Upside Down: Inverting Tropes in Storytelling

The Origin of Terror

Sunil Patel

Channel 12 News Report, March 21, 2036

[Smoke fills the screen. It wafts away to reveal a Chinese woman in her early fifties, holding a microphone. Behind her is an ornate cathedral. The sounds of people screaming can be heard.]

Marjorie Huang: This is Marjorie Huang, International Correspondent reporting live for Channel 12. It was only thirty-five minutes ago that Terror appeared in Prague, but she has wasted no time in her destruction. You can see her trademark steam everywhere throughout the city, though we cannot determine how much she is varying the temperature.

[A dark cloud bursts from behind the woman and engulfs her, obscuring our view. After a few seconds, it clears. The woman coughs and shivers.]

MH: Terror is currently unleashing ice cold vapor upon the city. We know in the past she has been able to freeze pipes and expand cracks in the structural support of buildings in order to —

[The building behind the woman topples, the rubble kicking up dirt to create a rival dust cloud.]

MH: The St. Vitus Cathedral has fallen. I repeat, the St. Vitus Cathedral has fallen. Terror is now making an announcement. She is saying, “Do you not see how easily you fall? How complacent you have become, ensured of your own safety? You are not safe, and you will never be safe, as long as Terror reigns!”

[The woman puts her hand to her ear.]

MH: I am getting word that we have exclusively in the studio Bonnie Baker and Cliff Curtis, better known to the world as Ignite and Chill, superhero parents of the supervillain Terror. We now take you —

[From the top of the frame descends a woman riding a puff of steam. She is Caucasian, in her mid-twenties. As she lands, she looks sharply at the reporter, who fiercely stands her ground. Terror raises her hands to the camera and shoots a steady stream of steam until nothing is visible. The feed cuts out and cuts to a live feed of the news studio. An African-American man in a suit sits behind the desk. At an adjoining desk are a couple in their mid-fifties, the man with salt-and-pepper hair and the woman full grey. They wear jeans, work shirts, and boots.]

Keith Stanton: Marjorie? Marjorie? We seem to have lost Marjorie, but we’ll check back in on her. I’m Keith Stanton, and we have here in the studio Bonnie Baker and Cliff Curtis. You might know them as Ignite and Chill. Thanks for coming in.

Bonnie Baker: Thank you for having us, Mr. Stanton.

KS: Please, call me Keith. Now, Ms. Baker, Mr. Curtis, have you seen the footage coming out of Prague?

BB: Oh, yes, it’s just awful.

Cliff Curtis: It’s some bad business there. No denying that.

BB: Our hearts go out to the city.

KS: Is there anything you would like to say to Terror?

CC: Are they still calling her that?

BB: They’re still calling her that, dear.

CC: She was such a good girl. Do they know that?

BB: Such a good girl.

KS: My apologies. Would you like to say anything to Tera?

BB: Call home, pumpkin!

CC: Just a short phone call, a little hi, a little hello, your mother’s worried sick about you.

[The feed flickers and cuts back to the scene in Prague, where Marjorie Huang stands, completely scalded from head to toe, covered in blisters. The microphone falls from her hand, and then she collapses to the ground. The feed cuts to the studio.]

BB: We love you, dear.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

[A tall white woman with long black hair sits in a cell behind glowing green bars. Red light bathes the cell, making the true color of her prison uniform indeterminate. In front of the bars sits a Chinese woman holding a notepad.]

Cynthia Huang: Tera Baker-Curtis, a.k.a. Terror, has perpetrated some of the most monstrous crimes of our generation. The San Francisco Incident. The Obscurity of Prague. 8/14. But she has finally been brought to justice, and in a few short hours, she will be executed. I have been granted exclusive access to record a final interview with the woman TIME magazine called “The Villain to End All Villains.”

Tera Baker-Curtis: There will be villains after me. I am not the end.

CH: Let’s start at the end, then. With your capture.

TBC: It is fitting that it was Twindian. He has a bright future. A television special, perhaps.

CH: It’s airing next week.

TBC: A pity I will not be able to view it myself. What will he say about his great victory, capturing the arch villain Terror? What would he have done, were I not here to be caught?

CH: Interesting questions, but I’d like to focus on you. You’re facing the end of your life. It’s certainly been a memorable one. A deadly one.

TBC: I believe my body count is in the high tens of thousands.

