Charlatans of Revenge

2. Kat Chase

CW: Alcohol mention, food, dismemberment mention, swearing, fire mention

 Kat did not drink. She simply set an alarm on her phone for 7:00 AM and passed out on her bed. She did not want to think about it or look at that memory ever again. Her head hurt when she woke up and she didn't wake up alone. There was a cat on Kat's stomach. It meowed loudly at her. Kat sat up and the cat jumped off and ran out the door she didn't remember leaving open.

Magic exists. And people kill to steal it. According to last night, Fox said that the copy person didn't have Jenkins power because it was localized in his eyes, which were not taken... How lovely. She got dressed in a plain tank top and clutched her crystal necklace to calm her down again. Kat tied her shoes and walked out of her room. Caleb was making breakfast, what looked like scrambled eggs. But that wasn't the only thing happening in the room. To the right of the kitchen, she saw Merlin standing up, off his chair and stretching what looked like giant wings.

Kat walked back into her room and collapsed onto the bed again.

-

Caleb and Kat sat down on the couch, eating what was supposed to be breakfast but soon became brunch after Kat's... power nap. The news came on about losing powers and she averted her eyes and focused on her food. Merlin was back in his wheelchair, no wings in sight. It's cool though, lots of people have super powers. That's the norm here. Kat finished her food and took the plate to the kitchen.

"Do I have another job tonight?"

Merlin swallowed a piece of his food, and gave a weird look. "Uhh, yeah. Howard Klein. He ran a business that worked with the Owl but he told the agency he doesn't work with her anymore. The time is around four AM."

Kat nodded as she washed her plate and put it into the dishwasher. "Cool. Will I be with... the same people?"

"Probably. Fox and Otter said you were cool in your reports." He dabbed his face with a paper towel that was folded into a square shape. Merlin shot up slightly like he realized something. "Oh! By the way you'll need to come up with a code name so I can give you an ID and so you have somewhere to send reports. Do you have anything in mind?"

She shook her head. "No. Maybe after this job something will come to me."

The day went relatively quick. Kat wandered around the town a bit and saw a cute park. Then she went to work after taking another nap. She's starting to notice how important naps will be for her if she's going to continue living during the day. That or she'll have to steal Caleb's coffee supply. Either or really... Otter asked her if she was okay but Kat didn't bother to respond.

"You know if you show up to another job looking like a dead amongst us, then I'm going to yell at the Raptor for overworking you." Fox said, this time sitting in the back with Kat.

"The Raptor?"

"Our boss, dear."

"Ah. Of course." Merlin, that pompous bastard. She grimaced when she realized that Merlin was probably named after the bird and not the wizard. Or maybe he was and he changed the meaning of his name. Or he chose it himself. Kat didn't really care but this meant that her brother married a stupid man.

"Are you sure you're good for this job?" Otter said, without taking his eyes off the road. "You know him personally, right? You could have a sick day to... readjust or something."

"No." Kat reaffirmed, perhaps too quickly. Fox gave her a concerned look. Kat just tightened her ponytail again. "I just need this job and I didn't expect this town to... be like this, I guess. I can readjust on the go, I promise. I won't freeze up like last time."

This job wasn't at a house, but a workplace. It looked like an emptied out factory. Nothing was on and they haven't been for a long time. Kat ringed her hands as Otter did all the talking. She was trying to listen but she would probably just be overloaded with information again. If it was important Fox would probably tell her about it later. Fox kept glancing at Kat and she decided not to pay attention to it.

"-They probably won't kill me. The Owl recruits younger people. I'm not sure why, but I can guess." He paused and looked disdainfully. He made eye contact with Kat. "Young people are easy prey."

"I'll keep that in mind." She glowered slightly, already hating him.

The three watched him get driven away in a nice car and decided on patrolling the inside of the building. Kat was informed that the custodians and night guards were still going to work on their shifts. She didn't really think much of it. She walked through the halls of this nearly empty building. Kat would stop to look at stuff, trying to find anything that looked important. Like this door with a golden plac reading "Office". Fair enough. She opened it to find another person already there. They had gelled up hair that looked like it was from an anime. Their eyes were hidden by big round goggles she couldn't see through and they were skimming through documents.

"Hey, maybe don't?"

They looked up to her, and stood up straight. Kat realized they were taller and skinnier than she was. Kat gripped the brass knuckles. "Just uh, put your hands up and stop looking through those. You're not supposed to be here."

Goggles-wearer held up their hands, also holding a file with them. Kat rolled her eyes. "Put that down. I don't want to hurt you but I will if I have to."

They stuck out a tongue at her and dropped the file. Kat, without thinking, went down to pick it up, giving the possible mob member time to run past her and out the door. She stood up immediately and chased after quickly, brass knuckles in hand. It was sort of exhilarating to chase someone for her job. They ran up the stairs, as if they were the one not thinking, and Kat went up too, wheezing slightly, but the adrenaline kept her running. Eventually, after running up stairwell floor and floor, they ended up on the roof.

This person seemed just as out of shape as Kat did. But they weren't backing down.

"Catnip, are you off the building yet? Wolf just set fire to the bottom of it-" Catnip hissed in frustration and turned off a walkie-talkie that Kat didn't notice before. They looked up at Kat and decided it wasn't worth it. Catnip climbed up the glass looking plaster rimmed around the roof.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kat yelled, running up to the side of the building.

With that, Catnip gave a peace sign and jumped off the roof. Kat finally reached the side to see that they had landed on the windowsill of the building next door and was jumping from one to another, until eventually they reached the ground safely. Well, as far as she could see. Kat let out a sigh of relief and walked back from the railing. Until-

"Wait the fire-"