Chapter Seven: When you meet an average joe, a mouse, and a cop

Long chapter filled with a team practice, a meeting with Kidman, mice, and this one guy who just got unlucky. Oh, and Kris goes a bit crazy.

Ink, Queen B, and Light decided to suit up and pay a visit to the man who broke into the academy, Metis Ionia. Based on Q’s suggestion, they were able to find his house from his social media. Ink walked up to his front door flanked by his friends. He noted that a light was on inside, so the man must by awake. He knocked.

             Metis opened the door before jumping back. “Oh no!” He exclaimed, quickly trying to shut his door.

             Ink stopped him with a vine. With ease, it pushed back to keep the door ajar as Paul raised his hands to show that he meant no harm. “We just want to talk about what happened at the school,” Ink assured.

             “You’re not going to hurt me?” Metis asked, pressing his weight against the door.

             “No!” Ink said sharply before sighing. “We think that what happened that night wasn’t your fault… You’re innocent.”

             Metis’ countenance changed, his eyebrows scrunching together with self-righteous anger. He allowed the door to swing open and slam on the wall. “Damn straight.” He responded, crossing his arms.

             Ink’s vines disappeared as he relaxed. “Can you tell us what happened?” Ink asked, placing his hands on his hips.

             “Totally,” He said, nodding. “I was hanging out, watching TV, when I got a call from an unknown number. I answered because I was curious and I heard a woman’s voice singing. Once she started singing, I did everything she said. I had no control. I watched as I did those things, but I couldn’t stop myself.”

             Ink made a mental note. “What did the voice make you do?”

             “It wanted me to steal some test answers or something like that… I got caught, so I never got the answers.”

             “Have you gotten any strange calls since then?”

             “No,” Metis answered, his relief palpable. “Thank god.”

             Ink thought in silence, rubbing his chin. He looked to his friends and they shook their heads. “I guess that’s all the questions we have for you,” He declared, clapping his hands. “Thank you for your time. Have a nice night.”

             Metis smiled awkwardly. “Happy to help,” He replied. “I hope you find the person responsible.”

             Metis shut the door and they turned to go. “It’s probably a female student,” Queen B said, stepping up to walked beside Ink. “She’s probably concerned about her grades or something like that.”

             Ink agreed with a nod as Light jumped in. “Do you think she has previous singing experience?”

             “It isn’t a necessity with powers,” Queen B replied. “Rarely are powers inherent or easily determined from a person’s characteristics.”

             Light opened his mouth to counter, but she was faster. She gestured to Ink self-aware, continuing, “Contrary to the point is Ink, but the rest of us? It’s less clear whether we have some link to our powers.”

             Ink smiled, impressed as always by Alicia’s wit. Holding up a hand to draw attention, he declared, “I’ll look into it at the academy.”

+++++

             The mice were different today when Alicia went to check on them. It had been a few weeks, just like Nicki said. Alicia approached the fume hood to see thirty pairs of eyes fixated on her. The mice watched with an intensity Alicia had never noticed before.

             She stepped out of the room and waited, listening. Soon, she heard them return to scrabbling about their cages. She put on a hazmat suit and went back inside, treated to the same response as before. She felt a flutter in her chest that could only be described as excitement.

             She opened the fume and took subject one out of its cage. It was docile in her hands as she moved it about to examine at it; it didn’t pull away when she touched its paws or tail. Yet, it appeared normal. Putting it back in its cage, she decided to find a maze.

             She returned to the lab several minutes later, borrowing the maze from Law-Shah’s practically abandoned lab. Setting it on a counter, she fetched subject one. She didn’t know what to expect when she placed it in the maze. But it certainly wasn’t the mouse running through the maze.

             It backtracked when it found dead ends and ran as if its life was at stake. It reached the end and waited, stone still. “I don’t have any treats, one,” Alicia commented before tapping at the entrance with a fingernail. “I’ll find some if you give me-”

             The mouse responded to her tapping, racing back to the entrance. It didn’t make any mistakes this time. “What the hell?” Alicia said playfully as she picked it up.

             She put the subject down on the counter. It tried to explore, crawling towards the edge. “Hey, stay!” Alicia chided, pushing it away to safety.

             The mouse stayed put. She wondered if it could learn tricks. Alicia pressed down its rump, so it sat. “Sit,” Alicia said before nudging it back to standing.

             “Sit,” She repeated.

             She covered her mouth, watching it plop its bottom on the metal. She clapped before realizing that it was odd to respond this way. Stopping, she decided that she would teach the mouse more tricks.

             Making it lie down by pushing on its shoulder blades, she taught it “down.” She repeated the command to make sure it understood and it dropped on its belly. Smiling, she asked it to sit before pulling it to stand on its hind legs. “Stand,” She said.

