"Infiltrate Freakshow? Why?"

'Jess' levitated a cookie up from the nightstand and ate it.

"Does the name Zen tell you something?"

I shrugged.

"The philosophy? Or what do you mean?"

She shook her head.

"No. It's the name of a Villain. A fairly new one. Newer than the Master Controller, even."

"Never heard of him." I grunted.

"The boy has psychic Powers. Nothing too extraordinary, or so we thought. But he joined the LA Freakshow recently, and the first thing he did was snuff out our mole."

I crossed my arms.

"If he can read minds or something in that ballpark it stands to reason, doesn't it? I'd probably be able to do it with Thought."

'Jess' chuckled.

"We have ways to shield our agents from intrusions of the mind, as you'll find out after we're done here. But this Zen character managed to get past our security somehow. And if he can do it once, he can do it again. We can't let Freakshow go unobserved, not even one chapter. That's where you come in."

I looked up at her.

"How in the fuck is that where I come in?"

"Empowered with mental abilities have a way to fight back against other mental Powers. You must be aware of it, or you would've tried reading my mind already." she giggled.

"I......I still don't.....and you think that will work? That's all it takes?"

She shrugged with a slight smirk.

It was infuriating.

"We don't know. It's our best bet. And we heard from one of our moles in Smear's Petite Group cell that Freakshow want you in their ranks for one reason or another. That makes you the best possible potential recruit to attempt turning into the new mole. It's that simple, really."

"I.....how would that even work?"

"I told you already. You join Freakshow. You do whatever is necessary so they trust you, and then....you just stay a member. Every now and then you tell us what they're up to. And if we find that they're planning to do something on a national or larger scale, we will intervene. That's the W.R.A.I.T.H. way!" she said with exaggerated enthusiasm.

"And you'll do nothing about the other crimes? What about me? My crimes? Freakshow aren't a church choir."

"You seem to have problems retaining information, dearie. Or maybe you still can't believe it? I promise you, what I said before is the absolute truth. Any other crime that is committed, by you or your future teammates, will be ignored by us wholesale. Of course, as you are an asset, we will try our best to help cover up anything you do that could lead to your arrest."

My stomach tied itself in a knot.

"Well, there are two big problems with everything you propose though. First, Freakshow won't let me join until I have gained more notoriety. Something I'm not planning to do. Even the Angelica...situation.... won't help me there, because I am just one of many suspects, and not even the top one. And second...."

I flipped her the middle finger.

"Fuck off! I'm not going to do it! I'm not interested in being a Black Cape, I am still low enough in the hierarchy to coast by comfortably, and I won't aid the Organization that knowingly left me to be tortured for 5 years without lifting a finger to help me!"

I had started out calm, but my voice increased in intensity with every word, until by the end I was just yelling.

'Jess' seemed unperturbed.

"Oh, don't you worry, Satori. We have something planned that will solve most of those issues in one fell swoop. You probably aren't aware, but Sidebinder, the guy your team replaced you with; he isn't doing so good. He was hit by a Deterioration power a few years ago. Irreversible. It's been eating at him slowly ever since. No one but his family and his doctors know. And us, of course."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"We offered him something. Not for himself, but for his family."

"Sidebinder is an Enlightened. He is rich ɓeyond bribery." I spat. I remembered my time on the team. So much cash I didn't know what to do with it.

"What we offered him wasn't money. It was something he can only get from us. And he was willing to do anything to make it happen. Around 8 in the evening. Keep an eye on his socials. You should find what you see.....Enlightening."

She slowly set herself back down on the ground, a wide grin on her face.

"But now it's time for me to leave. Before that though.... let's do something about that memory of yours. After I took over your friend I picked up a little something. Here, take a look."

She floated a small stone disk out of her pocket, a glowing symbol engraved on both sides.

"A rune? What...."

Before I could finish the sentence she propelled the enchanted stone forward and it hit me right in the forehead. A searing pain coursed through my head, and the object fell to the ground, dissolving into crumbs of dust.

I held my forehead, cursing angrily. "What did you do?"

"Anything that happened in the last hour and that will happen in the next half is sealed under a web of deception now. Anyone trying to read your thoughts will perceive this period as a totally made-up, but seamless series of events that have nothing to do with what we discussed. It doesn't work on Zen, but so far it fooled everyone else."

She made a little twirl and sat down on Jess' bed.

"Tomorrow I hope you will have come to...see it our way, Satori. Look out for our evening surprise. Watch it with your friend. It should convince her you had nothing to do with all the murders you committed. Aren't we generous, offering a way to preserve your existing partnership too? It was fun getting to know you. We should hang out sometime. TTFN."

With that, she closed her eyes, shivered, and when she opened them again, Jess was back.

"...and I told'em it wasn't. Like, ya could never, y'know?"

I looked at her. Of course. The Intruder mentioned something about their Power. I quickly tapped into her mind to have a look at these false memories.

Apparently, as far as she was concerned, we had been talking about the Herald Queen Angelica Incident. And we were just at the end.

