<strong>Ace</strong><br/><br/>The Silver Spider was quiet for a long moment, looking at Ace as though she weren't quite certain whether or not she was being made fun of. It was Onyx who broke the silence.<br/><br/>"You're getting offers to flip on us, now? You must have done a good job! I'm proud of you, Sil."<br/><br/>Silvia smiled thinly, "thank you, dear."<br/><br/>"Or a really,<em>really</em>bad one."<br/><br/>"Yes, thank you, dear."<br/><br/>"Then I wouldn't be so proud."<br/><br/>"Yes. Thank. You. Dear."<br/><br/>"Hey, hero, you're invincible? A lot of people say that, let's wrestle and find ou-ooh!" Onyx cooed as Silvia applied weight to what was apparently a particularly sensitive point in the small of her back. "None of that, lovely, I'm not finished with you."<br/><br/>She turned on Ace, cracking a smile and giving her a suggestive hip-bump. "Maybe in a different life I'd let you collar me. Now I don't mean to rain on your parade, because I see that you're serious about this, and very, very earnest, and it is pretty cute when you have that look in your eye." Her voice got quieter, her gaze level, "But right now, why on Earth would I want to do that?  What you're asking me to do is to turn on my friends, the people I owe debts to, the people who gave me my life back, and stop the thing that's setting them free that's probably a hero anyway, in exchange for..." she frowned, "it's a work-detail? I think that means my reward is that I get to go back to prison. You want me to trade a temporary housing unit I can screw around in and break out of easily," with such a close-up, Ace could see strands of insulating spider-silk (nearly invisible to the naked eye in such sparse quantity) threaded around Silvia's shock collar, "for another grey, sterile containment unit. For more years of going crazy with boredom.<em>And</em>you want me to fight for the people who tried to take everything away from me the minute I decided to... Penny, when did they first start calling me a proper supervillain?"<br/><br/>"It was the theme park thing. Is it just Kidnapping or Child Kidnapping when you take a whole class or Mass Child Kidnapping or what? I lose track," Onyx responded immediately.<br/><br/>"That, yes! I took a group of boarding school kids out to have some actual fun for once in their lives. There should be a medal for that, but instead it's one of the worst crimes you can commit," Silvia huffed. She sounded practiced - that was probably a line she had polished pretty well. Given her rap sheet, the odds of the actual incident being so straightforward were...<em>slim</em>. "I'm won't say I haven't thought about what life would be like on the other side, all the matching outfits, restraining orders against your really pushy fans, tackling big problems, long odds and constant danger," she admitted, "but aside from that it always sounded awful! You work to someone else's schedule, you're more or less the maid for other people's plans and you usually don't get to make your own. And you only get into adventures on someone else's say-so, it's always stopping someone else from doing something. And you have so many rules it's like you have your own prison inside your head! I really enjoy you heroes, and I like how much more exciting you make life, but I can't see becoming one. Why do<em>you</em>find it appealing, dear?"<br/><br/>---<br/><strong>Darclight</strong><br/><br/>"Speaking as someone that's played the role for a lot of people and seen a lot of people play the role, I will say that people are<em>really good</em>at swallowing their egos for the chance to command godlike power," Auxilia said to Darclight, "hmm, it is interesting that he was the one who told you, though. Maybe he was thinking our meeting would have a different outcome, and to be honest, it easily could have gone very differently. But you're right, it doesn't add up. Too many blanks and we're basically scribbling notes in the margins next to them. We need more information. Any ideas on getting it?"<br/><br/>---<br/><strong>Kanina, Tabs<br/></strong><br/>"So Kanina," Auxilia said, one of her leaning casually on the rabbit-girl's shoulder, "how do you feel about getting married? Generally, I mean, I'm not offering. I can't, even. Legally I'm actually classified as malware."