Kay Productions Presents

Heart of Mischief

Chapter Six:
The Interrogation

You know what they say: If at first you don't succeed, interrogate someone. And that whole "try, try again" mess, but trust me. Interrogation is a lot easier. Oh, and this chapter features a much longer Cain introduction. It's a little slow, but it wouldn't be believable if it was like "OH LOOK I FOUND U, DEMI, LOLZ! K, I'LL HIDE OUT NAO!"

Cain had searched the town all night. The only thing that had kept him going until sunrise was an incredible amount of adrenalin and frustration. His fierce determination and abnormally high stamina had been put through the ultimate test. As soon as he kidnapped Demi and brought her to the Lab, he'd demand triple the original pay to compensate for the annoying redhead. Just how the hell did someone like her manage to disappear in a matter of hours? She was too attached to Mischief to leave, coupled with the fact that she had no money, no connections outside of Mischief, and no memories of who she was before she got there.

Cain felt as though he was missing something. So far, he only remembered the rusty vehicle of her friend who had driven her back to Mischief. Because of his impulsive nature, he had immediately started running off after them when he'd seen Demi's blood red hair in the passenger seat. Now he wished he'd been more patient. He should have at least waited until she was out of the car. After all, she probably didn't have a clue about 'Fight Mode', and he could have easily taken off with her.

At least when he did find her in town, he'd know it was her. Every redhead in town had the orange shade, nothing like Demi's fire-engine colored strands. Still, the situation frustrated him. Either she had made a fast friend, or she was extremely skilled at hiding. If things didn't start going his way soon, he'd have to start raiding the neighborhood houses.

Finally, he decided that searching for Demi was too tedious. Cain closed his eyes and tried to picture her friend's car. It was white with round headlights in the front and covered with rust patches. Once he had a clear picture of it in his head, he searched every parking lot in town. He figured it would take a lot more effort to hide a car than a girl, but many of the vehicles looked the same. This search greatly tested his patience, mainly because he didn't have much to start with. Even more inconvenient was that the morning shift had started not too long ago, and cars were starting to move again. He started to retrace his steps, attempting to figure out where the car had gone after he'd scared them off.

This didn't help either, because he realized that any car being chased would probably just turn every which way without a second thought. He looked down at the town from the top of a church, most of his body hidden behind a large cross at the top. Not that it mattered. These people were simply driving to work, and not one of them looked up at him. Even with his superior eyesight, he had a difficult time spotting the car. Still, there was an upside to this. From what he observed, Cain found that Demi's friend drove a much smaller vehicle than the average around here. So he pictured it again, trying to remember every last detail. A very round roof, with two doors instead of four.

Once more, he scanned the town in hopes that he would find the car, but if it was around, it wasn't close enough for him to see. This meant scoping through the neighborhoods, and if he couldn't find it, he'd have to search the city again. All the while, he was supposed to be on the lookout for a small redhead, as well.

The mere thought irritated him so much that a mail man later discovered a round mark on the Post Office building with small traces of dried blood.

The next time he found Demi, he would knock her unconscious and make sure she stayed unconscious. After all, he could just say he had to rough her up a little to retrieve her. But news of his escape would soon reach the Lab, and if he didn't bring her there by the time they received it, they would know he went through more trouble than expected. They would be able to guess just how careless he had been, and they'd cut the pay instead of tripling it. "Damn you, little mouse. I'm away for ten minutes and you've already got me turning the town upside down for you. If you were this clever in the library and boiler room, I might have used a bit more caution."

He climbed down the back of the church, letting himself drop to the windowsills and balancing before jumping down to the next one. Afterwards, he walked around to the front, pretending that he hadn't been spying on the town from the roof of the church. Soon, he searched through the neighborhoods, reluctantly walking around on foot, because the houses weren't close enough together for him to jump roof to roof.

Few acknowledged his presence. They probably figured he was just some neighborhood kid taking a morning walk, but one girl stared. She was tall with a slim, but powerful build. She had her broad shoulders pushed back and her arms crossed. After observing her closely, it looked more like she was glaring at him. Her eyes were similar to Demi's, only because they were blue. In fact, hers were a much darker shade of blue, she had blonde hair, and she was much too tall and thin to be Demi. Demi was just over five feet tall and almost all muscle. Still, he felt like she knew something, like she knew who he was.

She had only locked eyes with him for a second before quickly rushing over to her vehicle and backing out of her driveway. He was baffled by her glare, which didn't last long enough for him to become too suspicious. And yet a sudden urge to follow her bugged him until he finally gave in. He ran after her, trying to keep a good distance and stay hidden so as not to alert her.

