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All it took was a look, really.
He never could describe the way she looked at him, something inherently dangerous in her eyes that made it impossible to not be caught up in her vigor. She was insane, of course. A megalomaniac evil genius with an unstoppable flair for dramatic that was matched by no other person he’d ever met in his life.
And then she listened. It was more than that fool Von Drake had ever done. Then she’d sauntered forward, left her mark on his plans, and freed herself. Her hand slipped into his jacket, warm black feathers brushing against his chest as she tucked the pen back. His breath caught and it was only after he yelled about their prisoner escaping did he realize that he hadn’t stopped smiling since she’d agreed to help him.
——
She had him at a look and she knew it.
How couldn’t she? For all 22’s lecturing, she hadn’t been distracted from the dissatisfied man being pushed out of a room by the fool Von Drake. Something or other about taking over the world, enough to catch her interest. All she’d had to do was catch his eye.
His plans weren’t awful, but he was adorably naive. A supervillain in the making if he could just take what he wanted instead of waffling about the shadows. A pragmatistic accountant to the end, but... he could learn. It was ambition that couldn’t be taught and he was proving to have that in spades.
A little push and he folded to her terms, a little showing off, and then leave him wanting more. But still, she paused just once, looked back. A moment or perhaps nothing at all. She had a glorious escape to worry about, a cackle of delight battling for dominance over the blaring alarms.