Fourth Sin: A Return To The Way (Pt. 1)

--- Scarlet ---

“Who the fuck are you?” She growled, her eyes flashing red.

The woman’s eyes widened, only instead of being intimidated she smiled and snapped her fingers before pointing at Scarlet. “Ooh, that is cool. That’s just like that one glowing eye thing Mercer’s helmet does, I think yours even got a bit of a glow.”

She couldn’t help but blink at that as the woman glanced at the TV behind her. “Huh, he got that set up on his own this time? Usually he needs my help with the account stuff.”

“Um, you uh, you know Mercer?” Bell asked timidly.

“Mm, for about seven-ish years now.” The woman nodded walking around them before running a hand on a recliner Mercer had gotten. “Ooh, Vincent really does know what mama likes… well that or Mercer held him at gunpoint knowing I’d be pissed… again.”

Bell frowned at that little note before shaking her head as she tried to get the attention of the woman seemingly distracted by the furniture. “When you came in a moment ago you… you said again? What… what exactly do you think is happening?”

“Ugh, yeah, that…” The blonde woman groaned as she spun around and flopped back across the arm of the couch taking Scarlet’s seat. “It’s not on you, but this is like the fourth -fifth?- time I’ve gotten back and announced my intentions to a room full of strangers because Mercer ran off to do whatever he’s currently doing. Speaking of… who are you two?”

She glanced at Bell as the woman pointed between her and her sister, seemingly willing to wait on an answer as she kicked her legs back and forth over the couch’s arm.

All her sister could offer was a shrug.

“I, we- ugh.” She shook her head. “No, you’re the one who burst in here, you can tell us who you are.”

The woman looked at her for a moment before smirking. “I’m the one who burst in here like you said.”

“That’s not what…” She growled, wondering if Mercer would get mad at her for getting blood on his new furniture. (Based on the eating thing he’d probably be cool with it.)

“Now then you two are looking fairly comfortable here…” The woman noted, her eyes drifting between the TV and the half eaten sandwich on the table. “So mind telling me what’s going on here? You need a safehouse while Mercer beats the shit out of whoever you need him to beat the shit out of?”

“Why should we tell you anything?” She snarled, wondering what was up with this bitch.

Bell gave her a concerned look and stood from the couch. “Remember DeWolf, she's probably like him.”

“I don’t give a shit if she’s a- whatever the fuck he was, I can still take her.” She hissed.

“No… she’s probably here for Mercer’s help.” Bell argued. “Remember he’s a hero, helping people is what he does.”

“Well that or killing people.” The woman chimed in, before gaining a thoughtful look. “Then again, sometimes he enjoys just scaring criminals into submission so that they do what he tells them. Depending on how bad whoever he’s going after is, he might be doing that instead.”

--- Mercer ---

“You know there’s this old saying, about how if you arrest a rapist you take a rapist off the streets. If you arrest a drug dealer you create a job opening. Meaning dealing with a drug dealer is usually pointless from an overarching point of view, as long as they have some basic decency of course. Like, not stealing their supply from the only free clinic in the Way. In which case I’d have to waste my time and deal with the drug dealer. Though I should point out that when I say deal with or arrest, I actually mean kill in cold blood.”

He looked down at the man currently hanging by his leg from a five storey drop on his head. “You get me?”

“I get you, I get you!” The drug dealer whimpered. “I’ll tell you where I got my stuff!”

“Fantastic!” He smiled. “You see, that’s how you maintain your job security!”

He glanced over the edge to look down on a couple of kids recording them on their phones. “Take notes kids!”

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--- Bell ---

“Um, right…” She nodded a little unsurely, because while she’d known Mercer for a little over a week she didn’t actually know that much about him beyond the whole hero thing and his willingness to help them despite them being Malcontent. (Which I guess is part of the hero thing…)

“Hmm…” The woman tilted her head as she looked up at Bell. “You know what? I like you. You’re a bit timid but you want to be nice. I can appreciate that, especially if you’re coming out of the Way.”

The woman threw her legs into the air before rolling over the arm of the couch and onto her feet in a single agile motion. “You two hungry? If Mercer’s not here I’m going to go ahead and cook something before working up an appetite like I’d planned.”

“Yeah, I could eat someone.” Scarlet admitted with a growl.

