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“She did not like the look of things at all, as the game was in such confusion that she never knew whether it was her turn or not.”

- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Oz ducked under the crime scene tape and held it up for Natalie, who followed behind him. One of the officers immediately moved to intercept them, but Oz’s contact shooed the man away.

“No, no, OCD is okay.” Officer Verity Vasquez assured the other man. “He’s got clearance.”

The other officer didn’t look convinced by that, but let the matter drop.

Oz had known Verity for a few years, ever since he’d worked as a liaison between the cops and the Freedom Squad.

As far as he knew, he was the only Cape in town still authorized to make formal arrests.

Not that he ever really did that—with the memorable exception of the time he’d used that power to place Cynic and Librarian under arrest for damaging Natalie’s place of work—just that it was nice to work with police, rather than being like most of the other Capes in town who seemed to view them as an obstacle.

Personally, Oz had nothing but respect and admiration for the police.

He went out of his way to assist them whenever possible.

Verity hustled him towards the building, as if afraid of something.

Oz frowned at the side of the convenience store, where a group of officers were standing, all wearing more complicated tactical uniforms than the standard patrolman uniform Verity was wearing.

Verity followed his gaze. “Yeah,” she nodded, “they’re here for you.

” She lowered her voice. “The city is on the verge of exploding, OCD. Your friends have pushed things too far, and now there’s a new unit forming to deal with you all, when it comes to that.

” She shook her head. “These people don’t play. ”

“Why are they after the Consortium? ”

“You blew up a hospital this week!”

“That wasn’t us, that was the Agletarians.”

She pointed at the task force in question. “Tell that to them .”

A tough looking woman with short dark hair exited the convenience store and turned to face them, looking somehow both unemotional and furious. Her uniform showed her as being in charge of the new task force.

Officer Vasquez stood straighter and inclined her head in greeting. “Commander Legateaux.”

The woman stared at them silently for another beat, then spat on the ground by Oz’s feet. “Fucking Capes.” She growled out, then stalked away.

Oz had no words for how disgusting he found it when people spat on the sidewalk. It was supposed to be disrespectful to him, but really it just made him want to throw up.

“Great.” His contact winced and was obviously second-guessing the whole arrangement. “This could get me in a lot of trouble, you know that, right?”

“I recognize that. Thank you, Officer Vasquez.” He watched the task force for a moment longer, trying to figure things out. “They wouldn’t happen to have power suits, do they?”

“Like Armani?”

“No, like armor that gives them more power.” He clarified. “Perhaps ones which glow orange?”

Verity scoffed at the idea. “OCD, we’re the NYPD . We barely have the funding to buy officer’s vests, you think we’re going to get super-suits?”

“Just making sure.”

“No,” she shook her head, “they’re not the Agletarians, they’re just pissed at you guys. They want to stop you from wrecking shit and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that.” She pointed at the convenience store. “And stuff like this isn’t helping matters.”

Oz refocused on the crime scene. “What’s going on here? A super-powered disturbance?”

Verity nodded. “That’s what…” She trailed off as Natalie arrived on the scene and joined the conversation. Verity stared at her silently for a moment, then gestured to her in disbelief, looking to Oz for an explanation. “Oh, good lord. Who is this now?”

“Today, I am…” Natalie paused dramatically, “… Jungle Lass! ”

“Jungle Lass.” Verity repeated in a deadpan, she pointed at Natalie’s top and the Killroy symbol painted on her exposed skin. “Because your breasts are telling me you’re Multifarious.”

Oz put up his hands to end the looming argument. “We’re working the case together, she’s involved in the Agletarian / Mercygiver matter and is of great value here.”

“’Great value.’” Verity repeated, looking dubious. “Because I remember the time she robbed the bank on High street, then we had to chase her for four miles on foot. Remember that?”

Natalie laughed good-naturedly at the memory, and sighed, like she was reminiscing with friends. “Yeah… good times.”

“I cannot do my job without my partner’s help.” Oz assured the officer seriously.

Verity didn’t look convinced, but backed down. “Your partner there messes up, and this is over, you understand? You here at a crime scene, Capes working an investigation, my entire career… it’s all over .”

“We will be on our best behavior, I assure you.” Oz nodded. “Our only goal is to find the people responsible for whatever this is, and to stop them. You are not equipped to face this kind of super-powered threat on your own, so we will assist you. Trust me, all we want to do is help.”

