Chapter 42 Zero.

Chapter 42: 42 Zero.

"You’re the subject. Sorry to trouble you, but he’s got some information I need, and he’s being... uncooperative."

"Aww, that’s boring!" Psyren said, letting me go and creeping toward the jug. "We can’t have that. When the boss asks you something, you answer. That’s kinda the whole point of having a boss."

"She actually calls you boss?" Patty asked, cocking her head toward me.

"It’s a complicated story," I said.

"The boss is letting me become his apprentice," Psyren said, tapping the gently humming jug.

"Okay, maybe it’s not that complicated," I admitted. "Think you can pull anything out of him?" I asked.

"Pfft! Please. Obviously I can, bossman," Psyren said lazily, her fingertips gliding across the jug’s glass. Her glowing eyes slid toward me as she flashed a grin.

"People absolutely love telling me things. Their dirty little secrets. All those juicy little details they thought they’d carry straight into the grave. Ohhh baby," she hummed, her voice taking on that strange resonance that came with her psychic abilities. "We’re going to have some lovely... intimate conversations. But folks don’t always handle having their minds dug through very well," she added, looking back at me. "You cool with that, boss?"

Like I gave a damn what happened to William after everything he’d pulled.

"This asshole broke into my apartment and tried to murder me, and he knows something about Glacia’s whereabouts," I said. "So long as I get the information, I don’t care if you scramble his brain."

Psyren let out an excited squeal and clapped her tiny hands. "Oh, boss! You have no idea how happy that makes me. Bro never lets me mindwipe anybody. Says it’s unethical or whatever other boring bullshit."

Steve gave a thoughtful nod. "Yeah, man. That’s bad news. Nice girls shouldn’t be doing stuff like that. Nope. Definitely not."

I understood the sentiment, but I knew there was more behind Steve’s refusal.

Steve had been around this business for far too long for that to be his only concern. The real problem was that psychics who used their powers recklessly tended to have very short careers.

Nobody wanted somebody who could peek inside their head hanging around, not even other villains. Just think about it.

You spend all that time crafting some elaborate villainous 4D chess scheme, only for some psychic to walk in and expose the whole damn thing after rummaging around in your skull for two seconds? Absolutely not.

Nobody likes spoilers, but people with names like Doom and The Discombobulator (a real villain, I swear) especially weren’t fans. If you’re busy doing evil shit, letting someone freely rifle through your thoughts is a terrible precedent.

That’s why psychic villains were usually the big shots, rather than the disposable grunts. They got killed off way too quickly otherwise. And Psyren was much more ’manic sidekick’ than evil mastermind.

"Get whatever’s in his head out, one way or another," I said. "If he doesn’t survive, he doesn’t survive."

"Ooooh, you just gave me goosebumps, boss," Psyren giggled. "You’re really bringing out my naughty side. Alright, ink-boy. Let’s get started."

I shut down the mixer, allowing its rumbling to gradually fade. Once the last of the sloshing stopped, Psyren planted both hands against the jug, and a pink glow began blooming inside her eyes.

"Hey, inky," Psyren crooned, her voice sinking into a deep echo, as though it were traveling down some endless tunnel. "How you doing?"

"Wh-wh-who a-a-are y-y-you?" William asked, still scrambled from the mixing. Honestly, that probably made Glacia’s job easier anyway.

"I’m your beeeeest friend," Psyren sang, her voice so gleefully malicious that it sent a shiver down my spine.

"W-what?" William muttered, his face slowly reforming against the glass as his dull eyes settled on Psyren.

"That’s right. I’m your bestest, sweetest, most amazing friend in existence," Psyren said, her pupils pulsing as the pink light shaped itself into hearts. Her voice developed that smooth, musical quality I’d heard during her performance. "And you’re my number-one fan. And you wanna tell me everything, don’t you?"

William’s face spread across the glass like some horrifying Rorschach blot, his mouth gradually slackening as if his features were melting back into the darkness of his ooze.

The beating he’d taken from the mixer was probably part of why Psyren’s influence was taking hold so quickly, but I’d give the girl her due. She knew her way around her powers.

"I... I..." William managed.

"Come on," she whispered, her voice carrying that hypnotic pull, her palms gliding over the glass with the tenderness of a lover.

"You can tell me. Don’t you wanna make me happy? I know you’ve been thinking about me constantly. Completely in love with me. Absolutely fascinated by me. I’m just soooo sexy. Soooo cute. Soooo hot that my beautiful voice makes you powerless to resist. Don’t you wanna be my good boy? My sweet friend? Don’t you wanna make me happy?" she cooed, her voice smooth as wine and every bit as intoxicating, her fingertips tapping against the glass like raindrops striking a metal roof. "Don’t you wanna tell me every single thing I wanna know?"

"Kn... know?" William murmured, his voice flattening into a monotonous drone. "But... I like... girls with big... tits..."

Psyren’s grin tightened. "Excuse me?" she asked sweetly, the seductive vibration disappearing from her voice and being replaced by something far more threatening. "I must’ve misheard you. Surely you meant to say you adore small tits. You’re completely obsessed with them. That’s what you meant, right?"

"I..."

"Right?" Psyren snarled, psychic pressure making the glass of the jug groan.

Yeah, that conversation was going downhill fast. "Can we stay on topic?" I said. "Besides, who gives a shit what he likes? He’s a sentient puddle!"

Psyren’s lips pushed into a pout. "Fine," she grumbled, returning to stroking the jug, her touch gentle as her voice once again settled into that silky, hypnotic rhythm. "Come on. You wanna tell me everything you know," she purred.

"I want to... tell..." William groaned, his features once again sagging into helpless obedience.

"Goooood. Now tell me what happened to Glacia," Psyren said.

"The... Our Lady?"

"Our Lady? Ooooh, that’s adorable. Where’d that nickname come from?" Psyren asked, voicing the same question I’d been wondering about. "Come on. Tell me. You know I live for gossip. You know it’d make me soooo happy to hear it. And you wanna make me happy, don’t you?"

"Want to... make you... happy..." William slurred.

"Goooood boy. Now give me the juicy stuff."

"Call her... Our Lady Because she... she is the Our Lady..." William said blankly. "Daughter of... of the master..."

"The master?" I asked.

"Master?" Psyren repeated, giggling. "Ooooh, how exciting! Why don’t you tell your sexy friend exactly who this master of yours is?"

"Master..." William groaned. "Master... is... Captain Zero..."