Madcap Museum (Epilogue): Learning From The Past

--- Joshua Durand ---

Given how many people had been watching his little exit, as well as how many of those people would be pursuing him, he felt no issue spamming his Ink Flow until his well ran dry to get as far from everyone as possible before on the final flow entering an alleyway and reverting back to his normal identity.

From there he took a relatively mundane route via city buses and on foot traveling to get back to the warehouse that -even if not their actual base- his meetings with the malice doc were based out of. A route that was time consuming enough that he was not at all surprised to find the Doc already set up and waiting with his bodyguard.

“So, what did you think of the show?” He asked, taking his seat before the doc could say anything. “Or rather, what did the spy you had on me think? I feel like your opinion would be all drab and scientific.”

He knew he was being flippant with someone holding a metaphorical gun to his head, but he was still riding a bit of a high from his show and was dying to hear the reviews. (Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. This was just a big show and you’ve still got nerves from your debut.)

“It was intriguing for a number of reasons, but ultimately you did accomplish the goal we’d given you.” The Doc assured him, in spite of looking irritated about something.

“You don’t look particularly happy about that.” He frowned. (I did my job but… I’m guessing there was something else he wanted.)

The Malice Doc paused for a moment before admitting that, “The point of this was to draw enough attention to put you on the radar of Sanctuary and or the Hero’s Guild. With them aware of you it would hopefully result in a more focused event the next time you act, the fact that you were forced to flee from the Jr. Heroes, while understandable, is also regrettable.”

“Figured getting caught would be more… regrettable.” He explained with a terse grin as he felt his eyes narrowing with the realization, (They want me cornered. Either I needed their help to escape or I became a big enough threat that the heroes would stomp me next time.)

He knew it was a common enough tactic for gang initiations, (but that doesn’t mean I need to let them leash me.) (The Malice vials are enough of a dependency as it is.)

“It would.” The Malice Dealer agreed, seemingly unaware of what he was thinking. “But if we’re going to use you as a proper stalking horse for this endeavor, we need you to have a reputation memorable enough to distract from what we’re actually doing.”

“Well, at the very least neither Terraform or Power Flight are going to forget me anytime soon.” He shrugged, aware that as his reputation grew he was going to need to whatever street smarts and slyness he could bring to bear if he wanted to minimize the chains binding him to the Doc and co.

“Quite, but that doesn’t change the fact that we need you to be considered enough of a threat to actually send a force to stop you. The fact that you managed to so easily escape them after fighting is a point in your favor, but given the circumstances you’ll have to continue to evade them in similar fashion. At least until you can win a fight against whatever force they send after you.” The Malice Doc told him, before sliding a folder his way. “Which is why you’ll need to act again while you’re still in their minds.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

(As if they could think of anything else.) He scoffed internally, even if he forced himself to point out that, “Isn’t it dangerous to go out again while there’s still heat coming my way?” He frowned, an expression that grew worse when he realized, “This folder is empty.”

“Because, your next target will be solely your decision.” The Doc explained. “Thus far, we’ve proven you can go out with your first job, and we’ve begun building your reputation, with the second. The next one will prove whether or not we need to hold your hand to fulfill your duties.”

“And what are my duties? I mean, beyond the whole distraction thing?” He wondered, knowing that there was an angle to all of this he wasn’t seeing.

Rather than revealing this angle, the Doc merely confirmed that, “That is your duty. So long as you can continue to draw enough attention to distract from our other operations then we’ll continue to give you a steady supply of Malice.” As if to underline this the Malice Dealer set another batch of Red Malice Vials on the table for him to take with him.

He stared at the vials for a moment before letting out a sigh, and accepting the leash he still needed. (For now…) “Since I’m doing this job on my own, am I still coming back in a week to tell you what I’ve decided to do? Or am I on my own for that too?”

The Malice Dealer seemed to consider it for a moment, “If you’re caught, we’ll still free you but I don’t believe you’ll need to reconvene with us before your next job. Consider it a reward of… trust, for fulfilling your duties thus far.”

“Uh-huh…” He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that for a moment. (Just because he’s in on the experiment, doesn’t make the lab rat a scientist.)

He was fully aware he was only a part of this group because he was a Madness user, and they wanted to test Malice against that. The kidnappings, death threats, secrets, and manipulations all simply underlined the fact that he wasn’t a ‘trusted’ member of their organization the way the old Boss was to the Barons, (who were practically a family) so much as it was he was a ‘trusted’ tool that wouldn’t go too far off script.

The vision he’d gotten from the Killjoy’s gun underlined the difference for him, and brought a number of things he’d been ignoring about this relationship bubbling up in his mind.

He’d always been planning to break away from the Doc and co once he’d built up enough power, but (if they’re trying to chain me to them, then maybe I need to start working on an out sooner than later.)

(Won’t hear me complain.)

“If that’s the case then I suppose I should get to work, huh?” He grinned at the Doc as he stood.

“That would be for the best, at least while we go over the footage we acquired from the museum.” The Malice Doctor told him, before adding, “I’ve only watched it once, but I did see a number of new power interactions.”

He grimaced, realizing that accidentally or not he had used a number of tricks he’d been planning on hiding from the Doc during his little performance. “Ah, I’ve been learning a lot of fun things I can do with my Ink.” (I can explain the fish as an ink construct, my ink flow is an ink power, and… was there anything else I was keeping quiet?)

The Malice Dealer gave him a pointed look. “I’m sure we’ll have a very interesting discussion about all of that once you’re finished with your next job, in two weeks time?”

“Yeah… yeah, we will.” He agreed, not really able to argue the point. (Yet.)

“Good.” The criminal scientist nodded, going back to the paperwork he was perpetually working on. “I’ll want a full list of your ink abilities on hand when our mutual employers ask.”

“I’ll get right on that.” He frowned as he started to make his way towards the exit, several thoughts battling in his head. Be they about his personal ‘experiment’ with the Malice Doc, whatever Zaylah was tasked with, or Halloween’s revelation about the Doc’s co-workers selling Malice as if it were a common street drug rather than the key to his lifelong dream.

With those thoughts in mind after seeing the group that his predecessor had impulsively joined, he was finding the one that he’d impulsively joined to be fairly… lacking by comparison.

(Don’t worry, we’ll find you a proper crew. For now though, we’ve got a show to plan!)