Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents...

# 9 - "ALL'S FAIR IN THERAPY AND WAR"
Written by Anthony Crute

The staff of Doc Samson’s practice were in the office busying themselves with work. Well Louise Grant Mason AKA The Blonde Phantom was busy with work as she typed up Doc Samson’s case notes from his prison visits and private meetings.

Samson’s notes on his private patients including celebrities who were sick of hiding their mutant status and half the roster of Avengers and Fantastic Four which were coded in some code he invented himself to keep their identities secret for doctor patient confidentiality. The notes themselves were very intriguing in the last fifteen minutes of typing she discovered that one celebrity was a Scientologist because his secret X-gene allowed him to see the future and the aliens were indeed coming back some time in the near future.

The files on the criminal patients he visited at several prisons and the profiles of some criminals which he helped to create for SHIELD however fell within his legal mandate to keep the authorities informed and so they were written in plain English reports which Louise had to upload to a completely separate database that they could access.

It was these which she truly found most interesting. In her previous career as secretary and masked detective and crime fighter she had developed quite an interest in criminology and criminal psychology herself and so getting a glimpse into the fascinating world of the more complex super powered criminals.

Arlette was as ever sitting across from Louise doing pretty much nothing of any consequence to the business. She was at the minute shopping online for some new shoes to go with a dress she just bought with her inflated wage packet.

This was honestly the perfect job for her. She was Doc Samson’s mutant transport and body guard using her powers of teleportation and mind control for both of her roles. When ‘the Doc’ needed to go somewhere or needed someone calming down with no violence it was her time to shine but most of the time she just busied herself in the office by playing on the internet or reading. All in all it took a lot of effort on her part to fill the day with nothing and making sure she didn’t inadvertently help out in some way.

Amadeus Cho was filling the stop gap which wouldn’t need filling if Arlette helped out. It was also ideal as Samson was his mentor and could most of the time act in this capacity in his own office while having an excuse to give Amadeus some money.

The young super genius was currently pretending to be doing his homework on the computer while really trying to crack the encryption on the SHIELD files Louise was uploading so he could piggyback into the system. He had no real interest in what was in the files or indeed what other files SHIELD could have but the fact the encryption was created by geniuses Hank Pym, Tony Stark and Reed Richards to be unbreakable it was a challenge to him. He much like his mentor could not turn down a challenge.

The door to Samson’s study swung open as he exited into the small office/waiting room for his staff and patients. The large green haired Doctor was dressed in a off white shirt and a pair of brown slacks. One of his usual red unstable molecule T-Shirts could be seen poking out through the top of it.

He looked at his staff and wondered how much work the three of them were actually doing for him. “It never ends huh?” he sighed as he strode across to Louise’s desk and picked up some of his phone messages. “I’ve just been on a phone interview for…”

“We know,” Arlette nodded over her screen before flicking her eyes back to the Jimmy Chu’s she was debating over. “We have a TV in here, we saw.”

The media side of Doc Samson’s career was in overdrive at the moment. He was becoming a big celebrity. His job was interesting, he had a great personality and real intelligent insight not to mention being rather attractive to both the opposite and same sex.

He was a hot commodity for both ‘intelligent’ television shows which either wanted his opinion or simply wanted to be seen wanting his opinion and the more entertainment based shows based on his having rubbed shoulders with half of the mega famous superheroes in the world at one point or another. The fact that he had his first book coming out soon and it was pretty much guaranteed to be a best seller meant he was more than happy to go the extra few feet with his public image than he really cared about.

Organising the entire media offensive was his public relations officer Sarah Day. She was like some demented genius when it came to managing people’s profiles. She saw a chance that must be seized when Samson was just recently shrunken down to an inch tall came into a fight against a bunch of supervillains and ended up having ‘hardened criminals’ The Wrecking Crew arrested. When Doc Samson was the punch line of five jokes across a few comedy shows made her launch in a full blown attack to re-spin his profile to a more positive one again (no one wants to be remembered as being small).

