Jason knew this man. He knew him from the moment he walked up, but he couldn’t remember why he recognised, or what his name was. He didn’t know why he’d winked at them, why he’d asked for tea instead of coffee, or what was happening at the moment; even as Jason flung officer after officer away from them with bursts of telekinesis, he didn’t know why. All he had on his mind was to protect Kamille, who was blinding the police to his left with bursts of light, cursing and yelling all the while; preferably as fast as possible.

To put it lightly, he was confused, and what shook him most of all; was that Optic had disappeared again, and Mirage was absolutely livid.

He had lost sight of Optic the minute the law enforcement had advanced, and hadn’t seen him since. Mirage had shown up shortly after that, and he now had a whole host of badged men held up by purple mist in the air around him as he dodged and weaved his way towards Panin, who was feeding bullets into the end of his cane.

Wait what?

Jason spared another moment to check again, only to find that yes Mr. Zeaz was indeed stuffing a cartridge into the curved end of his walking stick and yes his hair had taken on a familiar, slightly red sheen. “Now now then, please put your magic away good sir. I do not want to have to use this.” Panin pleaded, flipping a switch on the end of his cane to turn off the safety. “It’s brand new, and I would really prefer to keep it that way for a tad bit longer.”

“Self defence. Your men attacked first.” Mirage stated dryly as his hands burst into bright purple flame, sparks flying up and singing the white fabric of his sleeves. It was clear that he was trying something new, as sweat was beading on the creases of his brow, and his fiery fingers were shaking within their gloves; though that might have been from anger.

A bullet ricochet off of Jason’s shoulder, but he wasn’t paying much attention, as he was too busy watching the standoff. It looked like most of the officers were too, since most of them had ceased their assault and were now staring at their chief-of-police. “Now now there magician, lets not get too big for our britches here, any spells you do besides levitation have a rather big chance to go...kablooie...and there are civilians nearby.” Panin grinned, looking more insane by the minute, and pointed his cane at Mirage; who didn’t look like he cared in the slightest whether his spell went “kablooie” or not.

Mirage said nothing, but he extinguished the flames. “There we go! Are you ready to see reason now? I only want to talk, it’s not like I’m going to send you to the Outskirts or anything.” Panin stroked his mustache, which had also taken on a slightly red-ish color, and tilted his head to the side. “I mean, I’ve already taken one of your friends in for questioning, but she’s so uncooperative, it’s much more rewarding to have the real thing.”

“Who?” The hands at Mirage’s side clenched into fists, giving off the notion that he already knew who Panin was talking about. By now, all fighting had stopped, and everyone was watching the spectacle in the street. Floating police officers sat in the air, watching the scene like it was a movie, Billy -who had returned with Panin’s tea- pulled out his phone to record a video of the fight, and Kamille made her way over to Jason, standing next to him with her hand on his shoulder; no matter what position they were in, all eyes were glued to either Mirage or Panin.

“That pretty little seamstress and her sister over on 37th street. She put up one hell of a fight, nearly gouged my eyes out with her knitting needles.” he whistled, rubbing at his eyelids as he remembered, “let me tell you, she’s a feisty one. I’m just glad I wasn’t really there, if I was, I’d surely be dead. Don’t underestimate the power of a sewing machine.”

Jason saw red, “Why her?!” he found himself yelling, “She doesn’t know anything, all she did was make suits!” Kamille’s hand clamped over his mouth, but he shoved it away and kept talking. “You call yourself a police officer, yet you kidnap civilians and brag about it to their friends! You’re not a policeman, you’re acting like...like..like  Dr. Destruction!” He finished, glaring daggers at the thin man with the cane.

“Well congratulations! One of you has a brain!” Panin laughed, and his form flickered with every chuckle, until it vanished completely; like an illusion disappearing once you’ve got it figured out. For a moment, everyone stared at the space where Panin used to stand, but then the sound of a slow clap rang out from the balcony of a nearby hotel.

Dr. William P. Destruction stood on the outcrop, clapping with a grin on his face. “I was wondering when you’d figure it out! It took much longer than I had anticipated, I had dropped so many clues for you! Especially you, Mirage, I’d like to have thought that you would recognise some illusion magic when you saw it; but no, you’re just as useless as I knew you’d be, and I’ve gotten what I want now. That little seamstress and her sister were easily fooled by a little impersonation.” He cleared his throat, and his voice sounded exactly like Jason’s, fast-paced and worried. “Sylvia help! We were fighting a villain and Optic got shot! You gotta come quickly or he’s gonna die!”

Jason felt numb as he listened to William rant in his voice, Sylvia had been lured to a trap by him -or at least, an impersonation of him- if she got hurt...it would be his fault.  So as Dr. D was gloating from the balcony, Jason had snuck out of the group and into the hotel. Police tape wound its way around all the furniture, creating a major tripping hazard for anyone trying to sneak upstairs unseen.

“-and I mean seriously! It was so obvious! A blind man could figure it out!” Carefully, Jason weaved his way around the tape, and started to climb the creaky staircase. “-just sitting there! You aren’t even trying to get me!” Dr. D’s voice sounded from a room on the second floor, and Jason followed it. His feet made small prints in the squishy carpet as he walked, and the pink wallpaper loosed a cloud of dust whenever his fingers brushed the sides of the narrow hallway. Reaching the doorway where the bragging was loudest, Jason pushed on it slowly, creating a quiet creak as the rusted hinges moved.

Jason froze at the sound, but Dr. D kept right on talking, “-and don’t even get me started on Optic. He thinks he’s so high and mighty but I know the truth, he’s just a big scaredy cat. Too afraid of his own mind to focus on the real threats and problems. He doesn’t even try to pretend he’s okay like any normal person, he just bottles it up until it explodes.” Jason bypassed the dusty furniture and krept nearer as William leaned over the railing and waved his arms in the air dramatically. “He’s no fun at all. Once Shade has his way, I’ll take much pleasure in breaking his view of reality. Then he’ll be fun.”

Jason was so close now, that he could see the crowd below from the balcony. Kamille was by Mirage’s side, trying to determine if he was alright, but the stoic hero stared blank-faced ahead with no emotions revealed beyond his mask. A couple of civilians had ignored the yellow police tape around the area, and had come to see what the commotion was about; while the police officers desperately tried to seal the area off again.

William had continued to talk, but he wasn’t listening anymore. So while Dr. D discussed the constricting nature of the laws of physics, Jason sneaked behind him and grabbed hold of the pink cane that was leaning on the doorframe. Fingering the magenta metal in his hands, he realized that he had no idea how to work this thing. He turned it around slowly, inspecting it from all sides. There were a plethora of buttons on the curved end, so he started pressing them randomly, hoping none of them sounded an alarm, until one worked. A cartridge hit the ground with a loud thump, and William stopped talking.