1.2

Paris.

I followed the flight to the home of Revolution and Freedom, arriving just after dawn. It was a beautiful place.

Nothing leapt out as out of the ordinary, as far as I could see. However my first stop was in the seedier alleys. I needed untraceable cash. So I followed my senses, even if their range was only a few hundred feet, they extended through anything non-magnetic. Such as brick and plaster walls. I looked for stashes of guns. Because where firearms were gathered illegally, thugs abound. When I found a good supply, some fifteen handguns and a dozen rifles in a crate I knew I was in the right place.

I stashed my baggage on a roof and assessed the five criminals. One seemed particularly ugly, a knuckle dragging brute if my senses were accurate. A meta? Venom user? Well I was going to find out. I pulled on my balaclava, from my skiing days in the chalet. I had shoved it into my bag as a last minute extra, since I knew I would need it. To play the vigilante hero incognito.

The modest warehouse was filled with loitering thugs, as the front door unlocked, opened and tore off the hinges, to fly across the street outside. I floated down, hovering in the doorway with a smirk arms outstretched.

"On your knees, criminals. Or be shown your place, at my feet!" I ordered in French.

The thugs were still trying to decipher my orders when the quickest thinker shouted at them to attack. I laughed, folding my arms as I hovered waiting for them.

One drew a switch-blade… and the device fell apart in his hands and pulled away from his grip, as I watched impassively. The knife and it's components reformed in the air beside me. It spun down and buried in his upper thigh, causing the criminal to whimper and then scream as he collapsed.

"Next." I stated calmly. I had such a high level of battlefield awareness, more than a bunch of regular criminals could face. I was already planning how to incapacitate them all. I watched as a small round object flew through the air from the far side… the grenade not surprising me at all, as I sent it flying out a window and into the sky. The fragmentation grenade popped several dozen meters in the air, rattling the windows.

I turned my gaze to the supposed meta, wagging a finger in warning.

I failed a sanity check for a moment as my brain froze… it was a gorilla with a beret and a belt of bullets over his torso.

"Okay… that really hammers home where I am. So Monkey Militia or whatever you call yourself, I'd advise you to surrender. That was a potentially lethal attack for your own subordinates… so I'm feeling a nice rug for my parlour might be in the cards." I spat out, annoyed. The sharp metal fragments of the grenade swirling down to hover over my hand. I barely caught all of them. They reconnected like a puzzle to show the original grenade shape.

The gorilla growled in anger.

"I am Monsieur Mallah! I am not a monkey, you Neanderthal!" He roared.

"And I'm not Savage, what is your point, Gorilla? I was intentionally being insulting, you do understand that, right?" I sighed. "If you want acceptance go back to your hidden city, all I know is that for every nice intelligent ape there are ten like you, preying on innocent people."

He roared again, beating his chest before charging me. Cables under my control tore out of the walls and ground winding around him. He struggled, trying to tear free of their coils like they were a snake… until a live power line jammed into his lower back. He screeched and then collapsed, smoking slightly. I turned to look at the remaining three wild-eyed thugs. The wires were snaking from every surface in the building, leaving the humans feeling surrounded. Finally the first saw sense and fell to his knees, hands over his head. The other two followed suit almost immediately.

Coinage lifted free from their pockets, inside their wallets. I took what notes and coins they had, one by one as I waited for the police.

Fortunately my formal studies in both French and Italian were near fluent, so I was able to explain my actions clearly to the pair of armed and scared looking first responding gendarmes, who expected a bomb. The Gorilla was above their pay-grade apparently. I made sure they double handcuffed him to a streetlight, just to be sure he stayed caught.

While they debated how to deal with the situation between themselves I floated away silently. Counting my spoils, there was a good three thousand Francs, plus change. My next stop, the quintessential villain bar. I identified this in much the same way, by the fact everyone was armed.

Looking shady sounding bars up in the phone book of the nearest telephone booth was a resounding success. It also brings home just how far back in time I am… I miss the advanced computers and the non brick sized mobile phones of 2018.

The Noir bar and bistro was surprisingly high quality… I guess in France even the villains have standards about gourmet pursuits. It even boasts a Michelin star… probably through blackmail or open threats, but still… the various toughs inside killed the ambience. Possibly literally, if magic was involved.

Of course, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm only thirteen. In clothes too small.

A grizzled looking criminal stepped into my way. His scarred features glowering, as he towered over me by at least two foot. I guess this is how they keep the riffraff out.

Dammit. Can't use my powers overtly.

I guess this means diplomacy.

"Ah, hello good sir. I hope I'm in the right place. A little birdie told me I could get a fake ID here?" I announced, pouring on the charm as I pretended to be looking for something cheap to get alcohol underage… oh wait, this is France… am I underage?

The watching patrons let out a few chuckles and the burly guy standing in my way slaps me on the back and points me to a booth on the far side with a slight smile.

My forger was a chubby man eating some pesto.

"May I have this seat?" I asked as I took hold of the chair opposite. "I have a business proposition."

He looked me over for a moment and nodded. "Hundred and fifty Francs for a fake ID." He announced.

"No, I want the works. Full identity including birth certificate and passport. As good as you can make it." I replied, in a business-like manner.

He paused and looked at me a lot more seriously. Finally he named his price. "Fifteen thousand Francs. It will take five days to get in order."

"Fine, here is three thousand as a down payment." I placed the money on the table.

The forger nodded. "Bring the rest here tomorrow, same time. If you're yanking my chain I'll keep this."

"I'll be there. Start getting my ID ready. Victor Ignacio Magnus. I don't care about the other details." Good riddance to being a Vertigo!

Hmm. Now to rob a few more criminals… it's for a good cause, after all.