy with the whole System Admin thing. In the beginning, while everything was still up in the air, I needed it to ensure that I didn’t get caught unawares by someone angling to take my spot. Now that things had settled, and there were no longer regular error reports getting thrown my way, thanks to the patches and updates that Web Mistress had handled, I could afford to have some people know that secret. Especially since it would encourage some of them to think twice about going against me.

“Well, why don’t we watch Bloodmoon at work, and when the squealer has squealed his last, then we can talk.”