Possessive Behavior

"Alright. The guy we want you to take over is named Charles. He works from 2pm till 9pm, so I'd suggest getting to him before he clocks in." Manet pulled out his phone and gestured in my direction. I took mine and accepted his contact request. Soon after I received a file with all the relevant info.

"Nice. So when I'm done I'll come back here?" I asked as I skimmed the text.

"Oh no." Duchamp shook his head. "Not here. Next to the club is a little alley popular with graffiti artists. Our compatriot Smear will leave a little something that enables you to contact us directly. We'll leave it to you to figure out how."

Goddamn it. These people. But 2.5k was 2.5k. "Okay. I can do this. See you when the job is done."

"Don't disappoint us." Policewoman-Nitsch said as I made to leave.

The way back into the Mage-Annex was just as unpleasant as before. As I crossed the room I contemplated maybe buying a potion or two but quickly dismissed that idea.

The main office had filled up a bit more in the short time I was discussing things with Manet and company. I walked towards one of the civilian exits when I was stopped by someone graɓbing my arm. With a small sigh, I turned to face my newest distraction.

"What the hell is it with you people and just grab-" I started but trailed off when I saw who it was. "Je....Witchling?" I caught myself. It was frowned upon to say another villain's real name in the presence of strangers.

"Hey." she said with a wide grin and let go of me. She sat at a small table, the remains of her breakfast laid out in front of her. Across from her sat a girl I was sure I had never seen before, yet still seemed somehow familiar. Like Jess, she wasn't wearing a costume, at least that's what I assumed, yet not unlike Manet her outfit was a bit peculiar.

She seemed to be in her late teens, yet her clothes looked like they were straight from the kid's section at a second-hand shop. The lack of make-up and her pigtails similarly made her appear much younger at first glance. Maybe 13 or 14. On the table in front of her sat a ragged old teddy bear. She waved at me rapidly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I sat down next to Jess. "And who's your friend?"

"Whad'ya mean 'What are ya doing here?'? Ya were gone when I woke up and 9 out 10 times when that happens you're here doing something or other." While she was talking she was hovering one of her sandwiches in front of me. I grabbed it and took a bite. Extra salty plain egg and tuna. Just how I liked it. "I just missed ya too. Saw ya disappearing into the Annex with someone. Didn't wanna disturb ya while ya were doing your biz."

I nodded toward the giddy girl opposite us. "Oh yeah. That's-"

"I'm Alice!" she almost yelled excitedly and took my hand to shake it. I let her, a bit perplexed.

"Uhm, hey there, Alice." I said between bites. Unlike revealing someone else's, there was no particular stigma related to revealing your own name. It was just seen as stupid.

"And this is Mr. Button. Say hi Mr. Button." She pointed at the bear. That was when it hit me. I remembered where I had seen her before.

Back before I had become a villain there were a series of somewhat bizarre murders that were making the rounds. First was a prominent politician who had been stabbed to death violently. His only child had vanished but her blood was smeared everywhere in the house so the police weren't very optimistic about finding her alive.

A year later the headmaster of a prestigious private boarding school was found drowned and severely beaten in the school swimming pool. Both murders seemed unrelated at first glance, but what connected them were drawings. Three crayon drawings were found at each crime scene, both sets similar enough to leave little doubt they were made by the same person.

These murders continued at the rate of one per year. An expert neurosurgeon. Then a famous actor. Because of the drawings the internet started calling the killer "The Child at Heart" in discussion forums, and the name stuck. Then, the year I was....the year the thing I don't want to think about happened the killer was identified.

The latest victim, the CEO of a Herotech company, was killed in his office. And while the cameras inside were turned off for whatever reason, the ones pointed at the door on the outside were not. The only person who entered his office near his estimated time of death was...a young girl. Not only that, when she came out, she walked directly in front of the camera, her face very clearly visible. She stared into the camera, said "Looks like we were seen, Mr. Button. What now?", held her teddy bear up to her ear for a few seconds, and left.

As it turned out the girl was no other than the missing daughter of the very first victim, Alice Holmstead. She had been just 8 years old when she killed her dad. This had led to frantic debates not only online but also among heroes. It was massive at the time. I had figured she'd have been caught in my 5-year absence and never cared enough to research her when I came back. Never thought I'd see her here. One of the topics of debate at the time was whether the Child at Heart was "just" a serial killer or a serial killer villain. Now I at least knew how she saw herself.

I glanced down at the bear. It was slowly waving at me.