             Alicia stroked its back until it shifted to four paws from the pressure. “Sit,” Alicia said.

             The mouse sat. “Stand.”

             It balanced on its hind paws. Alicia nodded, impressed by its uncanny intelligence. She wondered if the other mice were the same. She picked it up to return it to its cage before grabbing a subject two.

             She placed the mouse into the maze to see the same thing happen. “Pagel!” She called after summoning the subject to the start.

             She eagerly waited for Pagel to appear while tapping her foot. Pagel walked into the lab. “What?” He asked before noticing the mouse. “Are the mice doing something?”

             “Yes!” She responded ecstatically. “Watch!”

             Pagel approached the maze, looking down at the mouse. Alicia tapped the end. It quickly scampered there. “Great, you taught it a trick,” Pagel repeated dryly.

             Alicia glared at him, wondering if he was being purposefully obtuse and replied, “I didn’t teach it that.”

             “If you want to see a trick I taught,” Alicia continued, striding over to the fume hood. “Stand.”

             Pagel watched in awe as 29 mice stood in their cages. Alicia was equally wide-eyed. “Did you teach all of them that?” Pagel asked quietly.

             “No… I taught one.”

             She punched his shoulder lightly. “Do you know what that means? That one taught the others.”

             Alicia smiled at Pagel’s befuddled expression. He pointed at them as he figured out what he was thinking. “Get a DNA sample from every one of them. We need to see if they have the same genes that humans have… Find the analog chromosome that it would be added to, so that we can sequence the relevant DNA.”

             Alicia went to the desktop, quickly finding the analog. “Sox21 gene is the equivalent and I found the proper enzyme to cut around it.”

             “Great,” Pagel said. “Let’s get to it.”

+++++

             “Alright, for the sake of order, I am going to pair up people,” Paul declared in front of a crowd. “Experienced with inexperienced. Team, focus on practicing your partner’s power.”

             The teens looked confused as the team nodded. “Bueno, Theo is with Ruby, Alicia is with Tiên, Q is with new kid Cat,” Paul continued, politely pointing to make sure everyone knew everyone. “And Tae is with new kid John.”

              John looked down at Tae and scoffed. “I don’t want to be paired up with short stack. He’s so small,” John commented before gesturing at Theo. “I want to be paired up with muscles over there.”

             Nodding to Tae, Paul smiled and beckoned for him to respond. Tae turned to John as the team backed up with the teens following their lead, perplexed. Tae jumped, spinning midair. He nailed John’s jaw with a heel.

             John recoiled, rubbing the spot. He chuckled dryly before picking up Tae. Holding him eye level, John asked, “Do you want to fight?”

             Tae glared at him with a knowing smile. He clasped his hands together and shocked him. John dropped him. Then, he laughed again, seeming to realize that Tae would be a worthy challenge. “Alright then,” John responded, getting into a fighting stance.

             Skipping back, Tae lured him away from the crowd as Theo got Ruby to square off. Alicia gently guided Tiên to a free space in the clearing. Q suggested that Cat and them sit on the boulders nearby. Paul watched proudly as his team trained.

             Theo threw punches at Ruby intentionally missing. Ruby recklessly charged at him, knowing that Theo couldn’t fend her off. Theo panicked and protected himself with his shield. Ruby pushed against it, unmoving. “Without your rock-hard skin, you’re just a kid,” Theo commented, using his shield to push her. “You have to think smart.”

             Ruby punched the shield to test its durability. “Come on, man,” Ruby growled. “It’s no fair when you use your shield.”

             “You won’t always have the advantage in combat,” Theo chided, knocking her over. “Think about it… My shield only covers so much…”

             He led her to a thought, and she seized it with a vengeance. She kicked him in the shin, bringing him to the ground. It gave her time to get up. She stood triumphantly over him. Bending over, she began her onslaught of fists.

             Only to be stopped short by Theo’s beams. He pushed her back with them before standing. He noted that they seemed to refract off her as if she was reflective. She tried tackling him, but was stopped by his light beams. “Alright, new situation,” Theo declared while keeping her at bay. “What do you do?”

             He couldn’t hear Alicia scoff from across the clearing. “You switch to a long-range tactic,” She told Tiên, who was watching the fight from afar.

             Tiên nodded respectfully. Alicia placed a hand on a tree, muttering. A huge gash formed where her hand was, quickly leaking out sap. Tiên set her hands on the tree and willed it to be well. Sap filled the cut and bark formed over it. She smiled at Alicia who gave her a thumb-up. “Let’s make this harder,” Alicia said.