CH: 87,126.

TBC: I only hope it was enough.

CH: Enough for what?

TBC: To change the world, of course. Do you think I mean to leave this life without having affected it?

CH: There’s no question you have affected countless lives, if only by ending them.

TBC: A callous use of cleverness, Ms. Huang.

CH: One of those lives you ended was my mother’s.

TBC: I wonder what number she was. 50,005? 63,487? I lose track. You must know. So clever.

CH: We’re not here to talk about me.

TBC: You brought your mother up, not I, Ms. Huang.

CH: Moving on. I’d like to discuss what many consider to be your most heinous domestic attack.

TBC: Do enlighten me as to the hierarchy of my heinousness.

CH: Every American knows where they were on 8/14.

TBC: Of course, of course. I was experimenting then, to be honest. I did not know the range of temperature I could work with. People are so obsessed with the power of steam, with “steampunk,” machines powered by the pressure of steam, but few consider the heat. In its gaseous state, it can become a far more powerful conduit for heat than a liquid, infiltrating cracks in buildings. Seeping into the skin. I didn’t think it would be so effective, if we’re being frank, and I think we are.

CH: Do you regret your experiments?

TBC: I foresee a repetition of this question, so allow me to answer in the negative so we may concentrate on the more salacious details I am sure your viewers desire.

CH: Do you regret the Obscurity? That was no experiment.

TBC: Truly, the Obscurity fills me with deep remorse. If I could bring all of those men and women back to life, I would, I assure you.

CH: It heartens me to hear you say that. Finally, some words of … dammit, Tim, edit this bit out.

TBC: You are quite gullible. This will be fun. Continue.

CH: Your childhood. Your parents. What our viewers want to know is: where did Terror come from?

Channel 12 News Report, July 6, 2011

[Paul Taylor stands in a hospital room, microphone in hand. On the bed lies Bonnie with a bundled blanket in her arms. Cliff stands on the other side of the bed.]

Paul Taylor: It’s an event as momentous as the birth of the Royal Baby: popular superheroes Ignite and Chill have had a child, and the world is watching! I’m here with the proud mother. Now, Ignite —

Bonnie Baker: Oh, please call me Bonnie.

[Bonnie pulls back the blanket to reveal the newborn’s head.]

BB: And this … this is Tera.

PT: Tera, what a beautiful name. It’s a girl, folks!

Cliff Curtis: Most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Next to Bonnie, of course.

PT: What does this mean for you two? Will you be settling down, retiring from a life of saving people from burning buildings and chasing down teleporting monkeys?

CC: Ha, those monkeys, that was a trip, I tell you.

BB: We haven’t quite decided yet. I don’t think our work is done, but right now we have a more important job.

PT: Has she exhibited any powers?

CC: She’s a good crier. Real good crier.

BB: It’s too soon to tell, but I’ll say this now so it’s on public record for her to know forever: Tera, we will love you, no matter what, powers or no powers.

CC: Would love her to carry on the family business, though. Teach her the ways of us heroes.

BB: There’s no question she’ll be a hero, Cliff. Our little superhero.

International Superhuman Database Entry, Cached February 4, 2038

Name: Tera Baker-Curtis

Alias: Terror

Race: White

Gender: Female

Nationality: American

Birthplace: Hutchinson, Kansas

Birthdate: July 6, 2011

Height: 5’ 9”

Weight: 140 lbs.

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black

Powers: Steam/smoke/vapor. Can vary density and temperature of gas from intense heat (burn and melt) to intense cold (freeze).

Status: Alive, uncaptured

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Cynthia Huang: We all know the story of the Annihilator, how his parents locked him in his room if he didn’t say his prayers before bedtime, how children at school teased him for the birthmark on his forehead, how his beloved dog was hit by a car on his eighth birthday. Many speculate these events shaped him into the man we knew.

Tera Baker-Curtis: While I am loath to speak ill of such a great man, I find him weak, in retrospect. Anyone can become a supervillain with a bad childhood, but it takes true strength and dedication to choose that path from a childhood such as mine. My parents did not lock me up. They gave me all the freedoms they could.

CH: What kind of freedoms?

TBC: They allowed me to roam around the ranch unsupervised, trusting that I would come back to them safely. This was before they knew I had powers. I had free rein over the countryside, an idyllic landscape. Did you grow up in the country?