Something unsettling happened when I looked at it. Whenever I look at someone I could potentially use Thought on I felt a light tingling at the back of my head. This had been the case ever since I developed Thought and had become so normal to me it didn't even register. 'Whenever I look at a person, my head tingles. Whatever.

But I had never had that feeling with animated objects, even somewhat sentient ones like Toy General's army men. But this thing...with this thing, I felt it. A shiver ran down my spine. Whatever it was, it was fully sapient. I slowly lifted my hand and waved back.

"She just came over to my table and asked me if she could wait with me for ya." Jess said. I found it a bit strange that she had agreed. As a fan of villains, she must be aware of the Child at Heart. Usually, Jess avoided black capes like the plague.

Then again, she always had been a bit more forgiving with child-villains. But still. If Alice kept up with her work she'd be at 9 or 10 kills by now. Child or not, it seemed a bit much.

Suddenly, she got up from the table. "Awwwwrighty then. I told Alice I'd leave ya alone for a bit when ya came back out. Meet me outside when you're done, kay?" she asked.

I nodded. "Take the Sheridan exit. I'll try to be quick."

Jess waved us off as she walked towards the door labeled 'Station Exits S-V'. "See ya in a bit."

I turned back to Alice. "So, do you want anything from me?"

The girl giggled. "Not really. The boss said you are maybe a future friend. So I just wanted to meet you at least one time. Hi, maybe-future-friend!"

"Hello...?" I greeted her again. Boss, huh? So she was in a team. "Who is your boss exactly?"

She smiled brightly. "His name is Haunt. He is reeeeaaaally big and ugly...well, more half-ugly, but he is super cool and nice and awesome an-"

"I never heard of a villain just named Haunt. Is he new around here?" I interrupted the rambling girl, who didn't seem to mind at all.

"Oh nonono, he's an old fart. Haunt is just what we call him 'cause we're his awesome friends. His real name is uuuuhmm...." She put a finger on her chin and really concentrated. "Oh yeah, it's Haunting Nightmare. But that's waaay too long so I like Haunt better."

Last I knew Haunting Nightmare was the right hand of Othello, the leader of the L.A. Freakshow. He must've gone up in the ranks since then. But that left me with more questions. What in the world could Freakshow want from me? How did my public appearances give off the impression that I could be a 'future friend'?

I wanted to turn her down right there, but I realized that moralizing right now when I threatened to murder someone in my last public outing wouldn't jibe too well. I was only bluffing back then, but no one had to know that.

"I'll think about it." I said and got up.

"Awesome! I'll tell boss right away! I need to bring the nice lady outside back to the tent anyway so I'll tell him then. Bye definitely-future-friend!"

"Bye, Alice..." I murmured as she hopped up and ran towards a different exit. With a sigh I made my way to the the door Jess walked through. I grabbed the handle, thought about Sheridan Station, and opened to door to a hallway. After a quick walk, I came across a restroom stall door and put my hand on it.

At this point somewhere outside Sheridan Station an Ilusion of me was created in a blindspot and made its way to the restroom. After about 3ish minutes the door handle started to glow softly, the sign that my doppelganger had entered the stall. When the glow faded I was finally allowed to go through. I opened the door to the Sheridan restroom and closed it behind me.

I joined Jess next to a vending machine, and we started walking down our usual sidepaths. She had just pulled a plum soda, the objectively most disgusting flavor.

"So, found a job?" she asked after taking a swig

"Yeah. With the Petite Group."

She almost spit out her drink. "What? Why? They're murderers."

"Not all of them." The thing that made them hard to parse was the complete decentralization. There was no big boss or unified network, just local cells of artists. Some more murdery, some less, some with a theme, some without, etc. "What they want me to do is the definition of harmless. And the money is good."

She didn't seem entirely comfortable, but she was at least somewhat soothed.

"And apropos murderers, you know the girl you had sitting with you was the CaH killer? She's not a red cape either. All black."

"Well, she was a little girl when she started. I don't think we can hold her entirely responsible for her actions at that age..."

I shook my head. "Sure. I disagree, but sure. She didn't stay a little girl though."

"Didn't she?" She took the last swig of plum sode and levitated it into an empty dumpster. "I talked with her a bit and I don't know...she didn't seem quite right up here to me."

I waved her off. "It's probably just an act. The Child at Heart is acting like a child, what a novel concept. Believe me, 90% of 'insane' villains are just LARPing."

"If you say so. " Once again she seemed unconvinced, but she didn't press the issue further. "Where to now?"

"I have an hour or two, but afterward we'll head to Diamond Hill."

And who knows...I thought, Maybe I'll even meet some old friends.