"Actually, my name's not Andrea," Mia confesses.

"Wait, what?"

"My name is Mia Summers."

The Malice stares ahead at the road. Even so, his eyes seem to dart in every direction. If his mind is like his eyes, then it must be spinning. They drive a little further before the Malice abruptly turns off the road and parks.

He turns to look at Mia. "Do you have any association with Night Watch?"

"Well..." Did spending a day plotting with him count? "Not really."

The villain slides his hands over his face and sighs. Earlier he seemed so proud of himself for executing his plan successfully. His pride has evaporated and is replaced with exhaustion. He furrows his brows. He takes his hands off of his face and starts the car again. He continues to drive.

"It's not fair that Night Watch kept you in this. He should have let you stay out of it."

"No, you don't understand, I came up with the idea," Mia protests.

The Malice shakes his head. "Doesn't matter."

It grows quiet. Mia looks forward, wondering where the villain plans to take her. Are they still going to go to his intended destination? He doesn't seem as motivated to go through with his plan as he had earlier.

"Malice—"

"Just call me Zander."

"Zander..." The name feels weird on Mia's tongue. She has always associated his face with his villain name. It didn't occur to her that he'd have an actual name. "What are you going to do now?"

Zander looks like he's going to say something but then he closes his mouth. His shoulders sink. "I...don't know."

The rest of the car ride is quiet. Mia suddenly regrets telling him the truth. She didn't mean to make him feel so defeated. Why are you feeling bad for him? she asks herself. He's a villain!

Even so, she's not scared. Zander just seems like a normal person. He hasn't made any moves towards Mia that would make her scared. Would he have treated her the same if he still thought she was Andrea, though? Mia keeps that thought in her mind. She can't trust him, not this easily.

Zander stops in front of a building. It appears to have been abandoned for a while, for the paint on the walls are curled at the bottoms and the roof is caving in. Mia's nose wrinkles. It's not the most appealing sight she's seen.

Zander hops out of the truck and opens Mia's door. He motions towards the old building. "Follow me."

Hesitant, Mia gets out of the car and does as told. Zander shoves his hands into his pockets and walks slightly ahead of Mia. When they reach the door, the villain flips over the doormat to reveal a key. He slips it into the knob and opens the door. It takes all of his strength to get it open, but once he does, it opens easily. The inside is worse than the outside. There are parts of the floor that Mia has to avoid because the wood has been so destroyed. The ceiling is leaking in every corner. When Zander tries to turn the lights on, the few light bulbs glow dimly before turning back off.

"I rented this place out because I thought it would be a dramatic place to have a—" Zander leans his hand on a three-legged chair and it falls over, making the villain stumble. Mia suppresses her laughter. "—a dramatic final battle."

"Final battle?" Rented? Whoever owns this house should have given it to Zander for free. It's a piece of work.

"Yeah." Zander finally finds a sturdy chair. He spins it around, sits, and places his arms on the back of it. "I'm tired of fighting Night Watch. I thought that if I lured him in with his girlfriend and then embarrassed him, he may have just called it quits."

"Wait, you're doing this because you don't want to be a villain anymore?" For some reason, Mia can't wrap her head around that. Couldn't he have just talked to Night Watch about it? Surely he'd be more than happy to end their feud. That's one less bad guy in the world, after all.

Zander stands up and offers Mia his chair. She sits down. He grabs another chair and sits across from her. "I never wanted to be the Malice, Mia. Today I was going to end it. But, you're not Andrea, so he's not going to care." He sighs. "I guess I'll just try again another time."

Mia had been so confident about her and Night Watch's plan that morning. They were going to take down the Malice and save the town. However, it seems like Zander already wants that. The plan doesn't sit right with Mia anymore. Another random battle is futile. When Night Watch comes, would they fight and then leave after? Have they done this before? Mia's glad she's sitting down. If she hadn't been already, she knows she would have fainted from the shock. This is far more complex than she had anticipated.

"Do you want me to take you home or do you want Night Watch to?" Zander asks. "I can probably get you to your house and then back here before he arrives."

Mia shakes her head. "We're going to get back at Night Watch."

"What?"

"You don't want to be a villain anymore. If that takes embarrassing Night Watch, then that's what we're going to do."

It seems silly, but Mia knows it'll work. From the small amount of time she had with him, Mia knows that Night Watch's image is important to him. It may not be Andrea, but surely a little public exposure should do the trick.

Zander goes through his initial plan with Mia, though they fine-tune a few details to polish it. They are ready and set in an hour, just before they hear a knock on the door.

"That's him," Zander whispers. His voice shakes with excitement and nerves. He goes to open the door, but then walks back over to Mia. She's sitting in a chair with loose ropes around her wrists, set in position. "...If this works, then thank you. Really."

Mia smiles. "Of course."

Zander exits and opens the door. Mia can hear Night Watch talking to Zander, demanding where she is. Zander plays his part, laughing and boasting about successfully capturing "Andrea."

