(Continued from this thread)


In a particular neighborhood of New York City there was an old ramshackle building. It had been boarded up and closed off for many years now. Much of the time people wondered why it hadn't been bought and knocked down. It was an eyesore to those who lived and worked nearby. It was also convenient for Cosmina's purposes and owned by a previous client who owed her a favor or two. That he happened to use the building for nearly the same thing was coincidental at best.

The girl was already tied up in the basement. Video and audio equipment had been set up and tested as per the mission parameters. It still irked her that she couldn't kill the girl when she was done. It was a risk that Mina didn't like to take. The divorce between her public persona and her mercenary work was what kept her safe from the nosy interference of the police. They hadn't linked her to her crimes and she didn't like leaving someone alive that could. The letter was quite clear though.

Dear Plunderer of Souls,

I am happy to announce that it is YOU that I have chosen to capture someone I'm very interested in. Of course I know your kind; you're more interested in money. Believe me when I say that money is no issue and I can pay you your usual fee...and double that if and when the job gets done. However, this will not be a normal kidnapping. You see, I have questions for this little girl, nothing important really, merely trivial. The delivery of these questions must be precise, word for word. Throw in a menacing voice on the good ones, I'm sure you're practiced at that. Most mercenaries I know practice their threatening looks and baleful voices in the shower, or in font of a mirror of they're feeling particularly comfortable with their bodies at that current time.

So, to get your money I'm going to have to set few ground rules. One, she is not to die. I would threaten you with some dire consequence but I don't believe I need to; from what I’ve heard you are an utmost professional and as you know reputation in this business is EVERYTHING. Moving on; Two, she is not to be maimed, by which I mean loss of limbs or vital organs or any such thing. She is to be intact when you finish questioning her. And finally number three; have fun!! We may be in a dirty game, my dear, but that doesn’t mean we can't have a smile on our face when it's all said and done.

So, without further adieu, attached are the list of questions I'd like you to ask her. I'll have some notes at the end of each one in case she needs clarification. Young kids these days, am I right? Always needing clarification.

I don't think I need to tell you to please record the session, both with audio and video, but I will anyways...oh! Look at that. I just did.

With Many Strawberries,
Wipe


Mina shook her head. Plunderer of Souls was such a tacky name. When she met the woman for payment of the rest of what she was owed she'd have to make it clear that she wasn't in the market for another codename. Mute worked well enough. She folded the letter up and stuffed it back into a pocket. She'd leave the girl to stew for a few more minutes before going down and asking the questions she was being paid to ask. The letter had specified no killing or maiming. Therefore anything that would leave permanent damage was fair game. At the very least she could take out the breach of her security on the girl.

Waking up in such a manner was something she was getting used to.

Well, kinda. This time was different because she was restrained to a chair somehow. And the room she woke up in she didn't recognize immediately...or for several minutes after she woke up. Usually she would recall wherever she was not long after waking up but time time it was all completely foreign to her. She tried her best not to panic and instead take in the surroundings as best she could. She even tried to move, struggle a bit but gave that up as bad sport. No getting out of this through brute force.

If she didn't know any better, Ashley would have thought she was in an abandoned warehouse of some sort. How tacky. She growled a bit through a duck taped mouth. She hadn't seen a lot of movies or shows in her time but even she knew that a place like this was a cliché. But, there wasn't any accounting in taste for someone that wanted to kidnap a recently stabbed homeless person.

Which, really, was one of the reasons Ashley wasn't afraid (much). What in the world could someone want from her? She had nothing to offer in any way, shape or form. Sure, she had a mutant power but even if that was the reason for this kidnapping...well, there were hundreds of powers out there that were cooler and more useful then hers. Was it BECAUSE she was homeless? Maybe she was to be brainwashed and used as a servant or something?

She mentally scoffed. Whatever the reason, there was no point in speculating. She was powerless at the moment, and Ashley doubted that even her powers would help her in escaping. Right now, it was just a matter of waiting.

