Cedar sat in a small room, the kind that tv detectives conducted all their interviews out of. Opposite him sat the team leader, straight backed and attempting to look formal. His stance was far more relaxed by comparison.
Whisper offered a small smile before shuffling through some paperwork. "How about from the beginning?" She offered. "What happened, what you saw and why you got involved?"
"Your friends were walking like zombies, all blank and purposeless, y'know? It felt off. Wrong. I had headphones in, so I didn't hear the singing at first. I sort of followed from a distance until I saw him, the big guy. Then I got my ass kicked and woke up here."
"And broke that hypnosis."
"And did that, yeah. It's easy when you know how his powers work."
Whisper raised an eyebrow. It looked perfectly plucked to him. "And how do his powers work? Who is he?"
He hesitated, thinking about how to best answer that. He was more than willing to give out as much information on the criminal locked in the team's cells as he could, but needed to avoid incriminating or leading back to himself. Finally, he decided to start with "have you ever heard of The Rainbow Brigade?"
The team leader shook her head.
"That's fair. They disbanded before I was born, and most likely before you were, unless you're way older than you look. They were a group of wannabe vigilante heroes in Alabama, only...they weren't very good. Like, they had power and they could work together and figure out how to use that power, but they weren't good people, and their version of justice was...sick. If you go to the right part of the state, you can hear a lot about what they did. They all wore colour coded uniforms, hence the rainbow name, and the green one turned out to be a serial killer or something. The guy in your holding cells right now? His name is Storm Sullivan, used to go by Ballad. He sings. When he sings, he can make you do whatever he wants. He wants you to ride a unicycle while juggling pies? That song makes you do it. It doesn't have to be a specific song, he just has to sing with a command in mind."
Cedar wondered if this was how it felt to give testimony in court.
"And how do you stop it?" Whisper asked, hand poised to write down the secret.
"Simple. You disrupt the song. It doesn't matter how, but if you stop him singing, or you drown him out with a louder sound, or plug your ears, you're golden. He can't hypnotise you if you can't hear him."
"Hence why the headphones kept you safe." Something didn't quite fit with the story given by Hex and Crayon before, however. "But...how did you disrupt the song? My team didn't even know you were there until...Sullivan attacked you."
"Loud noise." He answered quickly. "I don't think people under his control properly remember it."
"I see...do you by any chance know why he was after us, or you?"
"What makes you think he was after me?"
"My team said he went right past them and attacked you. I doubt it was just because you 'made a loud noise'."
That made sense. "He knows about my sensory powers. He...wants to use his powers to use my powers to somehow make himself popular or a hero again. I don't really get it, I don't know what specifically he wants to do, but...yeah. I think...he was...I don't know if he wanted your team for their powers or just to lure me out or what...I, I, I just know he wants attention, and lots of it, positive attention for all the wrong reasons." This seemed safe to say. It didn't give the full details of how they were related, but it still wasn't a lie.
Whisper nodded, tapped her finger nervously against the table. Something was still bugging her. "Last question, Cee, then you can go back to the infirmary. This Rainbow Brigade, I know you said they'd disbanded, but is there any chance Sullivan is still in touch with them?"
"Like...you're worried they might come after me, or you?"
"It's a possibility."
Cedar tilted his head back as he tried to think, tried to remember any evidence of his father still talking to his old friends. "Well...three of them died, but he might...I don't know either way."
"Can you tell me anything about the rest of them?"
"Greenfield was very well known serial killer, but they never found out his real identity." At the mention of Greenfield, Whisper's expression hardened. "You know him?"
"Not personally, but I know someone directly affected by his murders."
"Sorry. I, uh, don't know much about his powers-"
"I know someone who will, don't worry too much about it."
"Kay, but, uh, if he knows about my powers, I think he'd be interested."
"I'll bear that in mind. Thank you for your time, Cee. You can go relax now."
With a slight nod, he stiffly got to his feet, wincing slightly, still sore. The girl gave him a slightly sympathetic look. As he straightened fully, a loud bang rocked the tower, the shockwave almost sending him off his feet. Both of them gripped the table for stability and exchanged equally worried looks. Cedar spoke first.
"That's, uh, not a good sound, is it?"
"It absolutely is not."