“Which reminds me,” Louise stopped what she was doing and leaned sideways to pick up her waste paper basket. “Seventeen messages from various television and magazine outlets who want to talk to you about something.”

“They’re in the waste paper bin because?” Leonard lifted the sheets out and leafed through them.

“I’m not your secretary,” Louise smiled up at him and then continued to type away at the computer.

He stopped for a minute and examined the blonde. She was in her 70’s but appeared to only be in her 30’s thanks to some of the superhero based fun which had happened in the course of her life. She was by far the most useful and polite of his staff to the point that he would even consider her indispensable to his business. This outburst was out of character even despite her usually fiery demeanour.

Samson turned to find both Arlette and Amadeus watching the conversation intently. “Yes you are,” Leonard said it almost like it was a question, testing but cautious.

“No I am your assistant, your assistant in your psychology practice…these have nothing to do with your job.” She smiled sweetly. “I’d have the harpy make it clear that any of your celebrity post goes to her,” Louise did not like Sarah Day at all. The brief mention of the harpy made Samson think of his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross, he shrugged it off briefly consigning it to the back of his mind to think about later.

“I apologise Louise,” Leonard bowed his head in over the top apology. “You’re so efficient I often don’t think of where your job boundaries lie.” Leonard looked at his watch for a moment and then tapped it’s face. “Speaking of my proper job, I’ve got a meeting with Killgrave.” He turned and shot an expectant look at Arlette who nodded grudgingly.

“The Purple Man?” Amadeus piped up from his desk. He paused for a second. “Can I come?” He grabbed a book form his bag which was on the desk. Samson knew it well it was written by one of his professors. It seemed Amadeus had been doing more reading about psychology and this time wanted to use it in some action rather than just the facts. It was exactly why Leonard wanted Amadeus to socialise with more people in and out of the school he had put him into. The brief thought of both Reed Richards and Tony Stark hunting him down and killing him if Amadeus turned from his bright career as the next messiah of science into being a psychologist.

“You want me to bring you to see the world’s largest serial killer?” Leonard wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to the request. It wasn’t the most normal thing for a teenage boy to do.

“It’ll keep me off the streets,” Amadeus shrugged nonchalantly.

“How about you come to the prison and I let you give therapy to someone not as dangerous…I’m sure there’ll be someone there whose kill figures are still only double digits.” Samson nodded in a ‘yeah right’ style.

“Really?” Amadeus was quite astounded, he thought Samson would have shut him down.

“No,” Samson rolled his eyes and shook his head. Amadeus had his own sarcasm down but he still needed to work on reading other people when it wasn’t a blatant display. Amadeus looked despondent. “You can come along if you want though. You can bug Mr Rhodes trying to analyse him and suggesting ways to improve his security…that’ll go down well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah sure why not, I’ll be too busy to bother him myself. It truly is the next stage in your training young padawan.” Samson smiled as Amadeus moved towards him and braced himself as Arlette laid her hand on his shoulder (Samson could see Amadeus’s little heart melt as she did so). Then they were gone.

The Vault…

Samson found himself staring into the cell of Purple Man. The last time he had been here Killgrave had made his living quarters the most meticulously cleaned and ordered thing he had ever seen.

The killer loved control, he loved not only being able to hurt people but the joy of simply ordering them to do it and them having to obey. He was not only a psychopath but had serious issues with control and power which he had lacked for most of his life.

Samson as part of his treatment had been denying him any measure of power. He was hoping to break him down from his self imposed seat of higher power so that he could begin therapy without all the power games from Killgrave. He had also been in the same activity trying to train him out of his accepted behaviour. Any demand received nothing it was only requests which were responded too at all.

Killgrave had responded by being controlling over all the things he could. He had began to tidy, he had arranged things in particular order and then meticulously moved them to some unknown map in his mind. All in an attempt to have some power.

That was then. This was now.

