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"Why?" he asked, and Linus was afraid: it was a reasonable question There was no proof There were only Hailey’s hunches Edward didn’t have to ad to anyone He needn’t have confessed what he did to Hailey and Linus He’d wanted to, which wasn’t the sa Linus doubted Edould just stop Why would he, when it was getting him what he wanted?
Even worse, would this lead to a smackdown between the superhero and the villain, an ultimate battle the likes of which the world had never seen and, also, wouldn’t have much interest in? Did he want such a tired cliché to happen right in the middle of Ramouette’s IT department?
What would the consequences be, especially with the co up in less than teeks? Would factions be further splintered? Would Hailey get fired for e a wrongful terainst Ramouette? Would the state of Minnesota’s depart hundreds of lost man hours? He foresaw entire square miles of paperwork ahead, and was afraid
"Why?" Edward asked again "Why stop nohen you’re so close to accepting what you are? When you’re almost ready to understand that--"
"Don’t," Linus warned
"--with great--"
"If you say with great power co terrible," Hailey warned "More terrible than I already had in mind, I mean And if you don’t turn yourself in now, today, you will never recover fro curious
"Because I’ll do things to you I won’t be able to take back For starters, I’ll disse Every bite I’ll get it all down, Edward You won’t be able to stopup the hard drive with the other I’ve never actually eaten a fan before, and the server’s got a good one You need them to keep the tech cool
"The et, the more I’ll pull a Hailey smash all over this department, your car, your home Even if you’ve backed it all up somewhere else, this is your baby We all know it It’s actual, physical tech you will never get back Tech I’ll convert to energy and use to, I don’t know, have sex for a ithout stopping, with Linus here That’s ill happen to your Precious I’ll use it to have sex And you won’t have it anymore"
"Tons of sex!" Linus added
"And that," she added, watching all the color fall out of Edward’s face, "that’s just the first thing to pop intoabout how to fuck you up Weeks Years"
It broke him Linus saw it at once It wasn’t the threat Not even the threat of more threats It was her face and her tone She had looked sorry; she had also sounded genuinely sad when she spoke of doing things she couldn’t take back Like she knehat it was like Like she had experience with being fucked with, and was sad because she knew the reed to everything
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Toldja," The Old Coot said, watching as the Savage police hauled a cuffed and raving Edward to a jail cell far, far away
"Inevitable," Audrey the Receptionist agreed "The second tiod, I figured he was bound for, I dunno, prison, or the botto seminars Some wretched fate that wouldet you up in his face like that," Audrey noted "What, did he call you out about being It Girl?"
For a second Hailey couldn’t breathe She actually doubted her ears: Had Aud the Rec really said what she thought she had? She stole a glance at Linus, who looked remarkably serene
"That’s it, isn’t it?" The Old Coot asked, observing Hailey’s frozen expression "What’d you do, threaten to eat his tech? If I was It Girl, that’s what I would have done Actually, I would have trussed hi, then made him watch while I ate allllll his back-ups"
"Ho--I--How?"
"Are you kidding?" The Old Coot looked at Audrey, as slowly shaking her head "Is she kidding?"
"’Fraid not That’s the extent of the cloud this woman walks around in"
Hailey knew she sounded idiotic but was unable to stop "There’s not--I don’t understand--You couldn’t--"