             Bringing her hands together, Alicia made a slashing motion. It cleaved a chunk out of the tree, leaving it balancing on half of its trunk. Worriedly, Tiên closed her eyes and hoped to heal it. The chunk was quickly replaced with new tissue, much to her surprise. “Nice!” Alicia praised. “Your powers are stronger than I thought.”

             “Thanks,” Tiên said embarrassed.

             Alicia thought for a moment, rapidly tapping her foot. “I got something we could try,” Alicia said.

             She knelt and placed her hands on the ground, whispering. A small obstacle course formed from earth and fallen branches. Tiên could see an injured sapling at the end of it. Feeling some sympathy for the baby plant, she jumped into action. She flew over a grassy hurdle and crawled under a broken-branch arch. Diving through a ring, Tiên made it to the sapling. She healed it before celebrating with a little dance. “That was amazing!” Alicia cheered.

             Tae ran into the obstacle course, leaning on the earthen hurdle. He rolled over it as John charged at him. John destroyed the half-wall of dirt, but Tae already seemed to be on the other side of the clearing. “Come here, coward!” He shouted before running at Tae.

             Tiên walked over to Alicia with a worried look. Alicia reassuringly patted her shoulder. “Let’s try a different obstacle course.”

             Alicia watched as John almost hit Q. “Watch it!” They shouted, shaking a fist uselessly at the rampaging teen.

             Q turned to wide-eyed Cat beside them. “Are you okay?” They asked, their hand hovering over her arm.

             “I’m fine,” She said politely, waving away their hand.

              Q quickly poked her, apologizing, and transformed into her. Cat leaned away, looking pale. “Is that your power?”

             Her tone made Q wish their transformed into someone else. “Yeah, I can transform when I touch or talk to someone,” They explained, putting on a cheerful façade. “What’s your power?”

             Cat looked at her hands. Q clearly ruined her good mood, though the teen must’ve known the question would be brought up eventually. “I can’t die. Paul found me after I got hit by a car… And I was perfectly fine.”

             “So, you have healing powers?” Q said, nodding. “I mean like next level healing if you don’t stay dead.”

             Cat sighed and rubbed her face. “It’s what it is.”

             Q felt the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. They rubbed their arms to get rid of goosebumps. “You want to die?” Q whispered, looking at Cat who wouldn’t meet their gaze.

             “No, I just…”

             Paul walked over to the pair, hovering by Cat. His arrival triggered silence. The trio focused on Tae and John’s fight instead. Tae remained evasive but had stopped running. He carefully watched a breathless John, ducking and dodging when he threw punches. Paul nodded, impressed by both people’s skill. He looked at Cat. “Do you want to train?”

             Cat chuckled dryly as John unsuccessfully tried to kick Tae. “For me to train, I’d have to be hurt,” She replied, eyes fixed on the sparring partners.

             Paul grimaced while thinking. There really was no way around that fact. Tae jabbed at John before dancing away. Paul mentioned, “Everybody would be hesitant to hurt you.”

             “Well then,” Cat said, punctuated by John slamming a tree. “Training won’t happen.”

             Paul agreed, rubbing his chin and mumbling, “There must be someth-”

             Cat bolted, knocking over Tae. She caught a branch thrown like a javelin in her abdomen. She collapsed.

             Tae quickly laid her on her back, noticing that the spear had pierced her through. With trembling hands, he pulled out the bloody branch before tossing it aside. Tae rested her head on his lap. He tried to staunch the bleeding with her shirt as the team came to see what happened.

             Paul was beside him in an instant, holding Cat’s hand. Tiên rushed over as Ruby ran to John. “What the f**k happened?” She shouted, pushing him.

             Theo spotted an unconscious Q and went to check on them. Alicia slowly approached Cat, glancing at her watch. Paul shook his head at Tiên, telling her that Cat was already dead. Tiên cried quietly. He immediately felt guilty.

             Paul looked up at John, who held Ruby away from him with a hand. “Don’t worry,” Paul said to the group. “Cat has healing powers. She should be fine… But John,” Paul paused to sigh. “What happened?”

             “I don’t know… I lost my temper.”

             “You f*****g a*****e!” Ruby yelled, slipping under his arm to kick him.

             He fell to his knees. Cat gasped, sitting up.  “What a dick,” She muttered.

             Tae patted her bloodstained back as she breathed heavily. “Ah, I’m fine,” She said, brushing him off. “Really.”

             She lurched to her feet. Paul steadied her as Tae leaned in. “Thank you,” Tae said sincerely.

             “No problem,” Cat responded before noticing Tiên. “Oh, hey T… Don’t cry, I’m fine.”

             Tiên rubbed her eyes, trying to stop crying. “Sorry, I’m… sensitive,” She managed, calming down.