Samson looked at the room. Killgrave’s precious books were strewn across the floor pages lying everywhere. His bed sheets were shoved into the toilet which was now backing up and flooding the floor of the cell or at least it was until the water supply was turned off.

In the past week since he had seen him Killgrave had moved on to a different stage. He had exploded in a fit of rage seemingly out of nowhere and had done this to his meticulously cleaned and arranged cell. His previous neuroses were now obviously gone. They went in a huge explosive show of rebellion, a huge FU to everyone else.

Samson wondered briefly as he looked over the notes that the on site staff had been making. Had Purple Man moved onto a stage of defeat, he had lost control of everything and simply given up? Why bother? Or had he moved on to a stronger ground? Had he realised he had complete control over himself? His thoughts and his behaviour even if not any surroundings and trashed his room to make that point?

The former certainly seemed to be the case Leonard decided rather quickly based on two observations. Killgrave was not a spiritual man, not a metaphysical one. He wanted control of the physical world and that’s all he had ever wanted judging by his history it seemed unlikely that he would simply retreat into himself and decide that control over himself is the perfect solution (even though it was indeed one of the aims of the therapy.) The second factor in his decision was Purple Man sat in the corner of the room facing Samson with his eyes closed. He apparently hadn’t moved for hours.

Samson felt a pang of guilt. He had led the man to this, he had been giving the orders on the treatment and had made sure over the past week the ‘tough love’ had been stepped up further. He was now not only being rewarded for requests but now also the guards and other members of staff were to give him orders…they were in other words to stop the special treatment that he as such a high risk was given. He was also now only allowed to do certain acts when told such as eating his treats which he bought with his prison allowance.

The pang of guilt wasn’t a small one. Samson saw the things he was doing as being brutal. They were harsh and unfair if he was honest but the fact was Purple Man needed this. There was no way he could continue in his life the way he had so far. This harsh treatment was the quickest method Samson could think of to get through to the killer. He however still felt guilty looking at the shell of the man caused by his orders.

“Zebediah?” Samson had been sitting quietly waiting to speak to Purple Man with no sign of it beginning for a few minutes. There was still no response. “Zebediah answer me,” Samson ordered.

“Yes,” replied Purple Man. His eyes were still closed and that was all that he said, silence followed.

“Answer all of my questions,” Samson ordered. “How are you feeling?” He paused as several possible answers from Purple Man filled his mind. “Are you happy?” he needed to be more specific.

“No,” Purple Man shook his head and then sat still again. He was just giving and acting the bare essential of answer and movement.

“Why not?”

There was a long silence. It was a difficult question to answer. “I’m unhappy,” was his only answer.

Samson scribbled a few things down. “Is it because you have lost your control? Because you’re having to respond to orders and not your own whims?”

“No,” this answer was much quicker. “I lost control a long time ago…never had control really. I’ve always been out of control.”

Leonard watched Purple Man carefully. He noticed now that Killgrave was not moving, he was showing amazing self control to sit perfectly still.

“Can you guess why you’re unhappy?”

“I’m in prison. In a cell…a flooded and dirty cell.” Purple Man paused. “I don’t want to be here anymore…alone.”

“I thought you liked being alone?” Samson stopped and made certain to scribble down some notes. It seemed Killgrave was opening up but this isn’t exactly what Samson wanted. He was opening up in such a mechanical way. It was not what Samson wanted or what Purple Man needed. They needed a frank discussion freely not with such prompts.

“I’ve always been alone too…I’ve been with people and had women but through circumstance or order…I’ve always been alone.” Killgrave’s family had been killed when he was younger in Croatia.