And trying not to pee herself. That too.

With the list of questions in her pocket for quick access Cosmina made her way downstairs and into the basement she'd set the girl up in. The girl was bound and Mina had used duct tape to ensure she didn't have to deal with any questions or comments until the interrogation. Mina's face was still covered by her mask as she walked over to the recording equipment and switched it all on. That done she walked over to a table outside of the girl's field of vision where her tools were located. Everything seemed to be in place. She walked over and tore the tape off of the girl's mouth.

"I'm going to ask questions and you're going to answer. You're a smart girl. You should know how this works. You don't answer or answer incorrectly and I hurt you."

Mina smiled and the voice she used was pleasant and much different in tone from her usual one. It wasn't normally a precaution she took but the letter had mentioned voices often enough to make Cosmina suspicious and thus she'd made sure to do her best to change her voice. Thinking back to the list of questions Mina recited the first, word for word.

"How do you feel?"

It was a ridiculous question and only her employer knew why she was asking it. Why ask a kidnapping victim how they were feeling? It was foolish. If it weren't for the money she planned to extract from her employer for the inconvenience of being on a no kill order she wouldn't have asked it. Mina was a professional and thus she would execute the mission to the letter. She didn't have to like.

She didn't expect anyone she knew to eventually walk into whatever room she as located in, but the mask was something unexpected. She wasn't all that tall and her body was...well, fairly normal. Not like Ashley could really tell what was normal and what wasn't, but she wasn't a mutant, not from looks anyway. Also; she was a girl. Duh, yeah? It wasn't like Ashley hadn't seen her while BEING kidnapped, it's just now she got a clear look. Earlier on she was more focused on the gun. Call it a reflex.

>>"I'm going to ask questions and you're going to answer. You're a smart girl. You should know how this works. You don't answer or answer incorrectly and I hurt you."

Ashley nodded. Maybe if she answered all the questions to the best of her ability, she'd get a quick, painless death. She hoped the woman that was standing over her wasn't one of those psychos that liked to kill for no apparent reason.

>>"How do you feel?"

Out of everything Ashley could have ever imagined to be asked, that certainly wasn't one of them. How...how did she FEEL? The question actually made Ashley angry; how in the flying F*CK did she think she FELT? The question resounded in her brain, bouncing around like a ping pong ball until she felt like her head was going to explode. She opened her mouth and, like usual, at the complete wrong time before a fist exploded into her jaw. Ashley's head was rocked sideways and little bursts of stars appeared in her vision. Apparently, the kidnapper REALLY wanted to know how she was.

“Sore.”

Was that a feeling? Ashley hoped it was. At this point she wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Mina had to punch the girl to get her to answer. When she did answer the only thing she said was sore. Was she being sarcastic or was that simply the only thing she could think to say. Regardless Mina took another swing at her, aimed close to the knife wound the girl sported without actually hitting it.

"Anything else?"

She gave the girl time to answer and wandered slowly over to her table of tools. Perhaps a few solid hits with a pipe? Or maybe a few more knife wounds? Choosing the right tool was so difficult sometimes. Eventually she selected a small knife. It wouldn't do much damage. In fact she would have to target something close to the surface and vital in order to do anything near life threatening with it. However it would do quite nicely for extracting information. Mina recalled the second question on the list and asked it rather casually from behind the girl.

"Excellent." Mina paused between her reaction to what the girl had said and asking the next question, "What are your powers?"

This was a question Mina was somewhat interested in. Getting the details of the ability from the girl herself could be useful if she ever had to face her in a fight. Her employer probably already knew the answer to this one too. The questions were such that Mina suspected some definite prior history between the two. Done with her tools for the moment Cosmina walked slowly back into the girl's view. As she got close enough to see she toyed with the knife before trailing it's point down the girl's arm without breaking the skin. Just a small reminder of the penalty for lies or withholding information.

No, really...she was sore.