The chase was tiring, and by the time she made it to the humane society, Cain had to stop to take a breather. To rest, he climbed into a tree by the running trail and slumped in the bow. The lack of sleep had caught up with him, for he had not had a peaceful sleep in days. In the last two days alone, he hadn't gotten any sleep at all, thanks to his prey. Soon, he had his arms folded over his stomach and his eyes closed. The girl could wait for a bit and Demi could have an hour or two more of peace.

Cain woke up less than an hour later, thanks to the bright spring sun and woodpeckers building homes in the trees and testing their mating calls. For some reason he hoped the Girl was still there, and turned his body towards the humane society. Yes, her truck was still there, and to top it off, he spotted the rusty car that belonged to Demi's friend. Now, he was wide awake. "You're good at making friends, aren't you?" The staff back at the Lab urged him to get a little people involved as possible. Cain felt like he was past that. After all, he'd already had to shoot the security guard back at the asylum, and everyone at Mischief was panicking internally.

In the hands of the Lab, Demi was destructive. When she was younger, around six years old or so if he remembered the story correctly, her father, a scientist who worked at the Lab, donated her for an experiment. An expendable test subject was needed, otherwise the Head Staff, who were so important, people capitalized "Head Staff" in documents and memos, would refuse to fund the experiment. Eventually they gave in because her father was a well respected scientist, and they trusted him to come up with great results.

The result was a seven-year-old who could beat up a black belt in "Fight Mode" and outrun a track star in "Flight Mode". Still, there were serious backfires. After "Fight Mode" was over, the muscles in Demi's arms and legs would be so overused that she would simply collapse on the floor and her body would take days to heal. And if "Flight Mode" went on long enough, lactic acid would build up in her legs, and the tired muscles would refuse to work to the point of paralysis. She'd have to stay in bed or roll herself around in a wheel chair until her legs didn't feel so much like jell-o.

After a couple more years of experimenting with Fight and Flight mode, Demi's father asked for another voluntary test subject. The Head Staff refused, saying that Demi needed a bit more work before they could shell out the cash for another experiment. By then, his daughter barely had the energy for either of the modes, and her nine-year-old body couldn't handle constantly running or participating in hand-to-hand combat. He regretted ever volunteering her for the experiment. One night, they just up and disappeared. Rumors flew that the father had plastic surgery to change his facial appearance and Demi was given a special laser treatment to change the color of her hair permanently, which had originally been black. He knew that kind of treatment fried the strands, and he laughed at the image of a bald Demi. In the outside world, it would have been all too easy to track their name change, but at Mischief they practically no identity. Her father was clever. . .

But he was also lying in a hospital bed with a bullet wound helping his insides bleed.

As much fun as it would have been to kick the door down and scare the living daylights out of Demi's friends, Cain decided he was above that sort of behavior and simply walked in.

The tall blonde sat at the desk, looking over some papers. When he walked in, she looked up at him and blinked. She suddenly gripped the pencil in her hand a bit harder, which indicated obvious surprise. It was part of his job to notice changes in body language such as these. Still she spoke to him in a brave voice.

"Can I help you?" she asked, easing her grip on the pencil.

"As a matter of fact. . ." Cain strolled over to the desk and leaned on it and stared down at her intently. "you can help me. I'm looking for a pet. A little mouse with red hair. I saw her just yesterday, and I have a feeling you know where she is."

If she knew what he was talking about, she certainly didn't let on. "I don't know about a red mouse, but we've got some cute little guinea pigs with a rich brown-orange shade. If you wait here a moment, I'll go get one for you. In fact, let me go bring out Toby right now." As soon as Cain was one hundred percent sure she knew what he was talking about, he'd wrap his hands around her throat and make her talk. The blonde yelled out, "Jack! Are you in there?" When a voice answered 'yes', she called out, "I need Toby, now!"

He heard numerous, and extremely loud, dog barks when she opened the door. Minutes later, she and another kid came out. Not surprisingly, she didn't bring out a guinea pig, but a huge spotted dog. She held its collar with both hands even though it didn't look all that aggressive to him.

"This is Toby." she said, narrowing her eyes. The boy stood beside her, and if Cain hadn't recognized his car, he would not have known these were Demi's friends. . . and Toby. "And I'm going to set him on you if you don't get the hell out and leave us alone." Toby suddenly started to pick up on Amy's energy and he growled.

Cain shrugged. "I'm not afraid of dogs."

"Do it, Amy." the boy urged. "Don't wait for him to run out."

So Amy shouted, "Get him, Toby!" and set the great dane on him. Cain swerved around the dog just before being pounced on and jumped on the counter for an advantage. When Toby put his front paws on the counter, Cain simply kicked him in the side of the head, causing the dog to jerk back. Cain took the advantage to jump on Toby. Amy gasped, and Jack grabbed her arm to pull her back into the dog room. He immediately locked the door. Cain was quick, but Jack shut the door in time.