Samson weighed his words. This was going to be a short meeting, his treatment had went too far. It had fulfilled it’s purpose but in a way that he had not been expecting. Instead of taking Killgrave to ‘the ground floor’ of his personality to allow building up this had seemed to go even further to where Killgrave was barely responding as a man. Samson however knew the way to ‘repair’ the mistake and begin the rebuilding of Purple Man to where he could perhaps be integrated into the main body of the prison and stand trial for his crimes. The chance he was presented with at the moment however was too much to pass up, it felt wrong almost like a betrayal of his duty but also the perfect way to fulfil his duty as he was practically getting a glimpse into the programming of Killgrave (to use the ever useful man to computer analogy).

“Do you think that on some level you always wanted to be alone? You lost your family at a young age and were in the middle of a war zone…you enlisted in a programme which trained spies. That’s a profession not renowned for closeness, violence and subterfuge, lies and deceit keep everyone at a nice distance don’t they?” Samson stopped and looked at the emotionless face of Purple Man. The villain wasn’t replying because of the rhetorical nature of the questions. “What about your behaviour over the years? You have needed to gain control your entire life and you were then given the ability for almost unlimited control, you could have used this power for something…you could have united your country and led them into a golden age but instead you used it to hurt and abuse people. Was that to keep people away? Make sure no one ever got close? No one could ever hurt you again like when your family died?...Do you think there’s any truth in any of the things I’ve said?”

Purple Man sat silently for a moment. “I’m unhappy.” He replied.

Leonard stood to his feet and nodded to himself. He said his farewell to Killgrave and said he’d see him next session before walking away from the silent man.

The pangs of guilt stabbed at him again. He had broken the man and had done it in a more brutal way than he would have liked or had intended but that had been his goal hadn’t it? To break down and through all of Killgrave’s self built layers of protection and delusion about himself to get through?

He scribbled down instructions as he walked. Purple Man was now to be returned to normal. His previous orders were to be ignored. Purple Man’s cell would be cleaned and repaired and he would receive new books even though he hadn’t requested them.

It was Samson’s hope that Killgrave could be built up again from this point to a more rounded and less extreme person in personality and action now that the external factors which shaped him in the first place were not in effect. Only the time between now and his next visit would tell.

He walked the corridors quickly as he headed for the main control hub so someone could find Rhodes and Amadeus. The figure of his young friend caught his eye as he walked past one of the officer’s break rooms.

Amadeus was sitting watching the television in front of a large metal table. One of the Guardsmen sans helmet stood behind him. Samson looked at the guard with a raised eyebrow of questioning.

“Mr Rhodes told me to bring him here…restrain him if he tries to leave and talk to the boss again. I’m also meant to punch you when you show up…lets just pretend I did.” The Guard nodded and smiled at Samson.

“I hope he didn’t cause Rhodey too much trouble,” Samson grinned mischievously.

“Hey Doc…you might want to look at this.” Amadeus cut across the conversation and pointed to the television set he had been watching.

On The Television…

The studio was set out like many television studios. A big set had three walls behind a small raised stage with the big words ‘MILLIE’ in stylised letters across the back of the set.

The audience sat behind the cameras in a mirroring three line setting.

On the small one step high raised stage sat three people. Millie sat in her own plush chair and had her body half pointed to the camera and half towards the man who sat on her right. A second man who had been her previous guest sat on her left.

The man on the right was the person Samson was most interested in. he recognised him instantly.

He was a corpulent man dressed in a dark blue pinstriped suit. He had a grey waist coat which matched the stripes in his suit. A small golden chain stretched from his breast pocket to be fixed inside his jacket.

He wore a large gold rimmed monocle in his eye which matched his watch chain. He had a back combed shock of red hair and a large bushy red beard. Doctor Faustus was in the middle of talking as Doc Samson began to watch.

“…I will be doing a university tour with other selected venues too. I’m also writing my memoirs and a professional book for other psychologists who may want to follow my success.” Faustus nodded.

“I look forward to reading them…maybe you’d come back on.” Millie smiled a big fake Hollywood smile she had perfected. “Will you’re tell all autobiography cover your more colourful career? Would you mind if we talked about it briefly?”

