The Jack Shows Its Hand

"Damn...they've already come and gone." Maven dug his fingers into his scalp to bring himself to the point of bleeding once again. The pain provided focus, relief even from the harsh reality that often befell him. "For all my maneuvering, they still managed to evade me. By mere minutes even! This is heresy of the highest order." Maven ran his fingers through the tire tracks in the mud before sliding his dirt-covered fingertip down his tongue.

"I can still taste the rubber. It's burnt but not from any real burst of speed, definitely not a sports car. Perhaps a honda or maybe even an explorer? A Kia is a possibility as well."

Through expertise and experimenting in things no normal being would dare attempt, Maven had gained a set of skills that secure his spot as the Kingpin of Orville. Tire tracks, asphalt, exhaust fumes lingering in the air. A crime lord's weakness is the small details he leaves behind in his wake, so it is the particulars that Maven must master.

Carefully stepping around the mud to not disturb the scene, Maven observed two sets of footprints leading to where the Kia (as he had concluded) drove off minutes earlier. "Converse size eight, most likely a woman around five foot seven or five foot eight. Her tracks run shallow, so she's not overweight, and the distance between them is unusual." A devilish smile managed to break Maven's dark-skinned lips.

"She was powerwalking. Eager to get out of here?" Maven tiptoed around the edge of the puddle, his toes barely kissing the edge as he moved to the other side. "I doubt your prescient enough to be aware of me just yet, so you were leaving for a different reason." Maven stuck his hand in the puddle of sludge, his dagger-like fingers caressing a bootprint in the mud. "Angela. Who have you fallen in with?" It was startling how doting Maven was beginning to sound, but that adoration shifted into revulsion when Maven deduced the other set of footprints.

"ThE lEgeNdaRY hEro. What nonsense that he thinks he can afford, love. A treasonous line of thinking. But why Angela of all people? And why is it that I didn't know about this?" Maven rose to his feet and fixed his scarf firmly around his neck. "The only thing he'll accomplish by getting in my way is helping me kill two birds with a single high caliber bullet!"

Maven made his way to the precinct entrance, his golden eyes reflected in the rain-drenched glass.

"I wonder what would have happened if I had caught them as I previously intended. Would an all-out brawl in the street work out for me? It's unacceptable that I doubt I would have beaten the two of them."

Maven clenched his fist until his nails had broken his flesh and allowed the crimson river to flow unchecked.

"I...will CLOSE the gap."

Maven pushed the door open and pressed inside the station, his odd attire and injured state getting the attention of everyone inside.

Maven's face couldn't even bother to move as he raised his hand toward the officers. "Excuse me, can I get a band-aid? The cool kind with the designs on them?"

Angie shuddered as she twisted the key to her condo, the feeling of the turning gears something she'd never thought she would miss. "Do you need any-" "I got it." Angie bluntly stated as the condo door slid open into the living room, slightly rearranged since the last time she remembered it. The house smelled of carpet cleaner, and the tv clearly hadn't been dusted since her absence. "Do I even want to see the bedroom? And why are the dishes stacked higher than me?"

Kai gripped the back of his nape trying, to come up with a lie. "I don't really notice stuff like that?" He chuckled. "Yeah, this coming from the guy who's fought in sewers and inside giant tentacle monsters. I think you are nose blind to just about every putrid substance on the planet. Let a real hero handle this one." Angie pushed past Kai and into the kitchen, bravado dropping at the sight of just how big the pile was. Kai smiled as he leaned against the counter.

"Don't worry about it. I'll clean it myself. Scouts honor!" Angie glared at Kai, eyes bulging with fury. "Scouts have no honor! They're thieving little bastards who charge 39.99 for a box of twelve cookies!" Kai pinched his forehead. This wasn't the first time they've had this conversation. "Well, you don't have to buy them every time they're offered! Just say no." "It isn't that easy!" She whined. "How do you do it?!" Kai made an effort to enunciate the letters. "N.O." Angie grabbed a plate from out the drain and reeled her arm back. Her eyes glowed purple for what seemed like both an eternity and an instant as the plate rocketed across the room shattering on the wall next to Kai.

"Fuck you!" The words were booming and threatened to knock over the mountain of dishes behind Angie. Amethyst arcs of energy built up in Angie's arms before fizzling out in the air around them. Kai threw his arms up in surrender, fearing he wouldn't be able to dodge the next plate. "Chill out! It's not that serious!" Angie grabbed a tray of lasagna (or was) and aimed it at Kai, who was steadily retreating from the room. "No, it IS that serious!" She refuted. "Why?!" He shouted. "WHY WHAT!?"

Angie's arm flashed as though she were being electrocuted, and the skin stripped away to show the bone hiding beneath. "Why is this so upsetting to you?! What part of me saying the letter N and the letter O gets you THIS upset!?!" Angie raised her hand to object. "I...I-I..." The woman let her hand fall to her side, the crackling energy going with it. "I don't know. I-I don't know I just-" Angie grabbed her head in anguish, her mental fortitude all that was keeping the amethyst glow inside.

"What is this?" The words echoed through Angie's mind though none of them were her. The detectives, Kai, the magistrate, the janitor, the kind stranger who found her on the street it was their voices she heard echoing her thoughts. "What's going on? Why am I so angry!?" That thought echoed out too, but the voices were louder this time, more focused.

"Is this because of the sedatives!? What happened while I was away? What did these people do to me!?!"

Angie tried to shut out the echo alas it was no use the reverbs had become louder than her own thoughts.

"Is this because of him? Because of...damn!"

She hadn't made that up herself, and that dialogue was in Kai's voice entirely. Angie stumbled onto the floor as her head began to split, or at least it felt like it. So much was being forced out at once yet there was no hole in her head for the energy to exit...hellish pain was the only result.

"Christ on a bike! ANGIE! Holy crisbit did she hit her head!?"

Angie's thoughts were no longer her own, and the notion of even being aware of that was disturbing in its own right. How do understand when your mind has been washed when you cannot even form the thought in your head to make that conclusion?

Perhaps erased isn't the right word. It was more akin to having your mind run as a background tab. Vaguely aware of your consciousness but still unable to focus on it as it lays just out of reach.

"I want...to think! Let me see...what I NEED to see!"

The command was simple, and the action was instinctual like taking the first step into the rain. You don't know why but when you are in it. You aren't afraid. Anything could happen to you! But even so, you understand that.

The rain won't hurt you.

That still doesn't help when you're, faced with the sight of yourself. Coils of Onyx hair and a soft round jawline. Her eyes even shut were perfect and round though the same couldn't be said for her dark brown cheeks still covered in acne scars. It really was her but then who is she? And why was she getting closer!?

"Am I...KAI!?"