“Sorry, but I’m happily married and don’t intend to lose.” The woman told her, getting a confused blink out of her sister. “Still if you want to have dinner I won’t tell you no. Especially if it’s a dinner for three.”

“Um, uh, thank you?” She said, not entirely sure how to respond to the woman’s wink. “Do you, uh, do this a lot?”

“Do what?” The woman asked, walking backwards towards the kitchen.

“Whatever… this is?” She tried, not really sure herself.

“Mm, probably.” The woman shrugged as she spun on her heel and into the kitchen. “Mercer loves pushing people to be true to themselves for better and for worse. It’s one of the nicer things to come out of his numerous daddy issues.”

“Daddy issues?” She repeated, following after the woman.

“He’s got so many.” The woman whispered, before laughing. “Even has this hot pink shirt that declares it to the world… that I might need to get him a replacement for… Though I think Rojo would burn that shirt if I ordered through him… Eh, that’s what the internet is for.”

On the one hand none of that did anything to clear up her confusion, on the other hand she felt oddly familiar with the woman’s rambling way of talking.

“How are you doing that?” She asked, watching the woman flutter around the kitchen somehow knowing where everything was, despite them moving in just a few days prior.

“Despite his occasionally messiness, Mercer is OCD as fuck.” The woman explained, blindly reaching into a cabinet and withdrawing something while maintaining eye contact with Bell. “Stick around long enough and you’ll be able to walk through his whole house blindfolded… which knowing his mom might be exactly why he keeps things so neat despite the mess.”

“Huh… I guess we’ll, uh, pick that up eventually too then… maybe.” She told the woman who paused to give her a curious look.

“What do you mean?” The woman’s blue eyes shined in the kitchen’s light, before she shook her head.

(...)

“Oh, uh, since we’re staying with Mercer.” Bell explained. “He, uh, he rescued us from this, uh, bad place and is letting us stay with him.”

“I see…” The woman frowned in thought. “And how long have you been staying with Mercer now?”

“About a week?” She answered before smiling. “He even gave us our own room with our own beds and everything.”

“That’s nice of him.” The woman nodded, chopping away at something on her cutting board. “So I’m guessing you staying here is a long term thing?”

“Is that a problem?” Scarlet cut in from behind her.

The woman’s eyes looked them over as they narrowed. “Hmm… nope!” The woman smiled, turning back to the dish she was cooking. “At least as long as you aren’t someone who doesn’t know how to use a cell phone.”

--- Mercer ---

He wasn’t entirely sure why but he had an increasingly bad feeling growing in his gut, something that had been building for the last few hours of this stakeout and simply refused to leave him.

(Right… Might want to check with Tess and see if there’s any more magic-y shenanigans going on in the city… or this is probably that one royal mist thing acting up…) He figured, before sighing. (And the list of things to do just keeps growing…)

Deciding that whatever was giving him a bad feeling could wait, he instead turned his attention onto the safehouse of the idiots who’d thought it was a good idea to steal drugs being shipped into Sinner’s Way. An act that would make anyone eligible for a darwin award given how all of the drugs were connected to one group or another that one did not want to fuck with.

(Honestly, they’re lucky I’m the one responding to this. If it had been the twins they’d make an example by burning this whole building down… Not that I’m not willing to do that myself, but these guys are clearly more ‘poor, desperate, or drug addled’ than an actual threat.)

He’d come to that conclusion after watching through a couple of windows with busted up blinds for a couple hours as the people inside smoked a bong on the table, and occasionally handed packages to people who showed up at what he was pretty sure was this lot’s actual home.

Packages he’d been sure to swipe for himself after each target left to A) make sure this was a distribution point for the drugs he was after today and B) to recollect Betty’s drugs for her before someone could use them to get high.

With those points established he now simply needed to figure out how he wanted to handle this little drug den. (I can just steal the drugs back, given how stoned they are, but I doubt these guys are the end of the distribution chain given how much was stolen. Alternatively, I could kick the front door in and scare them into giving up whoever gave them the drugs that I’m starting to doubt they stole themselves. Then again, if they aren’t actually the thieves and are just trying to make a living then I should be a decent sort and ask, what’s the word, politely? Yeah, I think that’s it.)

He rolled his shoulders before leaving his perch and making his way to the building, decision made to [Scene Choice]