A partnership

Carmen lets you pick the place and you 2 end up at a Japanese restaurant, the kind where they have a chef wielding his knives and cooking on a steel grill in front of the diners. It's not too crowded and you 2 manage to get a table to yourselves, with just the enthusiastic chef as company. You've always enjoyed the novelty of such dining and Carmen seems to enjoy it too, speaking with the chef in fluent Japanese. After your food is served and the chef leaves you 2 alone to eat, Carmen finally turns to you, still holding a piece of grilled chicken wedged between her chopsticks.

"So, how did you do that to Alan?"

You continue chewing the shrimp in your mouth as you look at her. After all that has happened, she has a lot of reasons to be angry at you or even fearful of you, but her tone and manner seems friendly. Along the way to the restaurant and while the chef was twirling his knives fancifully, you had been considering whether or not you should tell Carmen about your magic rings. Screw it, you decide. If it doesn't work out, you can always erase her memory of the conversation.

"I have certain abilities. One of them is mind control."

Carmen looks skeptical. "Are you doing it right now?"

"No. I have to activate it."

"How?"

You raise your hand and show her the 5 rings on your fingers, pointing at the one that enables you to control people's thoughts. "By pressing the stone on this ring, it allows me to control people's minds. Look," you say then activate the ring. You then beckon a waiter over and command him to cluck like a chicken and flap his wings. He does so without hesitation, then you dismiss him and deactivate the ring. Carmen looks impressed.

"Magic?"

"Exactly."

"Wow. I've heard rumors of magical items in my travels, but I didn't think they were real..."

"They are."

"What about the other 4 rings. What do they do? How did you get these?" Carmen asks.

Chuckling, you go on to tell Carmen about how you had come into possession of the rings and their respective powers. You also tell her about your crime fighting adventures so far, acting as an invisible **** for good without anyone knowing. That seems to get Carmen excited.

"Wow, that's amazing... Imagine what... we could do together."

"Exactly. That's why I wanted to meet you."

"You want to work together? How?"

"I haven't figured that out yet, but imagine the 2 of us together. I know what you're trying to do, dressing up as a ninja vigilante and protecting this city. There's so much more we can do than just stopping a mugging or robbery if we combine our abilities."

Carmen considers your offer as she resumes eating, and you can tell she's deep in thought. Frankly, there's no downside for her and you thought she would have jumped at the opportunity. You know what you have to do to convince her.

"Here," you say, taking off 1 of your rings. It's the one that gives you super strength, which is also the 1 you use the least and the 1 you decide poses the least threat to you if Carmen ever backstabbed you. You grab Carmen's hand and lay the ring down on her palm. She stares at it for a long time, before slipping it onto her wedding finger. She activates the ring and from her expression, you can tell that she's feeling the strength coursing through her body. She then grips the side of the table and squeezes, causing it to crack and bend, and she quickly lets go and deactivates the ring. Grinning as she turns to you, she nods.

"Okay. I'm in."