"Yeah. I could never." I said quietly.

-------------------------------------

One of the first things I did after I calmed myself down was do some research. My initial attempt was W.R.A.I.T.H., but the Intruder was right. That little naming convention might have been the best decision they ever made because that made it goddamn impossible to find out anything of substance. There were a few corners on the net that spoke of W.R.A.I.T.H. as an actual organization, but those people were, quite frankly, insane.

My next topic of interest was Zen. When I pulled up the video from his debut as a Villain, a humble store robbery, I was a bit surprised at his look.

With a name like Zen, I had expected someone of Asian descent, but he was very much Caucasian. A bit of further research revealed that he didn't even choose the name for himself. The press gave it to him after the video surfaced, and he just accepted it. Looking at the footage it wasn't hard to see why he got that moniker.

He entered the store like a normal customer.....well, mostly normal. He floated in, his legs crossed, palms in his lap, and eyes closed, like some kind of guru.

Not 'normal' normal, but it's something you get used to in an area with lots of Empowered. His face was resting in a calm, soothing smile, his long brown hair going up to his shoulders. His clothes looked tattered, an old shirt and jeans, topped with a ratty open jacket that had several of its buttons ripped off.

He hovered in front of the cashier and spoke. His voice was as calm as his expression.

"Excuse me, Sir. Would you be so kind as to fill a bag with all the money in your register and hand it to me? I would be much obliged."

The cashier stared at him for a second, and then, to my surprise, fell back on his behind and started screaming. Zen did nothing, just waiting as the man pulled himself back to his feet, hurriedly emptied his register into a plastic carry bag, and threw it at the Villain.

The bag started hovering before it touched him, and with a "Thank you very much." he turned and left.

The cashier cowered into a corner for a minute before passing out.

According to his testimony, he had no memory of the event.

Definitely some weird mind shit going on. There was no mention anywhere of him joining Freakshow though. Maybe he hadn't made his Freakshow debut yet.

Or maybe, hopefully, the Intruder was just some weirdo with a Possession power who likes fucking with people, and none of what he said was real.

I got more and more nervous the more we approached evening.

I started stalking all of Sidebinder's various social media profiles, praying to god or whatever existed above that nothing would actually happen.

And then it popped up.

An impromptu livestream on SidebinderOfficial.

I stared at it for a few seconds before tapping on it.

"Hey, Jess. I think this is something we should check out. It's live from the plaza."

"Ooohhh, is something juicy?" she said as I used the hologram function to project the video in front of us.

"I hope not." I whispered.

The scene showed Sidebinder standing on the Plaza, a few people around him stopping to wave or take pictures. The area immediately in front of the tower was still mostly blocked by police tape, but there was still plenty of room.

"Hello, friends. I know you were expecting your good old sticky pal Sidebinder, but I'm sorry to disappoint. I look like him, sure, and technically you could say that currently, I am him...but you know the thing with technicalities....they exist to dress up the truth in a more favorable light."

He moved over to a woman pushing a baby in a yellow/white Enlightened stroller.

"Hello there, miss. Would you be so kind as to film this for me? I'm trying to demonstrate some cool new tricks I learned."

The woman smiled brightly and blushed as she accepted the phone. "O-of course. You do so much for us. This is the least I could do."

Sidebinder chuckled.

"You're very welcome, miss. Oh, and keep in mind, everything I say from now on is just acting. So keep filming, even if it turns a bit weird.

"S-sure!" the woman exclaimed happily as the support Hero positioned himself into frame.

"The Powers of Sidebinder are mainly used to incapacitate Villains, but they are also exceptionally useful as a personal shield."

He pulled out a utility knife and held it up for a second before ramming it into his hand. The woman who was filming flinched a little, but the Hero was unscathed.

Instead of piercing flesh and bone, the knife sunk into the black, tar-like substance he could turn himself into.

"Look. How neat. And this works everywhere too." he said and slammed the blade into his chest, temple, and left eye, leaving no lasting damage. The tar simply reverted back into flesh.

"What happened today was only the beginning. I failed to take out anyone of worth when I hijacked the Herald Queen's body, but now I aim to remedy the situation. To all so-called Superheroes prowling this beautiful metropolis, you are not safe. Not anymore. The Age of Enlightenment is over. I'm the Master Controller. Tell your family. Tell your friends. This is my city."

With that, he raised the knife to his throat, and cut it open. Blood sprayed onto the camera as the woman holding the phone shrieked and let it fall.

With a shaking thumb, I turned off the video. Jess was looking at me, mouth agape.

I let myself fall backward onto my bed, nausea creeping slowly up my bones.

The Intruder was right.

They were forcing my hand.

No matter what happened next, my old life was dead in the water.

I turned to Jess, who still couldn't seem to find the right words.

So I said them instead.

I looked at the ceiling, thinking about what came next. The immediate steps. But the only thing that came to mind was a single sentence.

"Well then.....I'm so royally fucked."