"Ya know, I just thought of something." Jess said as we were walking down the street. Velveteria was not hidden away in some alleyway or other, so we were currently wading through a sea of people, most probably going home from work. It's not like I never had to do that kind of thing nowadays, but I was much more used to being alone or maybe one of two or three people when out and about. It was stressing me out a bit.

"And what's that?"

"Do ya think there are a lot of villains just walking through town like normal people out of costume?" She looked around a bit.

I could tell that she wanted to say more but refrained since we were out in public. But it was a good question. As a hero, we had all been well aware that BHF-Hideouts were a thing. We didn't know where they were, but we knew they existed. So I had always assumed that the villains just hung around there whenever they were not committing a crime. I don't think I'd ever spared the thought of where they would get food or stuff like toilet paper.

Even so, it's very unlikely I'd have been able to recognize my adversaries out on the street. Uncaught villains had the luxury of anonymity, and even caught villains are only ever visible in their most basic, unkempt form. A bit of makeup, a different hairstyle, some accessories, less or more facial hair, all of that went a long way to hide someone in plain sight.

It amused me to no end that I had probably walked past people I had fought and tried to arrest, or even did arrest multiple times even, while out buying snacks or something. I myself used that same principle, really. I wasn't the most fashionable hero back then, but I had to look at least presentable, especially as an Enlightened. Nowadays I wouldn't begrudge anyone thinking I was some kind of hobo. Dirty old clothes, all at least one size too big. No makeup of any kind. Ratty hair that I only combed once a week at most. It'd take my parents or one of my former teammates to recognize me like this, and even then it'd probably take a while.

"I don't see why not. Villains gotta eat too." I replied and we walked the rest of the way in silence. Not that we had nothing to say, but it was just much, much safer that way.

"Here we are." I said after a couple of minutes. "Velveteria. The Museum of Velvet Art."

The building in front of us was tiny, at least compared to others in the area. Velveteria was not a spot I hung out at often, or at all for that matter, but I knew what it was. The museum was dedicated solely to paintings on velvet, a fairly niche subset of art, and from what I heard it had closed and reopened many times due mostly to financial difficulties, sometimes even staying closed for years.

"Let's get cultured!" Jess exclaimed and pushed past me inside. I followed close behind. Even the small lobby was already full of paintings plastered on every available inch of wall. I paid for both of us and sighed as my partner in evil merrily skipped into the adjacent room. Before I went after her I noticed that the receptionist had a little wristband on, prominently displaying the letters "PG". Smart. There were many different groups, concepts, or people that could be shortened to just PG. At least I knew I was in the right place.

The woman noticed my gaze and smirked. She elegantly pulled out an old-fashioned clipboard with a note attached. From what I could see the note was just a list of initials. She slowly ran her finger down the letters until she reached a specific spot. "MC + 1".

"Oh, you must be Miss Chelsea, isn't that right?" she said in the most jovial tone I had ever heard.

"That's right." was all I said.

"I was informed that you are here to sell a painting? For..." She acted like she was trying to remember. "2500 dollars, I think. Is that correct?"

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I gave her a curt nod.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry I didn't recognize you immediately. The owner made you sound a lot more..." She looked me over, her smile never wavering. "....refined."

I did not dignify her statement with a reply and instead gestured for her to get on with it.

"Please go through to the last door on the left. The owner himself is eager to get his hands on that beautiful piece of art. Oh, and one more thing." She quickly grabbed the two 20-dollar bills I had handed her earlier and gave them back to me. "For you, entry is free of charge."

I snatched the money out of her hands and turned to go after Jess. It did not take long to catch up to her. She was intently staring at one of the pictures. "Why is there more than one painting of a naked woman turning into a fish?" she asked when I arrived behind her.

"Don't ask me, I'm not an artist. Now come on, we need to go to the last door on the left."

We made the short trip through the adjacent rooms until we reached a short corridor. On the right at the very end was what appeared to be a unisex toilet, judging from the sign. On the left side was a door too, this one in the middle.