She wanted to say that but her jaw hurt too damn much. She wanted to grit her teeth but her poor jaw was having none of it. So she went slack jawed a bit before closing her mouth to avoid looking like an idiot. She shook her head at the follow up question and sighed. Sore, hurting...she felt nothing but pain at the moment, and while the shot she just took from her kidnapper was good, she more or less blamed the Russian who had kissed her (that was her story and she was sticking to it).

>>"Excellent. What are your powers?"

Ashley raised an eyebrow at this and pondered. She supposed she could tell her something fake, but the woman before her didn't seem to be the type that liked being lied to...and would show such displeasure in the form if inflicting her own. Well, maybe she wouldn't ask for a demonstration? Ashley mentally slapped herself. Could she risk lying? Probably not. And yeah, maybe she didn't have a whole lot to live for but revenge, but that was all it took. And it really wasn't like she was creative enough to come up with something on the spot like that anyways.

“Music.” Ashley rasped out, coughing and spitting up some blood to the side of her. “Get stronger. Faster...when I listen. Can last longer too. Like...fighting more. More then others.”

Was that an adequate reply? Ashley hoped so. She'd had to explain her powers to a couple of different people, but she never really felt like she described her powers well enough.

Hopefully this time she did.

A wicked grin, brimming with glee, twisted Mina's lips the moment the girl admitted her mutation. The girl's power fell within Cosmina's realm of control. Provided the girl was telling the truth there was no way she could test it. It would risk the girl getting free. However if it was the truth, as she was inclined to believe, then Cosmina had nothing to worry about from this girl. It was time for another question.

"What do you remember?"

She would withhold clarification until the girl asked for it. Cosmina had a feeling she would but there was no point in letting the girl know exactly what she was asking for until she was sure she couldn't answer it without doing so. After all, she might let something slip.

There was silence for a moment after she had answered the question and Ashley considered that maybe she should take the opportunity to ask a few of her own. She was curious as to who would want a street rat with no real identity and no special talents besides fighting. She remembered the woman's earlier warning but the curiosity was great; sh just needed to know more. Who wouldn’t, right? She was freakin' nobody!! Why would a pro like this chick want anything with her?

>>"What do you remember?"

Just as Ashley was opening her mouth to ask, the woman asked yet another question. Remember? What did she mean? She remembered a lot of things. Not the things she would LIKE to remember, but remembered things all the same. Ashley wracked her brain trying to figure out how to answer the question without getting hurt but kept coming up with blanks. Finally, she just blurt it out.

“Remember...what?”

The girl tried to figure out what she was supposed to remember. At least, it looked that way to Mina. However she ended up asking what she was supposed to remember anyway.

"Your life. Before you lost you memory."

Mina moved and retrieved her taser from the table. It was specifically mentioned in one of the later questions. However Mina didn't think it would hurt to use it now. She was supposed to jog the girl's memory after all. Between the knife, the taser, and her fists Mina was fairly sure she could jar something loose in that girl's head. If not then...oh well.

To say Ashley was shocked was an understatement. NO ONE knew about her past, NO ONE. To everyone she'd ever met she was just a homeless girl or a mutant homeless girl, one of the two. But she hadn't spoken to anyone about her memory loss (that she could remember) to anyone since moving to New York. But she couldn’t even fathom how anyone could know anything about Ashley Aran before moving to New York. Her mind boggled at there mere thought.

She breathed slowly, trying to hide the shock and bewilderment from her face. She schooled her expression soon enough but it was likely the other woman had seen everything. Oh well, nothing she could do abut that now. Wasn't like she was vying for supremacy, this chick had Ashley right where she wanted the redhead. So, once again, Ashley took a moment to think of a way to answer the question. She saw the woman pick up an object and walk towards her, as if expecting the answer Ashley eventually gave.

“Nothing.”

Cosmina contemplated the girl after she gave an answer in the negative. She had expected that answer. Now she had to ascertain whether or not the girl was lying or truly didn't remember. Her smile would say otherwise but Cosmina didn't enjoy such jobs. It was simply that the suffering and deaths of others was something that paid well enough and that she was suited for. She did enjoy a good fight though. The adrenaline was probably responsible for that.

