A City of Secrets and Masks

-Nine- Venomous Voice

Wilbur laughed, despite the situation. "You make it sound like we've just been on a date or something." He sat down next to her, unsure of what else to do. "Do you want to explain to me anything about what just happened?"

Niki looked over at him, and furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "I don't know how much I can tell you. Oh! I know something! That stuff in the needle? We call it Mute." She looked at his shoulder. "I really hope it works as intended. It'd be a shame if it killed you."

"Oh, I agree with that."

"Really though, you seem nice! We may have been friends if the circumstances were different."

"Mhm, I can see that."

"Niki." A different voice came from behind them. A familiar, Irish voice. "You ready to go?"

"Oh, hi! Mi- Should I just use your name or keep calling you M?"

M thought for a sec. "Nah, go with my name. I'm getting tired of being called a letter."

Niki smiled and stood up. Wilbur turned around to get a clear view of the person. She had purple hair and a devious grin. "Let me formally introduce myself- Call me Minx."

"Oh, it's you." Wilbur recognized her now that she could see her face. It was the teleporter.

"I'm that iconic, hm? We did have an encounter, right? I can't quite remeber- that was a dusty version of me. One of the King's clones."

"I have to be honest, Minx, I have no idea what that could mean." Wilbur said. Niki stood up and walked towards Minx.

"Then that means we're doing our job fucking well. How was your shot?"

Wilbur just glared at her. Her grin widened. Niki watched them both, putting her sickles in their sheaths. "You two seem to get along well."

Both of them glared at her. She put her hands up in surrender, laughing a little bit. "Oh, we already act like a group of friends, huh? If circumstances were different, I could see us hanging out. We still technically could, but I think Wilbur would put us in cuffs if he ever sees us again."

Wilbur nodded and stood up. "Oh yeah, for sure. Though I don't know if I could, with Niki's commands and all."

Niki flashed him a bright smile. She checked her watch. "Oh! Minx, time to go!" She grabbed Minx's hand.

"Wait!" Wilbur reached out towards them. They would be such valuable info sources, if he could just get them on his side-

"Sorry, Mr. Soot. We've gotta go." Minx said. "You can take these though." She dropped two calling cards to the floor. A pink one and a purple one.

"Bye, Wilbur!" Niki waved as her form began to waver. "We'll meet again soon! Trust me on that!" And with that final message from Niki, he was alone on the roof. 

Wilbur looked around. The sun was beginning to rise. He walked over and picked up the calling cards, stuffing them in his pocket.

Wilbur climbed down the fire escape, wincing as he was forced to put his weight on his injured shoulder. He got to the last landing and hopped off, hitting the pavement in the alley with a soft thud and a grunt of pain.

The city was waking up, and Wilbur really didn't want it to be. He tugged his sleeve down as far as it could go, trying to hide the spiderweb of black covering most of his shoulder. People would ask about it if they saw it. He didn't want to get asked about it.

He found his guitar case and put his instrument inside, carrying it with his good arm. He didn't totally understand why the arm that had gotten the injection hurt this much. As he stepped onto the sidewalk, his adrenaline faded.