             A stunned Cat looked away from her to Q and Theo. Q was recovering, sitting with Theo’s assistance. “Is Q okay?”

             “I’m good,” Q said, giving them a thumb-up. “Just squeamish.”

             There was lull as the realization of what had occurred set in. Paul patted Cat’s shoulder once before addressing the group. “Okay, I think that’s where we should stop,” He said. “Good job, everybody. I’ll see you guys next week.”

             John took off immediately. Ruby went to Tiên and walked her out of the clearing. Alicia helped Q stand and left with them and Theo. Tae stuck around for a moment, contemplating whether he should say something.

             Paul held open his arms. Tae wiped Cat’s blood off on the back of his jeans before hugging Paul. “I am so relieved that you are okay,” He whispered.

             “I didn’t realize John would be so dangerous.”

             Paul squeezed the trembling Tae, then let go. “I am going to have a talk with him… If I knew he had anger issues, I wouldn’t have-”

             “It’s okay,” Tae interrupted. “Just… make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

             Paul nodded before bidding him a goodnight. Tae hesitated as if he had more to say, but he walked away. Paul turned to Cat. Sighing, he wondered where to start. An apology wouldn’t hurt. “I’m sorry this happened.”

             Cat shrugged, staring at her pool of blood in the grass. “You wanted me to practice my powers,” She responded dully.

             Summoning his scythe, he struck at the ground and churned up the dirt in that spot. It hid the blood well enough. Then, Paul gestured to the boulders, and they sat. Putting his hands together, Paul took a deep breath. “I wholeheartedly believe that you have a place here on the team.”

             Cat blinked at him, expressing her doubt. “I’m linked to death and that’s really off-putting to some people. All people.”

             “That seems to be true, however… some of your teammates will accept you for who you are right away.”

             Playing with the bloodstained hole on the front of her shirt, Cat chuckled. “I thought I met everyone, and they don’t seem happy to meet me. Go-lucky Q was downright scared of me.”

              “Our good friend, Kris,” Paul explained. “Who is on a secret mission… Well, she could easily become your best death friend.”

             Cat made a face, her eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. “What?” She said with a strained laugh.

             Paul smiled awkwardly and answered. “Kris has venomous nails and she has accidentally killed someone… So, there’s her death link… She’s been in a pretty dark place since.”

             “Great, so I can have another emo companion,” Cat replied sarcastically.

             Paul laughed. “That sounds like something she would say.”

+++++

             Kris paced her room from window to wall and back again. When she woke up this morning, she noticed her door was locked. At first, she thought it was just part of her new regimen: that an orderly was going to walk in and made sure she had breakfast. But no one came.

             Kris glanced to the clock fixed to the wall. It read ten. She sighed and decided to get back in bed. She napped for a few hours, waking when she heard the door shut. She opened her eyes to see a tray on the ground. She rolled out of bed to check it out.

             It was oatmeal in a plastic bowl, pills and a paper cup of water flanked it. She clicked her tongue as she realized there was no spoon. There was nothing she could use to escape or hurt herself, she realized. She ate the bland oatmeal using gravity, patience, and her tongue before washing it down with the pills.

             Kris stood up and went to the door. Trying to peer out the window, she knocked on it. “Hello?” She called.

             She waited for a minute before giving up and going back to bed. Resting her head on the pillow, Kris felt tired. She looked at her mitts with a growing irritation. She pulled them off with her teeth, hurting her hands in the process.

             She threw the mitts on the ground and flexed her fingers before looking up. Her eyes burned as she stared at the white ceiling. She wondered if it was normal to feel perpetually tired. “Probably not,” She muttered to herself, turning onto her side.

             She fell asleep. Her dreams were vague but filled her with terror when she woke. Panting, she tried to recall what is was about. She knew it must have been a nightmare, putting it out of her mind. She sat up, realizing that it must be near dawn due to soft light from the window.

             She spotted a new tray by the door. She got up slowly. Bending over, she felt the burger’s cold bun. It must’ve been last night’s dinner. Kris knocked on the door. She waited before knocking louder. She escalated to banging on the door with open palms. “Hello?” She shouted. “Hello? I haven’t seen someone in days!”

             She persisted, slamming the door and shouting. Her voice had grown hoarse by the time an orderly appeared in her view. The person seemed bigger than the average orderly. Kris thought they sent a big one for a reason. “Hey,” She rasped. “Can you let me out? I’m getting antsy.”

             “I can’t let you out,” The orderly said. “Your behavior has agitated other patients, so you are not supposed to be let out of your room.”

             “That’s bullshit,” She replied, leaning on the door. “What about my mental health? Being trapped in a box isn’t good for my mental health.”

