"You can't believe any of that!" Tonya appealed to Misery and Heidi.
"I know all about it, Tonya," Misery said seriously, "Right from the first time you tried to get to me with your sad story about your dad being unfaithful and your mom suiciding story. I knew there was a good chance you were just making up something to get me to fall in line with your neat little plan of divide and conquer, one friend at a time. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and didn't let on that I suspected anything was off about you. But I kept Pippi and Heidi in the loop about things."
"You too! I thought you were the only truly kind-hearted person I'd ever known, and I confided in you and this is what I get?" Tonya went into the victim act.
"Don't pull that guilt-tripping, backhanded flattery thing with me, Tonya." Misery remained firm. "You are not the victim, Indy is."
"She's right," said Heidi, smiling at Bez, Sigma, Matrix and Thande.
More introductions were made as Misery Chastain was introduced to them.
"Tonya and Nick were behind setting something of theirs on fire." Capri explained to Heidi and Misery.
Bez scowled. "That little sicko and her crony tried to torch my ship."
Both women showed similar incensed reactions.
"As for you, Nick," Capri started in on him, "Cyber misbehavior in the extreme. Physical torture, including an attempted magic flaying assault on me that backfired in that other world. Ameh...Indy...And various others unfortunate enough to cross paths with you within the past several years."
"And Indy isn't the first person to be nearly starved to death by Tonya." Pippi said. "NT you remember that ordeal where you and that other girl got knocked out and taken away to some other world to languish until we could finally find you? Well, that was Tonya. She was behind it, and someone from that place can back this up."
"You did that?" Nick looked at Tonya in disgust.
"All of a sudden you believe them?" Tonya retorted.
"After what you did to Indy, yes."
"You mean after what you did to her!" Tonya raised her voice at him.
"You're both at fault!" Ariel suddenly shouted, glaring at them. No one had expected her to be the one to shout, she had been quietly comforting and crying along with NT for a while now.
"Shut up you old windbag!" Tonya shouted.
NT was about to go for her again, but Pippi held her back. "NT, I'd like to go back to see Indy, if they'll allow her to have visitors."
NT nodded. "If it's all right, I'd like to go as well."
"Yes," Pippi said. "Anyone else?"
Heidi, Misery and Ariel all indicated they'd like to go, but after some discussion, it was agreed that Pippi and Ariel would go with NT first, and Heidi and Misery would go later to prevent a possible overwhelming for Indy.
So in a moment, the company diminished by three as Pippi, NT and Ariel walked out of the room and shut the door.
It was silent for a few moments before Matrix spoke. "Not often you see cases like this," He began in a dark, musing tone. "Almost like a fugue. Then again, I wouldn't want to give you any excuses. There's insane, and then there's you."
"Dang straight!" said Capri.
Bez nodded.
Sigma frowned. "What about that?" She inclined her head towards Nick.
Capri laughed derisively. "What about 'that'" she repeated, "Hear that, Connors? You're a that!"
"Shut up, Monroe!" Nick said, putting on an air of disgust.
Matrix smiled. "Ah. He's just a maggot."
"What?!" He shouted incredulously. "But, she tricked-"
"Oh will you just shut up already!" Sigma snapped. "You really are insufferable."
There were vigorous nods from Capri and Ameh, and smiles of agreement from Heidi and Misery.
"You shut up!" Tonya exploded. "This would have been perfect! But they showed up and then you showed up-" A small sphere of electric energy collided with her chest, sending her sprawling.
Bez looked surprisedly at Thande, who lowered the Striker on his gauntlet. She nodded approvingly. She trotted over to Tonya and prodded her with her foot.
Tonya moaned slightly.
Capri applauded, giving a laughing cheer.
Bez smiled, grabbing Tonya by the hair. She pulled her head up till their eyes were level. "Thande's people usually only stun their prey so they can get in closer for the kill." She said bluntly, dropping Tonya's head. "But naturally we won't kill you." She walked back over to her companions. "We'll leave that to prison."
"Yes, you'll be owning up to everything you did, including crimes you tried to orchestrate and pin on other people!" said Capri sternly. "And there is something else I need to do to you reprobates before you are handed over to the justice system." Capri approached Tonya, looking mennacingly down at her.