However, Night Watch is playing his part, too. He and Mia had agreed to pretend like she's Andrea to make Zander feel comfortable. Then, when he isn't looking, she's supposed to catch him by surprise. However, that isn't what is going to happen.

Zander leads Night Watch to the room where Mia is in. The hero gives her a small smile. She winks in response.

The villain goes behind Mia and puts his hands on the back of her chair. "Well, do you want her? Come and get her."

Night Watch slowly approaches. He nods towards Mia, signaling for her to attack. She gives him the best confused look she can muster. He tries to make more motions to help Mia understand, but she continues to act clueless. After a minute he gives up and runs toward Zander.

The hero doesn't notice a rope lying on the floor. His foot gets caught on it, causing him to be raised in the air. His eyes widen. He lifts his torso to try to untie the rope around his ankle, but it's too high up. He allows himself to dangle, defeated.

Mia easily gets her hands out of the rope and pulls her phone open. She goes onto her camera and starts recording.

"Mia? What are you doing?" Night Watch asks.

"Showing the world how good of a hero you are," she responds. "Can't even see a simple trap on the floor? Pathetic."

Night Watch's jaw drops. He tries once more to free himself, but it's useless. He looks over at Zander. "Why are you doing this? You're...you're supposed to help me—"

"I'm done with your games, Carson." Zander approaches Night Watch. He crosses his arms. "I'm done being the Malice. Find a real villain, okay?"

Mia stops recording. She flips onto her social media, ready to post it. She turns her phone to show Night Watch. His eyes widen.

"Don't," he pleads. "I'll do anything."

"She'll post it unless you agree to end our feud," Zander says. Though it seems like a fairly simple negotiation, Night Watch appears to be having a difficult time deciding. Finally, after a minute, he sighs and nods.

"Good." Zander takes a knife out of his belt and cuts the rope. Night Watch yelps as he falls to the ground, head first. Zander laughs and extends his hand towards the hero. Night Watch glares but takes his hand.

Mia watches, satisfied. She deletes the video from her phone. Now that Zander has gotten what he wanted, she doesn't need the evidence. It has no use any longer.

Mia stands up from her chair and starts leaving the room. "Hey, where are you going?" Zander asks.

"I think I saw a bus stop close by," she explains. "I think you guys have it covered from here."

Zander nods. Night Watch doesn't look at her. Mia leaves the building and starts walking down the side of the road, an empty pit settling in her stomach. Zander isn't a villain anymore, but will Night Watch still try to take revenge for what he has done today? Even though he agreed to end the feud, that doesn't mean that he won't try to get back at Zander. Did this help anything?

Her phone buzzes in her pocket. She takes it out to see her co-worker, Terry, calling. She looks at the name, never feeling so relieved to have Terry call her.

"Hey, you didn't come into work today so I was just checking in." Terry laughs nervously. Mia smiles.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Do you want to get drinks or watch a movie today? I kind of want to do something...a little normal tonight."

"Yeah, of—of course," Terry replies excitedly. "I'll pick you up at seven?"

Mia reaches the bus stop. She sits down on the bench. She looks to the side of her. The old, abandoned building is long gone. The craziness of today is long gone.

"Sure, seven sounds great."

***

You smile happily at the screen. Thank goodness Mia didn't post that video to social media. You wouldn't have felt very satisfied if she would have.

"You know something?" you say to the computer. "I had doubts when I first heard about the goal of this game, but this is really fun. When is it coming out in stores? I'll recommend it to my friends."

"You aren't finished." Grace completely disregards your question. "You need to make sure that Mia fully forgets about what happened today. She can't tell Terry about her day."

"Why not? I would."

"Because then Terry may tell other people. She can not be associated with heroes or...villains."

You shrug. You don't find it to be that big of a deal. Even if she does tell him, realistically he would find it to be a tall tale. You check your phone. Somehow, you've been playing for hours. You have to get back to your friend before they get worried.

"This has been fun, but I need to go." You get out of your chair.

"Are you not listening?" The A.I. demands. For a computer, it seems very irritated. You sit back down. "You are going to stay until the night is over."

"It's almost three, though, I need to—"

"You are going to stay."

You stare at the screen, stunned. Can it really do anything if you decided to leave? You assume that it can't. It's just a computer. To test the theory, you get up and head for the door.

Your breath hitches as your chair slides behind you, knocking you back into it. You look behind you. The chair used to be scooted right next to the desk, but now it's next to the door, where you are.

"How—"

"You are going to stay." The chair slides back up to the computer. You slowly back it up, only enough to prevent yourself from suffocating against the desk.

You slowly look back up at the screen to where Mia is. She's no longer talking to her dog but folding her laundry. You sigh. I guess I'm staying here until this date is over, you think. Can't argue with the scary and controlling computer.

Congratulations! You just got the DECEPTION ending! Go back to "1. Morning" in order to try again!

Ending: 13/19