Chapter 5: Shocking Revelations

The next day was the worst one yet. Charlie's mood was lowest it had been since she first got kidnapped, and she couldn't bring herself to do much more than sit and count the number of stained ceiling tiles above her. There were thirty two and a half, all lined up and yellowed like the teeth of someone who drank a lot of coffee and didn't go to the dentist.

Or maybe it was like a piece of grid paper that you would use in math class, except someone had spilled their soda on the paper before they even began to use it. She brought up her hand, and began to trace math equations in the air.

It was kind of funny, Charlie thought, how your brain gave you something to think about when you were totally and completely bored. Read the back of a lotion bottle, count the flowers on the bedspread, tie the loose fibers of the rug into a braid. Anything to keep from going crazy, she assumed.

After a while she grew bored of the ceiling tiles and ran a hot bath. Well— as hot as she could get the water to be, which was just a shade warmer than lukewarm. Once in the tub she set to work counting the ugly carnations on the ugly, peeling wallpaper. Sixteen in each row, watery and moldy. Some of them were just muddy pink blobs.

A sudden knock at the door barely did anything to pull her out of the trance.

"Are you dead in there? I hope you're not dead. I'm really not in the mood to haul your body off to a landfill."

With the filtered, robotic voice, it was hard to tell if she was joking or not. Charlie didn't know if she was capable of humor anyway.

"I'm only dead on the inside."

Charlie tried to say it back just as flatly, but it mostly just came out whiny.

The door to the bathroom started to jiggled and Charlie screeched And hopped up, nearly slipping and actually dying in the process.

"You can't come in here! I'm naked!" Charlie said, scrambling for her clothes.

"Uh, Okay. I was just going to let you know there's a call on the secure line again. I need to grab it before they hang up and—"

Charlie slapped her clothes on without drying off and busted through the door, not hesitating one bit as she grabbed Shadow Witch's hand.

"Uh—"

"What are you waiting for? Houdini me into there!" Charlie said.

Shadow Witch sighed and snapped at the same time. This time the teleportation barely phased her, only making her feel a little bit disoriented. After just a minute or two she was able to happily walk over and stand beside the chair Shadow Witch always sat in.

Once again, it was her father on the screen, only this time Copper Knight was with him. He stood a little off to the back, his hands behind him and a stern, unpleasant look on his face.

"Hello, Mr. Delacqua. Have you finally come around to my terms?" Shadow Witch said evenly. She spoke fats, as if she was trying to get the first word in.

"No. I was actually wondering if you had come around to mine." Her father said. He always looked stern, but now he looked even more unhappy than he usually did.

Charlie glanced nervously down at Shadow Witch, worried she would get angry and end the transmission again. It seemed her fears weren't unfounded as Shadow Witch quickly replied.

"Goodbye then. Call back when you're ready to work with me."

"B, Stop it!" The Copper Knight snapped as her finger hovered over the button.

Shadow Witch leaned back slightly and crossed her arms, but said nothing.

Copper knight continued.

"I know you feel hurt right now, but you don't know the whole situation. Please think about what you're doing. Do you think TJ would have wanted this? How do you think he would have felt right now if he saw you?"

"Shut up!" Shadow Witch brought her fist down onto the table with a bang. "You have no right to use something like that against me! You don't know anything about what TJ would have wanted!"

Copper knight held up his hands defensively.

"I'm not using it against you, B. You need help—"

"And you're patronizing me too. Typical. I'm just a problem to you. I always have been." Shadow Witch said, nearly seething at this point.

"You know that's not true."

"I know what's true. And I know what the company you're in the lap of is doing. I don't know how you can sell out like that. It makes me sick. What do you think TJ would have thought about what you're doing? How do you think TJ would feel about you?"

"It's not like that. You don't have all of the information, B."

"I have enough." Shadow Witch said. "And my word is final. I want what I asked for, and that's the only way I'm letting Charlie go."

"I think you've tried your best, Mr. Barber." Her father cut in. "Now it's time to actually try and do something to get my daughter back, so don't take what's about to happen to personally."

Shadow Witch scoffed.

"And what do you plan to do, exactly?"

Mr. Delacqua tapped on his earpiece.

"It's time, Harleigh." He said.