CH: I’m a city girl, myself.

TBC: I grew to love cities. So much more to destroy. But the country was so open, as if the world was a much bigger place than my simple home. My parents understood that. No dog died on my eighth birthday. Do you know what happened on my eighth birthday, Ms. Huang?

CH: I’d love to hear it.

TBC: They bought me a pony. My parents loved me more than any parents have ever loved a child, and I shall brook no argument to the contrary.

CH: Would you kill them?

TBC: My parents, or a person foolish enough to denigrate them?

CH: I actually meant the second, but the first is a much more interesting question.

TBC: My mother sang me a lullaby at night. I still remember how it goes.

[She hums a lullaby.]

Message from the Hutchinson Emergency Broadcast System, December 14, 2032

ALERT!

We interrupt this program for breaking news. There has been an attack on the Reno County Courthouse. While details are still coming in, the attacker is said to be a white female with as-yet-unidentified powers. Some reports indicate she can fly; others indicate a massive amount of smoke issuing from the windows. A source close to paramedics reports serious burns and frostbite. Approximately a dozen casualties have been reported, with numerous others severely injured. This superpowered individual is uncatalogued, and she may still be at large. Stay in your homes until further notice. We repeat, please stay in your homes until further notice.

Excerpt from An Oral History of Terror, by Rachel Westinghouse

Kevin Halloran, neighbor

Tera? Aw, Tera was just the cutest little girl you ever did see. She was always up to something or other. Bonnie and Cliff, they let her go where she wanted, and sometimes she’d show up on my doorstep. “Misser Halloran,” she’d say, “can I have some lemonade?” And you couldn’t say no to that face, no way. Puppy dog ain’t got nothing on those eyes. Yeah, I loved getting a little visit from Tera. They raised her right, that girl. Good, traditional American values. I know some people look a little funny at folks with powers, and maybe that’s not so traditional when it comes to America, but given all they do for our country, I say they’re as American as any soldier. Oh, Cliff and me got along like the fox and the hound, you know, like in that old movie? Good people, Bonnie and Cliff. Good girl, Tera.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Cynthia Huang: So you were a happy child, then.

Tera Baker-Curtis: The happiest, you might say. I used the word idyllic earlier, and I would like you to fixate on the connotations of that word. Imagine an idyllic life, a veritable utopia, like a dream. Know that, as a child, the world you know is the world you experience. It is also the world you are told about. Not long after my eighth birthday, I learned of the Annihilation.

CH: I think I was twelve when my parents told me about it.

TBC: An entire country wiped off the map. Millions dead in a matter of seconds. Such power Winston had. Such power. It was in that moment that I knew the world was not idyllic after all. You might say that my belief in a good, kind world was annihilated.

Excerpt from Major Superhero Events of the 20^th Century, by Michelle Bradley

Annihilation, The: On April 18, 1967, Winston Wyndham, to be known afterward as the Annihilator, unleashed a burst of psychic energy that extended to the borders of Switzerland. This burst affected the minds of all six million humans within the borders — including tourists from eight different countries — and shut off their brains. Notably, the burst also reached into the skies, crashing two planes, but experts agree that the passengers were dead before impact. Wyndham gave no warning or explanation of this attack, and, immediately following, disappeared. The United Nations organized the world’s first global superteam, consisting of Brawn, Pyrette, Incredible Woman, Hyperboy, and Madame Fury. The Champions were able to track down and defeat Wyndham before he could attack again. Although the team had been given instructions to capture him alive, he perished in the battle, and the reasons behind the Annihilation remain unclear.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Cynthia Huang: So the world wasn’t what you thought it was, then.

Tera Baker-Curtis: It was far more complex and twisted than I had imagined. As a child, I did not comprehend the depths of that revelation, but as I grew, I became acutely aware of what I had, in relation to what others did not. Not all daughters received a pony on their eighth birthday.

CH: I sure didn’t.

TBC: By my ninth birthday, I didn’t either. Things happen, you know. To ponies. And mothers.

CH: Don’t you dare talk about her like that again, you soulless piece of shit.

TBC: Now, now, I have a soul. When my mother saw what I’d done to poor Smokesy, she tried to appeal to that soul with a muffin. Encouragement or deterrent, Ms. Huang? Mothers do the strangest things.

CH: Tim, cut everything after “I sure didn’t.”