"If you tell me where she is, I'll leave and you'll never see me again." Cain promised.

"We're not going to---" Amy started to yell before she was interrupted.

"Hold it, Amy." the boy intervened. He heard them argue on the other side for a moment before he spoke again. "What are you going to do with her?"

This would be too easy. Normal humans were so gullible, they would believe just about anything if you told them with a straight face and a convincing voice. To Cain, it wasn't that hard to make your tone sound sincere. "I'm not going to harm Demi. I'm just going to take her back to Mischief where she belongs."

"Who's Demi?" Amy suddenly asked from the other side.

Cain found it confusing that they knew who "the redheaded mouse" was, but had no clue what her name was. "The tiny redhead. . . the one I'm trying to bring back to Mischief. That girl." From the other side, there was no response. He knocked a couple times to make sure he still had their attention. There was still no response from them, but he did hear quite a few dogs barking their lungs out. This time, he pounded his fist on the door, but neither of them answered.

So he backed away from the door and kicked it in. It took a couple kicks before the door finally came off its hinges. Behind him, the great dane, no doubt suffering from a sore neck from his kick and broken back legs, howled loudly in pain. His noise was drowned out by the barks of the other shelter dogs, who were making more noise than the security dogs back at the Lab. Amy and the boy were no where to be seen. Besides this, the commotion the dogs were making became more annoying with each passing second. To his surprise---actually annoyance was more appropriate---there was a door in the back leading to the running trail. It hadn't been slammed, despite their hurry, and if it weren't for the rambunctious dogs, he probably would have heard it close. When he had the chance, he'd burn the whole damn shelter to the ground.

Quickly, he rushed outside, only to find that Amy's truck was gone and Jack left his car behind. Either they were a clever pair, or it was by sheer dumb luck that they picked the less conspicuous vehicle.

No matter, he thought as he raced after them. How that he knew where Amy lived, it wouldn't be long before she'd have to return home and he'd kidnap her for an interrogation. Better yet, she could be on her way there right now, a mistake on her part.

I have no idea why I slept on the floor when there was a perfectly good bed no less than two feet away from me. When I woke up in the morning, my back was sore and my arm was asleep since I had used it as a pillow. Still, Amy had been nice enough to throw a blanket over me, which kept me warm. I couldn't help but notice that morning that my body had that tingly germy feeling I get when I haven't showered for a couple days. My hair didn't feel quite as gross, seeing as how I ran it under water for a time the night before, but I'd have to ask Amy to use her shower when she got back.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I heard a door slam downstairs. "Hey, Aunt Hanna! Have you checked the cricket infestation in the cellar? They're really bad this year." her tone was urgent, and yet she tried to hide it. Like she was luring her Aunt in the basement because. . .

It couldn't be. To confirm my beliefs, I heard their footsteps as they raced up the stairs. Amy flung open the door and slammed it again just after Jack entered the room. I wanted to pretend like I had no clue what was going on, but I knew exactly what had happened.

"You met Cain, didn't you?"

"Nellie, Demi---whatever the hell your name is, you, we, and then he, and Toby!" her hand movements were exaggerated, and she was in a panicked state at a loss for words.

"What Amy is trying to say is that you've gotta get the hell out of here!" Jack helped. "We're not going to be a part of this anymore, Demi. I'm not going to put my life in danger because some whack job is after you. If he figured out soon enough that we left, he probably followed us here."

I know I was supposed to be furious that he led Cain right to me. Then I thought about it for a moment. Something crazy dawned on me then. I stood up and faced the two of them. "Thank you for sheltering me, Amy. And thanks for the oreos." I turned to Jack. "Thanks for pushing me out of a truck's way, and taking me to a hospital. I owe you both, and I'll tell the staff back at Mischief that you helped me."

As I walked out of the room, prepared to execute my plan, something didn't feel right. I wanted to try and go back into Flight Mode, lead him away to Mischief and let the guards catch him. I felt my body become stronger; it wasn't just my legs and my lungs. When I walked out of Amy's room and down the stairs, I felt my muscles twitching. Then when I exited through the front door, I heard the generic voice again. Only this time, she said "Fight Mode."

I wasn't sure why I went into Fight Mode just then, but I knew Cain was on his way, and it would proably be very, very useful. For a better view, I climbed a garbage can and pulled myself up to the roof. Perfect, I could see most of the neighborhood.

And now. . . it was time to test "Fight Mode."

Spoiler Alert! Cain's really a woman.

Spoiler Alert! Not really. ;P