Doctor Faustus smiled and nodded his head. “I would first like to apologise for my previous behaviour. It’s behind me but I feel I must still apologise. I did some terrible things.”

“Can you tell me Doctor Fennhoff because we often don’t get chances like this. You were an individual who fought against several super-heroes. What brings a man to that point? What goes through your mind?”

Samson noted how careful Millie was to avoid the term super-villain when referring to her guest. He also gritted his teeth at the colourful career comment. He was all for rehabilitation of criminals and then moving on but you couldn’t sugar coat the past in such a way without distancing the criminal from the past.

Doctor Faustus despite his lack of powers was a super-villain responsible for several terrorist neo-nazi organisations from National Force to the Secret Empire which had clashed with Captain America and SHIELD over the years. He had used his skill to have countless people commit suicide over the years.

The truth was and Leonard knew it. He hated Faustus, simple hate because of who he was. He was Samson’s own dark mirror. He was possibly one of the only active psychologists in the world who could challenge Leonard in skill and knowledge but instead of helping people he hurt them. He used his skills and abilities to hurt people and get his own way with no regard for their personal wellbeing. He was abhorrent to everything Leonard believed in.

Faustus smiled and shook his head as if despairing at his own past. He had rehearsed it well. It was all part of his media persona much like Sarah had drilled Leonard on certain ways to present himself. “Ah a period in my life I would much rather move past.” He chortled gently. “I went through many years…and I have no shame in this part. I wont bow to the stigma but I was mentally ill. There is no other way to explain it and it’s a complex illness.” Faustus held up his hands.

Millie nodded sympathetically. “It was brought on by experiences in my childhood and later life…we are all products of our environments and once I got to a certain point in my life something gave. I had a ‘mental episode’ on a grand scale. I had delusions of grandeur, sociopath tendencies. I didn’t care about other people…at all, I remember distinctly and it was a very dark time. I hurt people in the most horrific ways I could devise by making them do it to themselves simply because I could and I found it entertaining.”

Millie was silent, to be told your guest is a sociopath was a difficult thing to respond to. “It took several crystallising moments both in defeats at the hands of superheroes and time in prison with criminals to realise how far wrong my life had gone off the rails and begin to get my life back on track…it was very much like a switch was flicked and suddenly I felt so much remorse for the things I had done and indeed those I had planned to do.”

“Well I for one think that is great,” Millie started a round of applause which the audience returned. Faustus nodded his head and indicated with them to stop, he was far too modest to get a round of applause. “So I also understand that you’re using your experience for others?”

Faustus nodded and smiled. “I think that it is my duty, my penance…and indeed I will guiltily admit it peaks my interest and intelligence to aid others who had been in the same position. It was a long hard court battle but I managed to get my licence back…as I think it would be unfair to punish someone who was ill.” He stopped for a moment to let the words sink in. “That is also I believe why I can help people who are in similar situations to myself. There are mental illness and disabilities out there which are genetic or give a genetic disposition but there are those out there which are completely based on experience which can be treated and ‘cured’ even the dispositional problems can be ‘cured’. It is rehabilitation in the purest sense.”

Faustus shifted his massive girth forward and took a drink of his water. “There are criminals…most criminals actually I would say who are criminal because of some deficiency or event in their lives which set them on their course. I now have the experience…on both sides of the law which allow me to help them get their own crystallising moments, to change their ways.”

Millie nodded. “An excellent contribution, do you think all criminals can be cured?” Faustus nodded briefly before Millie moved on to the next question. “Well I understand your field of major expertise and interest is even narrower to Super powered criminals.”

“Indeed, there is nothing so fascinating in the field of criminal psychology…or indeed psychology at the moment then the masked men and women who pack out our world. I’m trying to make as many of them as I can into contributing members of society. The research I’m doing can also help to guide the government in treatment programmes and profiling.”

“Now a book. A practice focusing on super based individuals and a media assault. Do you think you could be stepping on the toes of the fields most well known and celebrated psychologist turned superhero turned celebrity Doctor Leonard Samson.”