TBC: I had a neighbor. Kevin Halloran. His daughter Kathy was three years older than I, but we often spent time together. She was a naïve girl. They were all of them naïve, ignorant of the world, or, if not, refusing to acknowledge what it truly was. Simply because they were in no danger, they believed themselves to be safe. Did the Swiss think they were safe, Ms. Huang? Did visiting Australian scholar Thomas Bradley believe he was safe? Do you believe you are safe, Ms. Huang? Right now, at this very moment, with these bars between us?

CH: Yes. I do. The dampener’s on.

TBC: You have that privilege, don’t you? I saw these mortals in their complacency, taking the world of good for granted. The Annihilator is ancient history, they said. All is well, they said.

Channel 12 News Report, July 30, 2017

[Bonnie holds Tera up to the camera, bouncing her up and down. Cliff tickles Tera’s side. Pan left to Scott James.]

Tera Baker-Curtis: Put me down, Mommy!

Scott James: That’s right, put her down, Mommy! She’s not a baby anymore!

[Bonnie puts Tera down. The camera follows the child.]

SJ: Tera Baker-Curtis, the Super Baby, is now a Super Kid, and she is, I gotta say, super cute.

Bonnie Baker: Thank you very much, Scott.

SJ: She seems like a real handful, but I know all of us here at Channel 12 are glad she’s not taking up all your time.

BB: Cliff was kind enough to watch her while I came to your rescue. The Mantis Wasp doesn’t seem to like you folks, now does he?

SJ: No, Bonnie, he doesn’t. So tell us about Tera.

BB: Couldn’t be prouder.

Cliff Curtis: She tried. She tried to be prouder, and she couldn’t. I was there.

SJ: The whole world’s wondering … does she have powers?

[Bonnie and Cliff exchange a look.]

BB: Well …

SJ: A Channel 12 exclusive reveal, maybe? A demonstration?

CC: Oh no, that ain’t happening. Not until our girl decides what she’s doing with them. Secret identity and all. That’s a sacred trust.

TBC: Annihilate!

CC: It’s her new favorite word. She likes the sound, don’t know what it means yet.

BB: We’ll tell her when she’s older.

Transcription of Video Chat, superheronews.com, November 13, 2035

Tariq Ahmed: The world is still reeling from the reveal of the supervillain Terror’s identity by blogger Kamera Obscura. Did you know?

Bonnie Baker: Don’t you call her that. That was our name. Our little joke. She was so well behaved, we called her that with love when she was a kid. And you people picked it up and spun it around. And then she started to believe it herself. That word. Everyone so afraid of our little girl.

Cliff Curtis: Calling our daughter a supervillain? Look, now you even made me say the word.

BB: We never dreamed she was using her talents like that. We taught her the right things, I promise you.

CC: Someone at the market spat at me the other day, can you believe that? Like I told my girl to go kill people, what kind of poppycock is that? We raised her right, you hear me? Food, shelter, good values, the works.

BB: We know she must be doing these things for a good reason. I have to believe she is the girl we knew, the girl we made, deep down.

TA: I understand you have both considered yourselves retired from the superhero life for several years now. Will this spur you back into action?

BB: To what? Go fight our daughter?

TA: Kill, preferably.

CC: We’re not gonna kill Tera, what kind of poppycock is that?

TA: Someone has to.

BB: Oh no, not my little girl. Don’t you understand she’s still my little girl?

CC: Gotta be another way. Something. Can’t even think about that.

TA: Terror talks about safety. Killing her would make us safe.

CC: You have kids?

TA: No.

CC: What do you even know about this then?

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Tera Baker-Curtis: Many don’t know this story, but there was a boy. This was a few months after Chill finally defeated the Mantis Wasp. His brother, Moth Wasp, went on a rampage, but this was before that. Like me, I feel he was new, testing. And he saw this boy, and he attacked. The boy fought admirably, I must say, avoiding the stinger, beating at the hairy wings.

Cynthia Huang: Moth Wasp put my wife’s cousin in the hospital.

TBC: That’s nice. This was not your wife’s cousin. I watched the battle, determining whether to intervene. I ran to them and shot a cloud of smoke into Moth Wasp’s eyes, and he flapped his wings furiously to clear it. I grew the cloud and froze it. That stopped his wings cold, as it were.

CH: You saved that boy. He would have died.

TBC: I felt no satisfaction about this.