             The orderly stepped out of her view, but Kris didn’t hear him walk away. After a moment, she heard the bolt lock move. He opened the door enough for her to breathe a sigh of relief before stepping into the doorway. “Kristen is not supposed to be let out!”

             The orderly expression morphed into one of defeat as he slowly pushed on the door. Kris bolted. Slipping through the gap, she was grabbed by the orderly. He picked her up while she struggled. She panicked.

             Gripping his arm, she scratched him. He dropped her. She ran, seeing a couple of people approaching. One was Dr. Horns, who charged past her to assist the injured orderly. The other was a grizzled guard.

             He tackled her to the ground. She felt a painful prick on her shoulder and quickly her eyesight blurred. Kris wanted to panic, but her breaths could only slow. Her mind got fuzzy. She rolled her head to look at Horns before she lost all consciousness. She spotted him with a needle, doing something with the downed orderly. Her eyes shut as she succumbed to the drug.

+++++

             “Thank you for coming, Tae,” Paul said, getting up from his desk. “Arturo didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”

             Shutting the door behind him, Tae went to the desk. “No,” Tae answered with a smile. “As soon as I said I was here to help you with paperwork, he directed me to your door.”

             Paul pulled an entire drawer of the filing cabinet out. He set it on top of his desk with a huff. “That’s good,” He said before changing subjects. “So, we want to pull out female students with a low GPA out of our six hundred fifty plus students.”

             Tae nodded as Paul took out half the files in the drawer. He set it in front of Tae and took out the rest for himself. Tae pulled a chair close to the desk and started sorting. He found his pile of potential suspects quickly piling up. “How do we narrow it from here?” He asked, though he hadn’t finished his stack yet.

             Paul hummed in thought as he opened a file and put it in the pile. “Um, search out people who are either delinquents or choir members. Our suspect is a singer.”

             Tae set the rest of his unsorted files on top of Paul’s and started going through the narrowed list. Paul smiled, momentarily watching him work. Paul could tell that the new criteria was harder to find. Tae placed all the cleared suspects in the spare chair, pretending that he didn’t notice Paul’s gaze. Paul looked down and kept sorting.

             “Found her maybe.”

             Tae handed Paul a file while explaining, “Miranda Sanger. Other students have complained about her cutthroat attitude and deceptive tricks to get solos in the school choir.”

             Paul was silent as he read. He agreed with a nod. “Miranda looks promising. I’ll call her in to discuss it later. Let’s keep looking, just to make sure.”

+++++

             Ink had the team gather at the factory district, three blocks from the meeting location and twenty minutes early. They suited up and moved closer to scope out the scene. Stealthy Eon snuck closer to see police officers had already surrounded the perimeter of the building. “They’re ready for us,” He said, nervously touching his mask. “Should we just go in?”

             Ink looked at his team. Light and Queen B seemed confident while Q played with their long hair. “I think we are ready as we’ll ever be,” Ink responded. “Let’s go. And remember, if things take a negative turn… Light will man the escape and Q will stick by me.”

             Light nodded as Q tried to smile confidently. Ink took that as their signal to go. They strode to the entrance of the building. They were quickly met with a pair of police officers. The pair lead them into the building, past the foyer that Light and Eon were familiar with, to a smaller office room.

             The room had a table and enough chairs for the team. Detective Kidman was sitting in one of the chairs with another detective Q recognized. The officers let the team file into the room before shutting the door behind them. There were no windows, which would make it harder to escape if necessary. Ink took it in stride, sitting directly across from Kidman. Q and Eon sat beside him, while Light took the chair nearest the large detective.

             Kidman glared at Ink. He smiled and tried to be cordial. “Good evening,” He said, using his friendliest voice. “I’m Ink and this is my-”

             “We know who you are,” Kidman interjected impatiently.

             “Oh,” Ink replied, thrown. “Uh, we don’t know who you two are, so I would appreciate introductions.”

             “As you should know,” She started with a tone that Ink knew she was trying to not roll her eyes while saying. “I’m Junior Detective Kidman. And my colleague is Detective Griffin.”

             Ink nodded, slightly waving at Griffin. He looked like if Theo was twenty years older and spent all of that time drinking. He might be a problem if things started going poorly. Kidman scanned the group. “Where is Coral?”

             Ink’s eyes flicked to Q, slightly concerned by Kidman’s perceptiveness. “She is on a secret mission,” Ink answered with a shrug. “I don’t know all the details.”

             Kidman sighed like she was tired of the stunts they were pulling already. “Is it illegal?”

             Ink chuckled. “Probably not?”

             “Well, that’s a shame,” Kidman commented, looking at her hands. “Coral and I seem to have a repertoire.”

             “I’m sorry,” Ink said before grinning. “Though, I will certainly be more forthcoming and friendly than her.”