A picture of Doc Samson flashed up on screen for a few seconds.

Faustus laughed and shook his head. “Indeed there is a lot of focus on Doc Samson and he has done some great work. I used it as a jumping off process for much of my own.”

Samson tightened his fist. ‘Jumping off process’ made him quite angry.

“He has made great breakthroughs which allowed me to build upon them to make a more complete process. Indeed I think there is more then enough room for us both in this role. Look at the greats in the past when Freud, Jung, Kholer, Erikson etc etc even the approaches themselves compete with one another and all of it has done nothing but aid and advance the pursuit of understanding. Having two of us to build on each others work and provide ideas that the other may not have thought of will be nothing but good for the people were trying to help.”

Millie smiled, she had a devious smile and was known at times for pre-empting a particularly catty or challenging question with it. “So in ten years time who do you think we’ll be looking back on as the ‘great’ path beater in superhero psychology. You or Doc Samson?”

Faustus laughed gently. “Well Leonard was obviously the first and I can’t argue with that. I think however results will speak more clearly of our contributions.” Faustus looked directly down the camera and Doc Samson couldn’t help but feel he was looking directly at him.

Millie smiled, she could sense the vague ‘threat’ and knew it was TV gold. “I understand you’re results have been astounding…we have three additional guests actually.”

Millie motioned to a small doorway and music began to play as three figures walked forward. Samson recognised them instantly. “Introducing Calvin Zabo previously known as Mister Hyde” the figure was still the hulking figure of Hyde. He was a scientist in the ‘mad’ variety who turned himself into a monstrous giant who had brutally beaten half of the superhero community and ha d a string of murders behind him.

“J.R. Walker previously known as Shotgun”

“Aaron Salomon AKA Slither,” the snake head twisted through the air as his scaly arms waved form the base of his body. This was the one Doc Samson was most taken aback by even more than Hyde. Slither was one of his previous patients who he had tried to treat but found difficult if not impossible because his problems were biologically based. He had created a stop gap solution but a full cure he believed was beyond current medical science.

The three men were all dressed in fine looking suits and smiled and waved at the crowd. It was a departure from what Samson knew of the three men. “How are you gentlemen?”

They all responded that they were fine. “Can you tell me what you think of Dr Fennhoff’s techniques and results?”

Mr Hyde turned his face to look at the other two smaller men behind him, they nodded and allowed him to speak for them. He smiled at Millie, his smile seemed to be a deranged gurning as his face muscles seemed to fight against the grin.

“Dr Fennhoff has helped us all greatly. He has helped us put much of our past lives behind us and get us on to the road of recovery and to be contributing members of society,” Hyde’s voice was gravely but booming. Samson wondered briefly as he watched the negatives which could be associated with giving the personality in such a dissociation a stabilising force.

“This is truly astounding,” Millie nodded “To see these men who we’ve all seen or read about behaving in this way…I think they all deserve a round of applause.” The audience responded.

The mischievous smile returned to Millie’s face for a few seconds. “Now one of our special guests has the most traumatic story. He was given up and abandoned by his care provider to devolve into something only a tad higher than an animal. Aaron can you tell us how that felt?”

Slither hissed gently. Samson swore as the camera zoomed in on his ex-patient who had deemed incurable…this was not going to be good for him. “Yess Millie. I went from a highly intelligent activist to little more than an animal thanksss to the ineffective care I was given. Dr Fennhoff showed me the notesss in my file. ‘untreatable’ wasss sssstamped acrossss my notessss. The doctor however refussssed to give up on me.”

“Indeed,” Faustus smiled and nodded as the camera moved back to him. “I’d just first like to say it was my pleasure, I have actually over the course of treatment grown to consider Aaron as a close friend and as I’ve already said it’s my duty as well. When he was transferred from the prison in which he was so badly cast aside he was transferred to my care. I really can’t think what must go through the mind of a professional so willing to simply give up on a man in such dire need of help in his care.”

