Villains Abound

"So, where is the sis-bait," Niles asked, eyes leisurely scanning the kids huddled in groups around them. There was a conspicuous empty circle around him.

"I left him with some girls. They were going all goo-goo, ga-ga over him as usual," Circe purred, draping herself over his shoulders. "I'm so glad that that collar is gone."

"Lucy is nothing, if not efficient," Niles said. A smile curled his lips. "Being my sister, of course, she is brilliant." He sighed. "Now, all I have to do is rid her of that little pest that keeps hanging around her."

"I'm sure you will, Niles," Circe cooed. Her eyes flicked up to look at Lucy talking to Dawnie and Aarti. "You will still have to deal with the girls once he's gone."

"The girls I can handle, even Aarti," Niles said. "You'd be amazed what a little judicious prodding can accomplish."

Circe grinned at him before giving him a quick hug. She released him and turned, examining the children around her.

"So many subjects, so little time," she sighed happily.

"Don't worry, love. We've got nothing but time now," Niles assured her. "We still have San on a string, remember?"

"Do we still have product for that?" Circe asked him while watching children exit the creche through a hole Rena had burned in the wall.

"With the proper tools and ingredients, we will once again." Niles turned towards the crowd of children that parted as they flowed past him. "Jebediah is coming out," he suddenly said.

"Then perhaps we should circle around and see if we can scavenge anything before leaving?" Circe proposed. She twisted her hair into a loose bun and secured it with a simple wooden stick.

"Or just avoid the boy for now," Niles said as he slung an arm over her shoulders.

"And Lucy as well?" Circe asked.

"Definitely Lucy as well. No need to keep up pretenses after all." Niles chuckled. "She'll be more concerned over the sis-bait than us for now. Let's take the chance that we can gather a bit more intel."

"Whatever you say," Circe giggled. "Who will we start with?"

"Let's just be random. There's great joy in randomness," Niles said as he started sauntering in the direction of the hole.

*****

"So, the kid is outside somewhere." Don shrugged as he glanced away from San. "Niles and his drug-dealing baby-mama are on the loose in here somewhere."

"Why are they in two different places?" San asked. He leaned against the wall, watching as Aarti and her mom argued. He could hear their voices clearly if he concentrated which was disconcerting.

"With Niles, who knows?" Don glanced at the argument and then did a sweep of their surroundings. "It's best that we avoid them if possible."

"Why avoid?" San asked. "We're not kids anymore."

"Niles is dangerous. He might be pretending to be weak to get Lucy's attention." Don shrugged. "He hasn't changed. It's still the same old Niles, except maybe a bit more obsessed."

"Which makes him dangerous to us," San finished with a sigh. "His first move will be to try to isolate her which means eliminating us."

"Not easy if we don't make it easy." Don fixed San with a steady stare. San sighed and looked away.

"I can wait until we're out of here," San said. He pushed away from the wall and started walking towards Lucy. "The safest place is next to Lucy, as always," he added under his breath.

"Hopefully, he slithers away under a rock," Don said, clapping San on the back. He pulled out an energy bar and deftly unwrapped it. "I'm nearly out, so I hope this wraps up soon."

San didn't respond as they walked. He could feel his veins burning from withdrawal which worried him. He had come into contact with junkies before. Whatever was in his system should have burned itself out long before now. The fact that he was still being affected was a bad thing.

He resolved to talk to his personal chemist once he was done with this. San was sure that the man would be able to answer at least one of the many questions he now had. Chief among them was going to be just what he could cut the pure Quell he currently had with.

San had a feeling that just taking it as is wasn't going to be that effective. Perhaps if they made it into crystals or biscuits and then crushed them? He had vague memories of street drugs with that makeup.

San sighed internally as he came to a stop just beside Lucy. Lucy flashed him a smile before turning her attention back to Aarti and Aarti's mom. The argument did seem to be a bit nonsensical from what San could tell.

He felt a prickling sensation from his side. Looking over, he spotted Mr. Scary staring at him. San scolded himself internally. He was letting Dawnie and her ridiculous nicknames influence his thinking. Next thing he knew, he'd be calling Court 'Neuro' and Jebediah, 'Jekyll.'

As far as he knew, she hadn't come up with one for him yet. San was rather dreading it. He didn't want to be known as 'Super' anything; his main goal in life was to emphasize his human side. If he never heard a fly's wings beat again, it would be too soon.

A hint of movement caught his attention. He casually looked over Don's head to see Niles standing a bit away, staring at their little group. The brown-haired girl was wrapped around one of his arms, a small mean smile that gave him internal shivers on her face. Niles' gaze skipped over them before settling on Lucy and intensifying.

'Don was right' was the thought that flashed through San's brain as he pretended to look away. He kept track of Niles and his girlfriend from the corner of his eye. Niles whispered something to the brown-haired girl, and they laughed as they disappeared into the shadows of the creche.

San looked back at Lucy who shivered once before stepping forward to break up the argument. Then he looked towards Mr. Scary who was still staring at him.

San sighed. He just wanted some peace and quiet and his chemist.