From the Notes of Hutchinson News Reporter Jonathan Pak, September 18, 2029

Manuel Herrera, survivor

That thing was coming right at me, man, you know? Big-ass monster like I never seen. But my dad and me, we spar in the garage, and I boxed the hell out of that thing. Yeah, I coulda maybe taken it, but I had to watch out for the stinger. Float like a butterfly, sting like a motherfuckin’ wasp, you know what I’m saying? Then there’s all this smoke, and this white girl comes running. She’s fine, dark hair like I like it. And she freezes the damn thing’s wings! Two super people in one day, just on the way home from school. She asks me if I feel safe now, and I say I do, and she just sort of grunts. She looks at me, and the sun’s making her look like a damn goddess, and I was gonna ask her out, but then she just leaves.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Cynthia Huang: Tell me about your first kill.

Tera Baker-Curtis: Of course. The loss of innocence. Crossing the line. The kind of salacious details your viewers are looking for.

CH: It’s now or never, after all.

TBC: I owed it to myself to see the other side. Have you ever killed anyone, Ms. Huang?

CH: No.

TBC: How do you know you wouldn’t like it? It is a particular pleasure to envelop a human being, to be both in my own body and floating in the steam. I can feel each particle caress her skin, and the microphone, which I superheat until it scorches her palm. As I raise the temperature around her, I consider each smoldering blister a message. Her breathless gasps, a reply. It is, as they say, a pleasure to burn.

[Cynthia clenches her fist in silence.]

CH: If you pull anything like that again, this interview is over. You … you monster. Tim, edit that out. Edit. That. Out.

TBC: But you wanted to know about my first kill, not my 50,000^th or whichever she was. I found my victim in secret. This was not to be a debut of any sort. This was new, this was testing. He coughed as the smoke filled his lungs. He could not scream when I superheated that smoke, searing them from the inside. I had not practiced that technique; it was a spur-of-the-moment invention. When he fell to the ground, I held his hand and felt his body go from warm to cold, from Ignite to Chill, and this, this felt like something earthshattering. This was interesting.

Obituary – Manuel Lito Herrera (July 6, 2011 – September 24, 2029)

Manuel Lito Herrera, 17, passed away on September 24, 2029. Manuel was born in Hutchinson, KS and was a lifelong resident. He was an exemplary student at Hutchinson High School, where he was praised for his animated personality. Manuel also founded the Boxing Club. He is survived by his father, Alfonso Herrera, and his husband, Hernando Esparza; his mother, Daniela Acevedo, and his stepfather, Joaquin Acevedo; and his two sisters, Rosario Acevedo and Juanita Acevedo. Services will be held on Thursday, September 27, 2029 at Old Mission-Heritage Funeral Home.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Cynthia Huang: The courthouse attack was your debut.

Tera Baker-Curtis: It was no Annihilation, but it was a start. You must understand, Ms. Huang. The world grew complacent in a post-Winston time. No one else saw it, but I did. And a world like that, a world that felt safe, was not safe. Ignite and Chill stayed home to take care of me, allowing others to tangle with any villains more threatening than those pesky Wasps. The Annihilation was a wake-up call, a reminder that there was true evil in the world to be vanquished. You saw the effect it had.

CH: I have a Champions T-shirt like everyone else.

TBC: Don’t you see, then? Don’t you see that the world needed me? Why is light needed but to drive away the dark? My rustic reveries would not have been possible had they not been defended. History will remember me as a monster but I will know me to be a savior.

Channel 12 News Report, August 12, 2026

[Bonnie, Cliff, and Tera sit opposite Scott in the Channel 12 studio. On the screen behind them is a title card reading, “SUPER TEEN.”]

Scott James: It’s good to see you again, Tera. You’re looking more and more like your mom.

Tera Baker-Curtis: Thanks, Scott! That’s a real compliment.

Bonnie Baker: Very sweet of you to say, Scott.

SJ: Now that you’re older, have you given any thought to whether you’ll be joining, uh, the family business?

TBC: I don’t even know where I’m going to college yet.

Cliff Curtis: You’ve still got time, honey. No one’s forcing you to make choices now.

TBC: Everyone’s got to make a choice sometime, huh?

BB: We’re defined by the choices we make.

SJ: This is real heavy stuff!

TBC: Guess the Annihilator made a choice one day.