Faustus shifted his position and stared down the camera. “Doctor Leonard Samson was too busy with his career as both superhero and celebrity to give his patient, the man he was trusted to care for the best treatment he could.” Faustus stared down the camera for a few extra seconds.

“Doc…Doc.” Samson took a second to snap out of his stare and look down at Amadeus who then nodded towards the metal table they both stood at. Doc Samson’s fingers had sunk into the metal twisting it in place.

The Guard who was in his armour minus his helmet was also staring worriedly at Samson.

The green haired superhero indicated to his full face helmet on the table. “Did you have top pay for those or are they fully subsidised?” Samson knew some of the rules with prison guards guns and wasn’t sure about the suits of armour in The Vault.

“The prison foots the bill…” he was about o add something but Samson let out a scream of aggression and slammed his hand down on top of the metal crushing it flat.

“I’ll write a cheque...” he sighed heavily. “Amadeus ring Arlette, were going back to the office.”

The office, two hours later…

The members of Doc Samson’s staff had had a quiet afternoon. The Doc, Arlette and Amadeus had appeared in the office a little under two hours ago and he had immediately cancelled all of his appointments and goals for the day before retreating to his office.

Once Amadeus had explained what happened and Arlette found the video online. They all understood what exactly had happened. Louise was tempted to try and intervene and tell Samson to get out of his bad mood and do his job but then a figure entered the office.

She was a beautiful woman. She wore a dark blue shirt and black pants as well as a long leather jacket. Louise noticed the gun she held in the holster on her side, she had spent many years in situations where quickly identifying weapons was definitely for her safety. She had red hair and the face of a supermodel.

When she introduced herself as Dakota North Louise instantly understood why. She was or at least used to be a minor model. She went through another blip of stardom a year or two earlier after a few years away from the spotlight when she came out as a private eye. The papers and magazines followed her career for a short while, she had been involved in some colourful situations. Louise had kept her ear to the ground for a little while longer, she used to be a detective herself so she made sure to keep up to date with those making waves especially females. Dakota was something of a natural.

It seemed Leonard had called her to come straight down. She vanished into his office and had yet to come out.

“I just saw the video down at the station,” Stacey Dolan walked into the room like she owned the place. She waved briefly at Amadeus before walking up the desk where Louise was sitting. “Is he with a patient?”

Stacey was Leonard’s ‘girlfriend’ of sorts. They weren’t exactly the most normal of couples but they obviously cared about each other and it was a good a label as any. Louise shook her head.

Stacey thanked her and walked straight past into the office. “You didn’t tell her about North on purpose didn’t you?” Arlette grinned evilly at Louise and then Amadeus.

“I’m a bad lady,” Louise smiled. “…honestly it’s the detective in me. I just want to know what the hell is going on.” She listened intently for the shouting to begin.

Inside…

Dolan walked into the office and eyed up North as she stood up and turned to face her. “Detective Dolan,” Dakota smiled and rested back on Samson’s desk.

Leonard seemed taken aback by Dolan’s sudden entrance. The fact that two of the most ferocious women he knew were now in the same office and actually seemed to know one another didn’t help his look of shock.

“North!?” Dolan shot a look from North to Samson as if demanding an explanation.#

“I take it you know one another?” Samson rose to his feet. He despite his powers felt much more secure when not in a seated power as if either woman might suddenly turn on him…his biggest fear was from Dolan.

“Yes this dick has put her nose into who knows how many of my investigations over the years.” Dolan had no love lost for Private Detectives especially this one. She viewed them much like she did superheroes (despite her current boyfriend) getting involved in police business and perverting the simple ideal of justice.

“Detective Dolan as I’m sure you know is like a pit-bull chewing a wasp,” North turned her head to look at Samson whilst keeping one eye on Dolan. “There are times when innocent men and women feel a little threatened by her and her investigations. One or two have hired me to conduct my own investigation…successful investigations mostly.”