"Hmmm, Pity."

And with that Cosmina unleashed the taser on the girl. Considering the girl was already somewhat injured when she'd retrieved her it couldn't have felt good. Of course that was the point of this particular exercise. The pain was an incentive to respond to her questions truthfully.

“H-hey...”

That was the last coherent thing Ashley said before she was hit with the object in the woman's hand; a tazer. Only a day earlier she would have had nothing to compare it to but that was before she had experienced the Russian woman's kiss. Thankfully (if one could ever be thankful in such a situation) it wasn't as bad. Still, it DID feel like her muscles were on fire and she seized up, barley being able to let out the scream that was bubbling in her throat.

When it was over she was as limp as a rag, breathing hard and fast. She couldn’t get air in her lung fast enough. She coughed then, her mouth filling with blood just enough so that it wouldn't spill over but enough so that it coated her tongue and teeth in a grotesque manner. She spit again, off to the side, and slowly looked up at the woman and shook her head.

“Lost memory.” she said softly, trying hard not to swallow the blood in her mouth. “Gone. Tried...tried, but failed. Looking...looking for it. Mutant who took it. Memory, I mean. But...can't remember...”

Every word hurt and every breath hurt worse. Her earlier outlook on the situation was fading fast. She was cynical, yes, but this was the real deal. She could die. She could die here and Whistler would go unavenged. The thought itself made Ashley want to cry.

Cosmina nodded as the girl spilled information. That was much better. The girl knew that a mutant had erased her memory. Anything beyond that was a blank. It had been interesting to watch her reaction to the taser. More a point of professional interest than personal. After all the girl had reacted better to the taser than she'd thought she would. Perhaps she'd experienced something recently that hurt worse?

"Who are your parents?"

If the girl didn't remember her past Cosmina rather doubted she'd remember her parents. However the question had to be asked for the sake of her bank account. Idly Cosmina wondered what interest her employer had in the girl. After all, there didn't seem to be anything much special about her.

>>"Who are your parents?"

Ashley growled. Yet another question on her past right after she just got done explaining that she didn't remember anything about it!! She wanted to scream in frustration but instead she closed her eyes. Not because she wanted to calm herself down but because of the bright bursts of light that were appearing before her. She tried to keep her chin up but her head lolled and she felt herself slipping away.

It was too much. Her body was battered and there was so little she could do abut it. She couldn't even patch herself up, she couldn’t rest...she even doubted she was going to be able to fall unconscious. So, with all the force of will she had Ashley righted her head and growled again, this time louder. Damn it, she had to stay up. Even if she would die, here, today she would face it straight on, now sleeping like a coward.

“One parent, took me in.” Ashley stuttered out, breathing out of her nose heavily. “Whistler. Trained me. Muay Thai. Only parent..I know...”

The girl was frustrated, though perhaps angry was the better word. Two questions in a row about her past apparently put her in a bad mood. Just on general purposes and to make sure the girl remembered her place Cosmina gave the girl a good solid punch to the gut. The note had suggested a punch but it didn't say where. She answered though. She mentioned someone called Whistler and that she'd been taught Muay Thai. Cosmina didn't really care about this Whistler fellow. Sure he'd come up in the last question but she didn't care. Now the Muay Thai training, that was interesting. It was another capability that Cosmina committed to memory in case she should fight the girl sometime.

"Several nights ago you were with a human female. You escorted her home. Why?"

Cosmina retreated a few steps and leaned against a wall. This interrogation was frankly dull. The note had said to have fun. This wasn't Cosmina's idea of fun. Perhaps if she let the girl heal up and then hunted her down for a fight. That would be fun. Or she could go out on the town after this was over and find someone interesting to spend the night with. Mina's attention remained fixed on the red headed girl while she decided which bar to go to.