             Kidman wasn’t amused. She met his gaze with a stoic look. “Before we can discuss anything, I need to know what powers you all have.”

             Ink turned towards Eon as Eon reached into his pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper and slid it across the table to her. She read it before snorting. Handing it to Griffin, she was compelled to comment, “BICQEL? What is that supposed to be?”

             Ink pulled a pouty face, trying to look offended. Griffin read the paper with a neutral expression. “Instead of calling us ‘the team’ or ‘vigilantes,’ you can call us BICQEL. Bic-quell.”

             Kidman covered her mouth with a hand. “I don’t think that’s a good name.”

             Queen B snickered as Ink defended his dumb idea. “Hey, it’s an anagram… or acronym… or initialism?  Anyways, it’s a combo of our names, so back off.”

             Kidman lowered her hand before shrugging. Intertwining her hands, she tapped her index fingers against the table. Ink tensed, worried she might press the issue. “Fine, down to business.”

             “There is a man kidnapping women from clubs and leaving his literal calling card, an albino peacock on a solid black background. He doesn’t have a distinct victim type, as he crosses the race barrier, but all the women are conventionally attractive… No one knows what he’s doing with the women since none of them have turned up dead yet.”

             She held out a hand to Griffin, who gave her a file. She took out a picture and set it on the table. It showed a man wearing sunglasses talking to a woman; the angle of the shot was steep, and the quality was grainy at best.

             “Club footage reveals that this man is relatively attractive, however he is impossible to identify besides being a young white man. He wears various flashy clothes and accessories to make it hard to see his actual features… We were hoping you could assist us on this case.”

             Ink pursed his lips, knowing Kidman wouldn’t like his response. “It’s not our thing, per se, because we focus on supernatural criminals. But we would be happy to help. If you guys plan on casing a joint, we have the perfect member for that.”

             He turned to Q and they nodded, nervously smiling. Kidman glanced at them before focusing her stern expression on Ink again. “Q, here, can transform into anyone,” Ink explained, proud Q was putting on a brave face. “So, they could become a beautiful woman.”

              “Although, you’re pretty good looking, Kidman,” He added with a grin.

             “Great, that was point one,” Kidman responded, glossing over his compliment. “Point two is the convenience store robber.”

             Ink laughed awkwardly. “We call her Gunfinger,” He commented. “Ah, we love her.”

             “Where is she? Do you know her identity?”

             Ink knew he couldn’t stall long following that question or else he would look suspicious. Then again, he couldn’t convincingly lie to these detectives. Deciding to bite the bullet, he answered, “We do… However, we won’t give you her identity because-”

             Kidman slammed her fist on the table, stunning him. “There is no excuse for not turning her in unless she’s dead,” Kidman said with venom.

             Ink took a moment to blink and regain his composure. “Gunfinger,” He started, pausing to breathe. “Is no longer active… Though she’s alive,” He reassured before rambling. “She was robbing out of necessity and stopped when she didn’t need to anymore.”

             Griffin spoke up, “That doesn’t make her less of a criminal.”

             Ink hesitated, looking to the rest of the team. Eon shook his head with somber eyes while Queen B shrugged but refused to look at him. He resolved himself to make the harder choice. “Sorry,” He said, staring back at Kidman confidently. “We are not going to tell you, that’d be a deal breaker.”

             “Well,” Kidman responded with a huff. “What can you do for us? We had this meeting with you to exchange information.”

             “We told you about our powers,” Ink said, spotting Kidman’s forming scowl. “But I can tell you a bit about Gunfinger’s powers. She can turn anything into a weapon, which is why she used paperclips and rubber bands. When we fought with her, we found out that she knows how to fight.”

             Ink paused to chuckle. “She kicked our butts, no problem,” He continued. “I wouldn’t want to run into her again and I wouldn’t want your people to get injured.”

             Kidman sighed and nodded. “Final point,” She declared. “What are your identities?”

             Ink noticed Q’s shoulders slump slightly as he answered the question, “We are not willing to reveal those yet.”

             “Can I ask why not?” Kidman asked, crossing her arms.

             Ink leaned forward, gesturing to the door. “There’s nothing to stop you from arresting us after this meeting is over. If we could make a deal, we would be happy to tell you.”

             Kidman turned to look at Griffin. They maintained eye contact for a solid few minutes, waging their silent conversation. Kidman slowly faced Ink. “We’ll see what we can do,” She replied self-assured as Griffin shook his head, looking at the ceiling.

             Ink smiled and saw that Kidman had a shadow of smirk on her face. “We would be more than happy to help you with the Albino Peacock,” Ink said with a certain finality. “I wrote my phone number on the back of that paper. If you need any other help or knowledge, just call.”