“You have no right to get involved in police investigations…I’m not out to get innocent men….”

“…No they just sometimes end up in your crosshairs and then in jail until you get around to figuring out what you did wrong. I just help it along.” She interrupted Dolan mid flow, she knew how to push the detective’s buttons. She turned to Samson “Have you wondered how ridiculous it is putting someone who hates meta-humans in charge of superhuman crimes? No wonder so many innocent mutants get dragged in eh?”

Dolan looked about ready to slap North, that would have only been the start of the beating. Samson moved forward and got between the two. “What brings you here Stacey?” He let his hand trace down her side trying to be a calming influence.

“I saw Fennhoff’s interview on the TV, thought you might want someone to talk too but I can see you called your girlfriend here right over.”

“Ex…ex-girlfriend” he corrected before realising that Dolan was being flippant. He swore mentally at himself and wondered how far into his mouth he could physically wedge his foot. “Dakota is just here to do a little looking around, a bit of investigating on Faustus.”

Dolan sighed and rolled her eyes.

“I’ll get off and get to work…leave you two to it.” North nodded and walked towards the door. She stopped briefly in front of Dolan “See you around Detective.”

Samson in a scary moment how much alike his ex and his current girlfriend were. They were both beautiful, strong, smart and independent women and both were detectives. They also mirrored one another physically both in height, looks and general style. North left the room, Samson watched her go and caught a glimpse of his staff leaning over their desks watching the action through the open door. He promptly closed it.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this…hiring a detective to spy on…”

“He’s a criminal. He’s a villain and one of the worst sort, he was given trust and spent years training and then he just throws it away and does..”

“I thought you believed in rehabilitation?” Dolan glared up at Samson. “You don’t think that he could be rehabilitated? He could be on the level?”

“Something isn’t right!” Samson was angry. Faustus rubbed him the wrong way. He was everything Samson strived hard never to be but yet matched him on so many levels like so many simply couldn’t. “You don’t suddenly just make breakthroughs in treatment like that. Slither…”

“So this is what it’s all about? He managed to cure a patient you couldn’t so you hire some bitch to investigate him when he’s trying to do some good with his life now?”

“North isn’t a bitch…”

“Yes she is! The same way that I am! Apparently it’s your type!” Dolan screamed.

The two would never admit it but the reason that both were so angry is that both were being confronted with a mirror to themselves. A mirror which highlighted all their own faults, possible faults or affronts to their morals. Their turbulent relationship just allowed them to vent at one another.

“Look, I don’t trust him…he is to me what a dirty cop would be to you! He had betrayed something I believe in and I’m not just going to let him continue on in this way. I want to make sure he’s on the level. Whatever happened to cop’s instinct?”

“What ever happened to evidence?” Dolan screamed back. “And you’re not a cop!” She turned her body away from her boyfriend and inhaled deeply. “If he does something wrong I’ll take him, I’ll bust him it’s what I do but so far he seems on the level…I checked him out across a couple of databases. He’s been under surveillance up until a couple of weeks ago and he hasn’t so much as dropped a gum wrapper.” Dolan pulled out her cell and handed it to Samson. “Call North and call this off. Leonard I need you to trust me on this one, anything at all and I’ll come down on him like a tonne of bricks…trust me.”

Samson held the phone in his hand and stared at it. He thought of Faustus. All the things he had done and all the things he could do if people trusted him. If you gave people enough rope he could make them hang themselves with it. Was it possible he was rehabilitated and Samson was just hurting because not only was he stepping on his toes but going one better and doing something he hadn’t been able to do. He rolled Dolan’s words around in his mind, was this not based on evidence and just his dislike for the man…did it make him any better than North and Dolan.

He closed his eyes and closed the phone along with them.

Dolan snatched the phone from his hand and turned her back on him. “Screw you Samson, from now on you’re on your own.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Next time: Is Doc Samson right? How far will he go to prove his point?