A City of Secrets and Masks

-Nine- Venomous Voice

"Niki..." Wilbur felt her name out in his mouth. It was a small bit of info, but it could be so, so important. He took a step towards her. She pulled the other sickle out of it's sheath, the curved purple blade glinting in the moonlight. 

"Now's when we fight, right? I'm kind of new to all this villain stuff... I did just join the Assembly." Wilbur's face gave away his interest and she seemed to file it away in her brain. She took a step towards him.

Then it was a battle.

Niki lunged towards him, her blades slicing through the air towards him. He dodged backwards quickly and strummed a loud note on his guitar. The sound was basically visible as it flew towards her. She jumped over it with the grace of a cat.

"Seems we both need to be quicker." She said as she launched another attack. Wilbur sent a shield of soundwaves up to block her blades, but she was stronger than she looked. He stumbled backwards. He was a bit too close to the edge of the roof now. He tried to push forward, but Niki's attack was relentless. He eventually had to compromise and just try and stay where he was.

It seemed like Niki was just going to hold him there until he couldn't hold up his shields anymore, but she was human too. She slowed, just for a second, and Wilbur managed to land a hit on her side.

She gritted her teeth and gave up a bit of ground. It was clearly more than she planned to let him have in the first place, because she was back on the attack almost immediately. Wilbur huffed, running out of breath.

"Just a bit more fighting..." Niki said, and the previous scene repeated almost exactly. Wilbur was barraged until Niki slowed for a second, and he hit her back. Then she forced him back to where he'd began.

"Talk about a circular fight, eh?" Wilbur said, sweat beading on his forehead. He never liked doing these forcefields for long. They were such a huge drain on his energy.

Niki laughed. They began the cycle again. "It really is just a circle! Not anymore, I think I can do this now." Wilbur paused, confused. Niki stepped back and gave a smile. She pulled a needle filled with a black substance from her bag and set it on the roof.

"Alright, here we go." Niki sighed and closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were glowing a slight pink.

"Pick that up and inject it in your arm- your shoulder. Then... stop attacking me."

"What? No, why would I do... that...." Wilbur realized he wasn't speaking halfway through his sentence. His body moved on its own, much more jerkily than normal. He screamed at himself not to do it. Why was he doing this?

It clicked. Niki had been wearing him down so she could use her power on him. It seemed to be some sort of body control based on spoken commands. Wilbur was just a spectator right now, watching as his body worked against his will. His hands picked up the needle and got it into position, rolling up his sleeve to get a clear shot to his shoulder.

He was glad he could close his eyes as it injected. It burned, like lemon in a wound. He tossed the needle to the ground as soon as the command was over. Niki tsked. She walked over and carefully put the needle in a ziploc bag. Wilbur stared at his arm in horror. A web of black had spread over his shoulder.

"Oh, that looks a lot worse than I thought it would." Niki said, an almost caring expression on her face. She walked towards him. He moved to send a blast of sound her way, but her last command rung in his head. He couldn't attack her.

Niki gave a smile and sat down on the edge of the roof, watching the beginnings of sunrise. "I've got a bit until I'm picked up. This was fun! We should do it again another time!"