There was a long stretch where the room was quiet, save for the quiet hum of the computers. Shadow witch glanced around, like she was waiting for something to happen. Charlie did the same, though much more fearfully. Copper Knight looked like the most nervous of them all.

Come on, Harleigh. What do you have planned?

There was an electric crackle, a frightening snap, as Shadow Witch's helmet began to spark. Charlie cried out in surprise, and jumped back.

"Mr. Delacqua!" The Copper Knight shouted, pushing Charlie's father aside. "B? B! Are you okay?"

Shadow Witch yelped in pain, her hands involuntarily tensing into fists. She just barely managed to press the button to stop the feed before she fell to the ground and ripped her helmet off. Charlie scrambled over to her crumpled form.

She was bent at the waist, coughing and gagging, a large mass of pale blonde hair covering her face.

"Oh, my god! Are you okay?" Charlie asked, trying to pull her upright.

"D-Don't." She said, pushing Charlie's hands away. "Don't touch me!"

Charlie ignored her, pushing her tangled hair away from her face. She seemed to flinch every time Charlie's fingers grazed her.

"Are you hurt?"

The woman blinked up at her with tired brown eyes. Despite the dark circles under them, they were very pretty; large and pulled slightly downwards, rimmed with snowy lashes. She had a perfectly straight nose, and pink lips that curved delicately into a Cupid's bow. She was... actually really pretty.

Charlie pushed her hair back a little more, and saw where the malfunction of the helmet had burned the side of her neck. It was a bright red, spider web like pattern, that extended up towards her jaw.

"You are hurt." Charlie said quietly.

Shadow Witch pushed her away

again.

"I'm fine." She rasped, pulling herself up. She stalked over to her helmet, which she had tossed across the floor in a desperate attempt to get it off of herself.

She seemed to be trying to turn it back on, but it simply sparked and powered off, over and over again.

"Dammit." She cursed quietly.

As she looked over the woman's face, Charlie blinked at her.

"Hey wait, I just realized something!"

Shadow Witch barely looked up from the helmet to spit a "What" at her.

"I know your secret identity now!"

Shadow Witch rolled her eyes. "Okay?" She said incredulously. "Who am I then?"

"Well—"

Charlie looked over her again, and although she was very attractive, she couldn't find anything about her appearance that was even remotely familiar. Truth be told, Charlie still had no idea who she was.

"Well, it doesn't matter that I don't personally know you." Charlie said. "Someone does, and now that I've seen your face, I'm that much closer to solving this!"

"Listen, when you don't have any friends or family, you don't need a secret identity. I could tell you my real name, or a fake name, and it wouldn't make a difference either way."

Her voice was dark and husky, just like the night at the bar, except that now she seemed to quiver nervously at the end of each word.

Charlie frowned. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem like you're trembling or something."

"I said I was fine." Shadow Witch said, taking a step backward. Her eyes seemed wide, like she was suppressing her fear. "I'm fine, just do not touch me."

"Okay. Okay. Sure." Charlie said, still frowning. "So, uh, do you still have your powers with your suit broken?"

Shadow Witch rolled her eyes and turned to her computer system. She brought on open hand to it, and slowly closed it. Just as her fist shut, the computers crumbled in on themselves, and the monitors went black.

"Does that answer your question?"

Charlie blinked at the squashed equipment with wide eyes.

"I mean, uh yes? But why would you break all your stuff like that?"

"It's replaceable." Shadow Witch said. "But I had to. If those tech people at your father's company can hack into my helmet to make it malfunction, that means they're very close to figuring out my location. I'll have to destroy these, then we'll have to move to another location where I'll recalibrate my suit."

Charlie frowned. "Another location?"

One with windows, I hope.

"Yes."

Shadow Witch walked over to grab her shoulder, only this time she seemed hesitant to make physical contact with her. Charlie did as she asked and stayed still. Once she finally touched her. She snapped them back into the room Charlie had been stuck in the past few days.

"Grab whatever you want to keep. I'll be back in a few minutes." She said.

"Wait! We're leaving right now?" Charlie whined.

"Why? Are you attached to this place? Is it nicer than your penthouse apartment or something?" Shadow Witch snapped.

"No, I guess not." Charlie grumbled.

"Alright then. I'll see you in ten minutes."

Shadow Witch snapped away, and Charlie sighed.

Maybe wherever we go will be easier to escape from. Here's to hoping for windows.