“I trust you .” Verity pointed at Natalie and started walking towards the entrance of the store. “ She’s a lunatic.”

Oz and Natalie followed along behind.

Natalie pointed at the other woman and leaned closer to Oz. “What a bitch. In the jungle, that’s the kind of woman we don’t rescue from the quicksand.” She paused, her voice tensing. “You and she aren’t… involved , are you?”

Oz squinted at her in confusion. “No, of course not. Why?”

Natalie didn’t bother to answer, but seemed to relax some.

Verity opened the door to the convenience store. “Okay, here’s the situation,” she gestured to the back of the store where a woman’s body was sprawled, resting against the wall of glass doors which housed the iced beverages, “our vic is one…”

“Kailee Kennedy.” Oz finished for her, recognizing the woman because he was obsessive about things sometimes. “She used to run a crew of Capes out of Long Island.” He walked closer to the body. “She retired a few years ago though.”

Verity shrugged. “Well, it seems like she picked a bad day to get back into the game.” She gestured to the damage to the shelving displays in front of her.

“Our perp blasted her with some kinda space-age shit that…” She spread her arms out, indicating the huge amount of blood splatter which was dripping down the glass behind the body. “Splash.”

Natalie helped herself to a bag of Doritos from the shelf and started munching on them. “What’d the clerk say?”

“The clerk said that…” Verity trailed off, making a confused face, like she was amazed she was even speaking to Natalie at all. “Are you eating the fucking crime scene ?” She asked in disbelief. “Just what qualifies you for this, anyway?”

Natalie swallowed her chip. “Well, I’m unhealthily competitive, have trust issues, poor impulse control, drink too much, and I don’t like dealing with things that I don’t want to deal with.”

“And you think that somehow qualifies you for police work?”

Natalie arched her eyebrow in challenge. “Have you ever met a cop?”

Verity’s face darkened. “Oh, fuck you!”

“She didn’t mean that,” Oz stepped between them, trying to preserve the crime scene, “it’s just her personality today.”

Verity shook her head. “She’s a fucking bitch every day, OCD, you can tell!”

“Not every day.” Natalie took another chip out of her bag. “Probably three out of five, max.”

Oz reached into his pocket and removed two pairs of gloves, shoe covers, and a surgical mask. Better safe than sorry.

Natalie rolled her eyes, having not even bothered to put on shoes this morning.

Her feet were bare, decorated only with a shark tooth anklet.

For some reason, Oz found himself strangely fascinated by that delicate little accessory.

Possibly because it highlighted the bare skin of her legs and possibly because it was…

no it was entirely about her naked legs.

And little strappy things being wrapped around them.

That anklet was his new favorite thing.

But thinking about that would have to wait for the moment, because he had work to do.

Oz got closer to the body, his eyes following the trajectory of the blast. “What did the clerk say, Officer Vasquez?”

Verity pulled out her notebook and flipped through it. “Oh, our man is a real gem. He said that a guy in a mask tried to hold up the store with a shotgun, then our vic…”

“Kailee Kennedy.” Oz reminded her, not liking the fact the woman wasn’t given the honor of a name. She had protected the city for years. Selflessly. She deserved better.

“Ms. Kennedy ,” Verity corrected, rolling her eyes at Oz’s human decency, “was already in the store, apparently shopping, and tried to stop the robbery. Then…” She shrugged. “I have no idea. Like I said, the clerk was high on god-knows-what at the time.”

Natalie looked at the wound, then shook her head. “That’s not a shotgun.” She ate another chip.

“She was already in the store?” Oz asked, standing back up.

Verity nodded.

“So,” Natalie fished another chip out of the bag, “our girl the ex-hero is here buying groceries, tries to stop a normal robbery, and somehow ends up getting blasted outta nowhere by a plasma rifle?”

Verity nodded again. “So it would seem.”

“That’s a hell of a coincidence.” Natalie decided, looking over at Oz. “Think this is related to the other thing?”

Verity frowned. “Other thing?”

Oz took off one of his pairs of gloves and promptly replaced it with a second. “We’ve been investigating the disappearance of some people in the city.”

Verity crossed her arms over her chest. “Do superheroes typically do a lot of ‘investigating’?”

“Not really, no.” Oz shook his head. “We usually just…”

“Beat the shit out of poor people?” Verity guessed, cutting him off.