"Get away from me!" Tonya spat.
Capri grabbed hold of her arm instead. "Or what?" she sneered.
Soon, Tonya's piercing screams and thrashings filled the place. If anyone was worried that Capri was actually torturing her somehow, they would be assured a moment later by Tonya's initial fear giving way to a terrible tantrum as she burst into tears and cried out loud. "You stupid, stupid wench! I hate you, Monroe! I should've stabbed and killed you and your stupid, STUPID group of freak friends long ago!"
"Okay, make my job easier, go ahead and struggle." Capri shot back, glaring at Tonya.
Bez tutted and turned to Matrix. "Might it be possible to shoot her with some type of tranquilizer? All her screaming is giving me a migraine." She smiled dryly and shook her head. "Then again, she wouldn't be much use to us sedated." She shrugged.
"What are you doing, Monroe!? Stop that!" Nick wailed.
"You're next, Connors!" Capri warned him.
When she was through with Tonya, she let go without warning, and Tonya slumped to the floor, but still continued to kick and whine like a bratty two-year-old.
"Your turn now." Capri advanced on Nick.
She grabbed him roughly, and soon he was carrying on nearly as badly as tonya had.
A few more minutes, and she released her grip on him.
"I took away their magic power, except for one thing - the ability to zap anyone who commits gratuitous, indecent acts. That means, if anyone wants to wack them with just cause, they can't zap back. But if anyone does something sick to them for kicks, that person will be very sorry they did." Capri looked at Nick and Tonya. "Consider yourselves extremely lucky I let you have that much!"
Bez and Sigma smiled approvingly. Matrix whooped and clapped. Thande remained characteristically silent, only nodding to show his approval.
"I'll just cry abuse every time." Tonya said, still thinking she could put one over on Capri.
Immediately, she yelped and curled up, apparently in some kind of agony. It disappeared a moment later.
"That's what you're gonna feel every time you make a false accusation! You'll know when you are fabricating some malicious story, and that will set off this sensation for you!" Capri stated fiercely.
"As for you, Nicky boy," Capri said contemptuously, "As far as any other female is concerned, you're a hog-face, and you'll smell like one too!"
"Unless she is not human." Thande said.
In an instant, amid laughter from the others over Thande's comment, Nick had become even more repulsive to all present. He still looked the same, but somehow, he was inexplicably disgusting to be around.
Sigma grimaced. "And I thought you were repulsive before." She shook her head.
Capri continued. "No girl is gonna wanna get within 40 feet of you! That's what you get for having wrong designs on NT. In addition, you try torturing anyone again and you'll get this!" Nick was put through something that looked like extreme pain, fear, or a combination thereof for a moment. "Again, you'll know when you're violence is for sick kicks and that'll react with the magic to make you writhe. You won't be able to torture anyone again without doing it to yourself!" She took out a small video camera and turned it on.
"And as per Indy's wishes, we have another small mission," said Misery, "To destroy Tonya's shrine to her."
If Tonya hadn't known panic before this point, she sure did now. "You can't touch that! It's my property!"
"Indy wants nothing at all to do with you, Tonya," Misery continued.
"Shut up! Stop saying that!" Tonya shrieked.
"She hates you!" Capri rubbed it in.
"You don't know anything, Monroe! You just want her to hate me! It's all in your head!"
"Is it?" Capri countered, "After all you did to her?" Then she looked at Heidi.
"She wants every picture and anything you have of her destroyed." Heidi confirmed, looking at Tonya.
"No!" Tonya wailed.
"Everything that's an actual picture, or just something you made - "
"No!"
"Everything you made," Heidi repeated after Tonya cut her off and tried to drown her out, "To represent her, everything you wrote about her, every story, every letter - "
"No, no, no no no - stop! STOP!"
Heidi continued relentlessly, "Any recordings you might have of her voice, every video you might have of her - "
"Not anything I recorded from her newscasts!" Tonya was desperately grasping at straws now, as if her life depended on it.
"Yes, even those." said Capri. "She has asked for protection from you, and to have you completely blocked so that her life and yours won't connect in even the tiniest way."