CC: Wasn’t a good choice.

TBC: Maybe it’s not that simple.

[Bonnie reaches into her purse and pulls out a muffin.]

BB: Have an orange spice muffin, dear.

[Tera takes the muffin.]

TBC: That’s a good choice. You’re right, Dad, Winston didn’t make a good choice.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Tera Baker-Curtis: That is an absurd question. You ask some absurd questions, has anyone ever told you that?

Cynthia Huang: Just imagine if things were different. What if your parents had been like his?

TBC: I imagine things may have gone differently. I imagine I would have become a hero, a rebellious act against such mistreatment.

CH: But that’s not what happened with the Annihilator.

TBC: You seem incapable of comprehending the nuances of human behavior, Ms. Huang. As if each person will react to adversity in the same way. As if each person will react to comfort in the same way. My parents nurtured who I was, though they did not know who I was. They ignited my true self, chilled my false one. Love, respect, admiration — I fed off of them, Ms. Huang.

CH: And these nuances resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

TBC: I could express remorse but I’ve already negated such trifles.

CH: We really mean nothing to you, do we.

TBC: On an individual level, only two of you mean anything to me.

Channel 7 News Report, October 1, 2033

[Two identical Indian men stand side by side. They give each other a high five, and a blinding flash of light emits from the impact. When the light fades, only one young man remains. Chyron on screen reads, “NEW HERO(ES) IN TOWN?” Zoom out to show African-American man with microphone.]

Don Harrison: Don Harrison, reporting live for Channel 7 News, and I’m here with … what should we call you?

Govinda Sharma: I haven’t come up with a name yet! Sorry, didn’t know I was going to be on TV. I just wanted to help. I’m thinking something Rama-Lakshmana-y. Laksh-Man? I don’t know.

DH: Well, at least five people will be calling you their savior after what you just did.

GS: I can’t believe I really did that! I’m still alive! They are too! Because of me. Wow.

DH: I know they’re grateful.

GS: After 8/14, that was a wake-up call. I saw Terror on the news and I just knew I couldn’t not use my powers for something more. There are other superheroes out there, sure, but there’s also me. It’s my duty. Look at what the world is, right? It needed me, so here I am.

From the Notes of Chicago Tribune Reporter Anna Wilson, October 1, 2033

Juanita Herrera, survivor

The dude just split himself in two, it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen! Like, I’ve totally seen super people before, but nothing like that. And both of them, or both of him, or whatever, they pushed the car out of the way, like he must really work out. The train went by and we still screamed because, like, we almost died. But he saved us. I need to call my sister now. She’s gonna flip.

Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039

Cynthia Huang: So that’s your story.

Tera Baker-Curtis: You wanted my story. You have my story.

CH: The secret origin of Terror herself.

TBC: May it enlighten the populace and win its timeslot. Perhaps the world will change its mind about me. But that is irrelevant. What they think is of no import; what matters is how the world changes. I’ve made an impact. What have you done?

CH: I’ve gotten your story, for one.

TBC: You got nothing, Ms. Cynthia Huang, daughter of Marjorie Huang. I gave you this story. And some lovely family memories.

CH: They said you wouldn’t talk to anyone but me.

TBC: In you I can see the real impact I have had. Poor thing. I hope you treasure our time together.

CH: Allow me to give you something in return. Tim, bring them in.

[Bonnie and Cliff walk in. Tera stands abruptly.]

TBC: Mom? Dad?

Cliff Curtis: All this time out in the world, and you never called! No hello, no goodbye.

Bonnie Baker: We missed you, honey.

[Tera paces in the cell.]

TBC: Have you been listening all this time?

BB: You said such nice things about us, pumpkin.

CC: Little less nice about you, though.

CH: Ignite, Chill, and Terror, together again after a decade.

TBC: I was always thinking of you. I want you to know that.

[Bonnie reaches into her purse and pulls out a muffin.]

BB: I brought you an orange spice muffin.

[Tera sits down.]

TBC: It’s too late for muffins.

BB: We just wanted you to make the right choice.

CC: Don’t know about these choices, Tera. Thought we taught you better than that.

TBC: Ms. Huang, please send them aw —

CH: Bonnie, Curtis, your daughter will be executed in hours. Is there anything you would like to say to Tera?

BB: We love you, dear.

CC: But we wish you wouldn’t have killed so many people.