"Righty then, let's get down to the biz." Jess said and pulled it open. It was a supply closet. "A cunning disguise, but nothing I can't solve." she grinned, very sure of herself, and began touching and moving random things in the closet, probably trying to find a hidden switch of some sort. While she was busy I moved on past the closet to the very last painting on the left wall. It was huge.

Depicted was a large futuristic cityscape, but oddly none of the buildings had doors. Well, none but one. On top of one of the skyscrapers stood a tiny rustic wooden cottage. The door was too small to knock on traditionally, so instead I extended a pinky finger and carefully, but still firm enough to make a sound, pressed it against the cottage door three times.

With a soft click, the painting swung open on its hinges to reveal a small hallway leading to a narrow staircase going down behind it. Jess, alarmed by the click, quickly slammed the closet door shut and joined me. "Let's pretend I wasn't a stupid dumbass right now, kay?"

I laughed a little and pet her head. "Sure thing, Pretending you're not a dumbass is what I do best anyhow."

"Ha ha." she said with a smile, but then quickly focused on the freshly opened passage.

"Tbh, I expected something a lot weirder. This is a real classic." Jess said. I nodded. This did not seem to be leading to a pocket dimension of any kind, or there wouldn't be the need for a hallway at the entrance or stairs for that matter. That also meant that this was probably not a BHF rental. That made a lot of sense. The Family hideouts were ludicrously expensive to force the resident villains to constantly go out and do runs. A group of artists would much rather keep a low profile while working on the next big thing, I assumed. "But I like it." she added as she strode past me and hopped down the stairs.

I sighed once again and went to follow. The painting automatically swung shut behind me. Small, somewhat dim lightbulbs hung from the ceiling, providing the only source of illumination. It didn't take too long until we arrived at a rusty metal door. Jess turned around to look at me.. Her expression appeared to be a lot more nervous and unsure than when we went in. I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly. "Go on." She gave me a slow nod, took a deep breath, and quickly pushed the entrance open.

The room beyond looked somewhat different than I imagined. I had expected one of two things. A barren, creepy, and ominous dilapidated space that matched the ambiance of the hallway leading here, or a nice, clean, posh, and well-decorated chamber that reflected the way I assumed the Petite Group saw itself. Instead, the one word that came to mind when I stepped into the place was "Messy".

Right beside us near the door were all manner of art supplies for different kinds of artists haphazardly strewn together. Brushes, pens, and canvasses lay amid chisels and on top of blocks of what was probably marble. Various types of fabric and tools such as scissors and knives were intermingled with easels, tongs, and streamers. I even saw a small furnace of some sort.

Jess giggled. "Man, talk about poor organization. And I thought you were a slob."

I lightly punched her shoulder. "Hey. I'm not a slob. I just have a higher tolerance for trash."

"Sure, sure." she said and we moved forward. We only made it a few steps before someone came toward us. Or rather, something.

"What the fuck is that?" Jess asked as we got a good look at it.

Whatever it was, it was definitely humanoid in shape. Two arms, two legs, one head. But there wasn't much more I could discern about it. It definitely had features, but it was almost as if they just slipped out of my head whenever I wanted to comprehend them. I had the feeling that it had a nose and eyes and a mouth, but I was unable to describe them, even to myself. Just looking at it gave me a shudder.

"I...I don't know." I answered and stepped in front of her. "We are here to collect my money." I addressed the thing, trying my best to hide how uneasy it made me feel.

It gave a strange approximation of a nod and turned around and made some sort of gesture with one of its arms.

"I think it wants us to follow?" Jess whispered.

"I think so too. Let's keep our guard up."

The thing actually walked at quite a brisk pace as we hurried through the basement. On the sidelines, I could see several people, all working on some artistic pursuit or another. From what I could see every project was a group effort, and no one was on their own. What surprised me though was that there were also more of the creatures. The man-shaped things seemed to be acting as servants or something similar, carrying things, holding things in place, and even posing as models. It was strange, to say the least.

I was so engrossed in my surroundings that I didn't notice when we arrived at another door at the end of the hall. The thing pointed at it, almost aggressively.

I looked at Jess who just gave me a shrug. I hesitated for a moment before stealing my nerves and pushing it open, inadvertently starting a chain of events that I would not soon forget.