Tonya fell to pitching a huge tantrum in a massive display of unravelling and losing control. She sobbed, screamed, pleaded, cussed, and blubbered incoherently.
Bez snickered. "I really ought not to enjoy this as much as I do. It's just so gratifying...watching you and your scheme crumble..."
"Yeah," Capri's shoulders shook with suppressed laughter, "this tart used to pride herself on getting the better of people, now look at her. I think we should take her along on this mission and make her watch the destruction, don't you?" She was in no mood to be kind toward the manipulative, bullying brat who seemed to have the upper-hand for way too long and had cheerfully caused so much suffering and gloated about it.
"Definitely," said Ameh. "Can we tape it to show Indy?"
"Yep, got my phone right here." Heidi indicated her purse. "Only, shouldn't we get a court order or something first, and enter it all in as evidence, then destroy it when it's no longer needed?
"Oh, hadn't thought of that." said Misery.
"Great point." said Ameh. "If we get the okay, it should reassure Indy to see Tonya's shrine and whatever else she had get trashed. I know it would reassure me if I was her."
"Count me out, I've seen that thing way too many times." said Nick.
Bez snickered. "Well now, who's fault is that?" She asked wryly.
"But-" Nick started to protest.
"Shut your stupid mouth!" Tonya fumed, still in tears.
"I see we finally have your full attention." said Capri to both of them. "So Tonya, why the spell to make us think Indy was dead?"
"Probably just to torment us, maybe she thought we'd all be too upset to do anything, and then she and Nick would get away." said Misery.
"And, I would've claimed Indy for myself and brought her back to life again once you sickening, STUPID gnats were gone!" Tonya hissed at Misery, still through tears.
"So, WE'RE sickening - and - stupid." Misery said, rolling her eyes in disbelief.
Bez gagged. "Okay, she's really starting to make me sick. I've seen some weird, obsessive people before, but this is just nauseating."
"Shut up! Shut up!" Tonya wailed. "You stupid, pathetic-"
Bez nodded at Thande, who stepped forward quickly and lifted Tonya into the air by the scruff of her neck.
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...Sing a new song, will ya?" Bez said. She smiled. "You kinda look like a piñata in that position." She turned to face the others. "Any one got a big stick?" She noticed Thande's spear and shook her head. "Nah. Must resist." She looked at Tonya, smiling smugly. "Let's recap. You're going to jail. It's going to jail." She pointed derisively at Nick. "Your perverted little shrine is going to get trashed. We're all going to be fine. You're not. But there is the slight matter of your attempting to torch my ship-"
"So what?" Tonya spat. "Stupid, ugly hunk of tin! You should be glad I-"
"Shut it!" Bez punched her in the gut with enough force to knock the wind out of her. "You've tormented people long enough!" She snarled. "You're a twisted, worthless, spineless maggot- and I have half a mind to spill your guts right here, right now. And oh, do I want to. You have no idea how easy it would be to split you open and just end this all- but then I'd be every ounce as bad as you. And I will never be like you." She gestured to Thande to release her. As she fell to the ground, Bez snarled, unleashing a flurry of punches. "For Indy, for my ship, for every life you've ruined and innocent soul you've butchered- rot in peace!" She stepped back, breathing heavily.
"Yes!" Capri exulted.
"I can't wait till we get to ditch these odious slime-balls. Though I do feel a bit sorry for the other prisoners and the wardens." She smiled darkly. "Having you in the same facility is cruel and unusual punishment."
Capri burst out into raucous laughter at this. "Let's haul the trash away."
They all moved in position around Nick and Tonya to prevent them from any possible escape, and herded them out of the room.
They turned Tonya and Nick in, the arrests were made, and the court order was granted for them to honor Indy's request and destroy Tonya's shrine as soon as it was no longer needed as a source of evidence against Tonya.
There was a big celebration that night.
It would be some time before Indy recovered from the hellish ordeal, physically and emotionally, and she struggled with the decision of testifying against Tonya. She was afraid Tonya would manage to make everyone think Indy was the one at fault. It took many reassurances from her friends as well as the hospital staff, and people working in the justice system before she finally agreed.
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