             Kidman flipped the paper over to look at the number. “A burner?” She guessed.

             “Yep, but I’ll still answer,” He answered cheekily. “We’ll continue to turn over all criminals we catch to the police.”

             “Except Gunfinger?” Kidman retorted.

             Ink couldn’t resist a self-satisfied grin. “Technically,” He said, pointing his finger. “We never caught Gunfinger.”

             Kidman’s scoff devolved into a frustrated laugh that intimidated Ink. “Right,” She replied sarcastically before gesturing for the team to leave.

+++++

             “So, this is the last one,” Alicia said, hovering over the examiner’s table. “This will be the last practice surgery?”

             “Yes,” Pagel answered as he walked to refrigerated wall. “But this will be a doozy.”

             He opened one of the doors to reveal a fresh cadaver. “This person,” He continued, covering his nose. “Just got here and has not been preserved.”

             Alicia held her breath as she was overcome with a putrid smell. “Oh god,” She gasped, feeling a growing nausea. “I’m going to be sick!”

             She ran out into the hall where Pagel quickly followed her. He put a reassuring arm around her shoulders as she suppressed her gag reflex. “Hey,” He said softly. “It’ll be okay. We’ll wear face masks, which is part of the procedure anyways, and you can spray perfume or something in the masks to make the smell tolerable. Besides, this procedure should be quick because we are replicating a breast reduction. Kris hopefully won’t smell like that.”

             Alicia smiled at his lame joke and mentally prepared herself. She went back inside, breathing shallowly. Digging in her purse, she took out a small bottle of perfume. Pagel handed her two face masks that only cover the nose and mouth. She gave them a generous spritz before putting on hers and giving Pagel his. “Let’s do this,” Alicia declared.

             They put on gloves and moved the cadaver onto the table. Alicia grabbed a scalpel as Pagel pulled out stapled papers. He set them on the table. It was a step by step image guide of a breast reduction. Noticing Alicia’s questioning look, Pagel explained, “It can help us get in and get out.”

             Alicia accepted it as a necessity, responding, “Alright, read me the instructions and show me the pictures.”

             Pagel placed the first image within her line of sight. “Make an incision under and along the breast.”

             Alicia cut there, ignoring the festering way the body flattened. She placed in expanders to see a pocket of space beneath the cadaver’s mammary gland. “Her gland would be here,” She commented.

             Pagel nodded in recognition. “You would need to separate it from the fatty tissue surrounding it sometime before you tried to remove some of the glands tissue.”

             Looking at the yellow and red tissue inside the cut, Alicia felt uncertainty. “How would I do that?”

             “You would need to scrape along the organ without injuring the organ.”

             Alicia chuckled, thinking that would be a difficult task. She tried to replicate his suggestion, pretending the dermal layer was the gland. She tediously cut away the fat, pretending the cold, slimy tissue was anything besides what it was. Pagel checked the situation. “That looks great,” He said. “Let’s skip ahead to after you remove the tissue. You would make sure the gland is in place before stitching things up.”

             Making sure it wouldn’t be a problem when she decided to sew the body up, she tediously pushed the fat back. “I would recommend making tentative stitches between the gland and the fat, so that the connective tissue can reform.”

             Alicia nodded, sewing the fat to the skin in a few places with plasticky thread. “I think we’re good, so I’m going to stitch her closed.”

             Alicia carefully stitched the skin, reconnecting the breast to its underbelly. She made sure the stitches were evenly placed and didn’t have gaps where infections could get in. “Meticulous stitches,” Pagel commented.

             Alicia looked up, taking a breath. “Thanks,” She said with a smile he couldn’t see. “I’ve been practicing… Let’s do this again with the other breast.”

             “Okay.”

+++++

             “Welcome to the Katte’s Meow,” Wilson greeted. “I’m Willow Wilson and this is Thurston Maddox. Let’s get right into it. Another woman has been reported missing. Sidney Davidoff was last seen at the night club, Temptations. Here is an image of her.”

             The feed cut to an image of woman with defined cheekbones and big brown eyes. “If anyone has any information, please contact the police at this number.”

             The camera panned over to focus on Maddox with the next story. “The new drug on the street has been identified as a completely unique pseudoephedrine,” He said. “It is a gaseous drug and is highly addictive. It has been linked to the crime syndicate, La Casa Nostra. Word from an ever-knowledgeable source, Signor Storico, has commented that pseudoephedrine is not a business La Casa Nostra has firm footing in. It would not be profitable for them to step into this market unless they have a good plan of attack… Take that how you will.”

             “In related news,” He continued. “La Casa’s Capo, Edmond ‘The Wall’ Walter, has recently been released from prison. He was there for tax evasion, where he served three years and paid hefty fines.”

