“Okay,” he said, “we’re here. The bank is here. I’m sure we can assume that the robbery would have been noticed straight away – security would have wanted to know why the cameras went out. Where did he go?”
“There was a lot stolen,” Taylor said, thinking about the information he had picked out of the people’s heads. “He would have needed someway to transport it.”
“He can turn himself into a car,” Zac pointed out.
“Not indefinitely. He would also need somewhere to store it.”
“Point.”
“Okay,” Nate said, “so if you were the embodiment of all things evil, where would you store all that booty?”
“Booty,” Zac snickered.
“So childish,” Jessica scorned. “It would depend. Just because you’re completely evil doesn’t mean you would do all things evil.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It’s like what we were saying before, about bloodlust,” Taylor said. “Interest. Is he interested in killing? So same with where you would go to hideout. He would go somewhere that appeals to him, or otherwise suits his purpose.”
“And what is his purpose?” Doug asked.
“Observe,” said Nate, then turned to Carla, “What’s your purpose? What, right at this moment, do you want to accomplish more than anything?”
Carla’s face brightened.
“Why, I would like everyone in the world to be at peace with each other. No famine, no war. Not one horrible, nasty thing like that,” she paused, “I don’t know how to do it… but I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
“There,” Nate said decisively, “Then obviously Isaac wants the opposite. To destroy the world.”
“Oh, no, surely not,” Carla wailed. “No… he would never want to do anything of the sort. And I should know. He’s here with me.”
“Fine. Rephrase statement. Evil Isaac and Carla want to destroy the world. Good Carla and Isaac want to make all the Miss Universes for the past few decades’ wishes come true.”
“Surely evil Isaac and Carla can’t be all that evil…” Carla said, an unhappy look on her face.
“Would I lie to you?”
“No…”
Good Carla and Isaac seemed to be in a bit of a paradox. On the one hand they believe that Nate wouldn’t lie to them, and therefore what he was saying what the truth… on the otherhand they couldn’t believe that their other halves could be as bad as everyone was making out – surely they must be mistaken? But to believe they were mistaken was to doubt them, and they didn’t want to doubt them…
While Carla mulled this over, the rest got back to the discussion.
“What would be the point in destroying the world?” asked Taylor. “He’d only destroy himself too.”
“Maybe the other cliché,” Zac suggested, “World domination.”
“Okay, so let’s say that’s what he wants,” Walker said, “where does he go from the bank?”
They all looked at each other in silence.