             Wilson smiled as the camera turned to her. “We have video of a new vigilante,” She declared. “A man flies in to stop an armed robbery. Let’s go to the clip.”

             The clip was decent quality unlike the new vigilante. He flew into view with a shiny, self-made leotard suit. Big initials “SM” were clearly visible as he swooped down and picked up a man wielding a gun. He dropped the person after he wrestled the gun out of his hand. He disappeared from view and the criminal ran away.

             The feed jumped back to Wilson. She turned to Maddox and laughed outright. “Do you see this guy?” She asked, clearly unscripted. “He looks ridiculous.”

             Maddox agreed with a big smile. “I think it is interesting and concerning that the number of vigilantes seem to be increasing,” He commented. “Too many people are taking the law into their own hands.”

             He looked into the camera intensely as if he was chiding all the vigilantes face to face. “These vigilantes need to start cooperating with the police force or join the force,” He said sternly. “Our own animal gang has taken the correct steps in order to work with the police force.”

             “Speaking of the police bureau,” Wilson interjected. “Let’s now go live to the police chief who has a statement.”

+++++

             Chief Utlawe stood behind the same podium, this time placed on the steps of the police building, to make his announcements. “Good evening,” He started before cutting to the chase. “Charles Dauphin has escaped from Flare Mental Hospital. He is a schizophrenic with strong delusions of self-grandeur. He believes himself to be a king. He was determined to have a supernatural power of suggestion. His words are treated as fact by his victims and they obey any commands he gives.”

             Chief Utlawe pause to stare into the camera. “If you see this man, do not approach him. Instead contact the police. We must assure you that he is not violent, however he does pose some threat to people’s sanity. We want to capture Mr. Dauphin peacefully,” He concluded. “Now, we would like to open the floor for questions.”

             Wilson stood up in the crowd. “The team offered to meet with you this past Wednesday,” She prefaced. “How was that meeting?”

             “It was productive,” He answered gruffly. “We have been given information on the team and we have recruited them in an investigation.”

             “Do you know their identities?” She pressed.

             “No,” He replied.

             “Do you think you can trust them?” Another reporter interjected.

             Chief Utlawe withheld a sigh and looked firmly at the person. “I believe that they act in the interest of the citizens,” He said calmly. “Therefore, our goals align and we can have some semblance of trust.”

             “Do you plan on working more with them in the future?”

             The chief glared into the camera with certainty that the team was watching. “It depends on how this next few weeks turn out.”

+++++

             Paul had called for a meeting directly after the evening news. They all met at Kris’ apartment with the assurance of dinner. They gathered around the table to discuss the news while they waited. “What did you guys think?” Paul asked while pacing.

             Alicia tapped the table as she commented, “The information on Dauphin was useful. We have encountered this guy before without knowing what powers he has. The two people with him were probably under his thrall.”

             “I wish Kidman mentioned it while we met with them,” She added.

             Paul paused, leaning against the back of a chair. “The King,” Paul said, affirming his codename. “We need to catch him because he falls in to our territory. We can patrol for him at high end districts… He was already wearing a suit and he stole jewelry, so where would royalty attack next?”

             “Anywhere,” Theo answered. “A furniture store, a bank, anywhere he could accumulate wealth and fancy items.”

             Paul nodded as if it made sense. He clicked his tongue in mild frustration. “Alright, we’ll just keep patrolling the Pearl District for him.”

             They fell into silence, gearing up mentally to face him again. Tae raised his hand, breaking the silence. “Yeah, what about our other case?” He suggested politely.

             “Right,” Paul said, punctuating the word with a clap. “Recall our Siren who controlled some poor person to break into the school. We think we found her. Miranda Sanger is a problematic student that fits our profile.”

             “What should we do with her?” Theo asked. “We can’t take her down like we do with the adults.”

             “We still need to turn her over to the police,” Alicia responded. “She still committed a crime.”

             Tae agreed, meeting Paul’s gaze. “I’ll go with you to the academy to ‘catch’ her,” He offered.

             Trying not to blush, Paul nodded eagerly. He went back to pacing. His shoes clacked along with his words. “We need to make sure our identities remain hidden when we peacefully apprehend her. I think Tae should be in costume, but I’ll remain in my civilian clothes… Mm, but you can’t just walk into school in costume.”

             “I can change into it in your office,” Tae replied easily. “Don’t worry about it.”

             “Yeah,” Q interjected with a smile. “Don’t worry about it, Paul. I’m sure it’ll work out.”

             “She’s just a kid after all,” Theo commented.

             Alicia nodded. “We should focus more on King, the real danger.”

             “Alright, alright. What strategy do we have for the King?”