Marvels: Olivia and River

1. A deal with the devil.

*Rivers POV*

The man in the black bowler hat stepped out of the hotel and into the rain outside. His clear umbrella made it seem to part around him, creating a pocket of dryness amongst the unforgiving London weather.

From his vantage point on the roof of the building opposite, River could just make out the man's index finger curve in as if beckoning someone from the shadows beside the hotel. A moment passed and a young girl stepped out from where the man had beckoned. That was a surprise. River had it under good authority that the man would be alone. The girl appeared to be around his age, though he couldn't really tell as she was hidden beneath the hood of a black jacket. It was then that River noticed that the rain seemed to part around the girl too. .she should've been soaked through like him, but her grey jeans weren't spotted with a single drop of rain. She's one of them, he realised with a start. He didn't recognise her from the data base which could only mean 1 of 2 things.

Either she's from out of town or there were a lot more of them here than they'd realised. Either way this screamed bad news.

*Olivias POV*

Olivia felt stupid. She had dressed to blend in. Black jacket, grey jeans but It had only succeeded in making her feel small when he had arrived, dressed in his pristine suit and ridiculous bowler hat. You're not helpless she reminded herself. She used her gift to bend the rain and make it wet the bottom of the man's trousers. Slightly diminishing his perfect ensemble.

He frowned at them and then raised an eyebrow at her. She knew she was being childish, that she actually needed this guy's help but it couldn't hurt to remind him what she was capable of. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the small brown envelope that contained her grandmother's brooch. Why this guy wanted it she had no idea but if she had to part with some hideous family heirloom to keep her and Jason safe then so be it.

When he'd called her the week before and proposed this deal it had felt like a gift from God. She and Jason had just been evicted from yet another apartment after not being able to pay rent and the fifty thousand he had offered seemed like more money than she'd ever be able to spend. It was more than just money , it was the chance to live a good life like they'd come to London to do.

It might've been dangerous to do the deal so publicly if she hadn't of had Jason use his gift to avert unwanted stares. She held out the envelope and waited for the man to do the same with the money he'd promised her. He looked at it hungrily and then reached into his jacket. Suddenly a black van pulled up next to them and Olivia felt herself be dragged in, gagged and handcuffed. She hadn't really registered what was going on until she saw Jason sitting on the opposite side of van unconscious . She only had a second to scan him for injuries before they put a blindfold over her eyes and her world was plunged into darkness.

*Rivers POV*

River had a bad feeling about this. Almost immediately after he'd seen the girl he'd called Sierra for backup. Whenever she'd mentioned kidnapping he hadn't thought much of it. Sierra was always suggesting crazy things. Crazy things which were always promptly shut down by Bill. Bill was the leader of our little band of misfits. I mean I love the guy but I have no idea what he was bloody thinking when he agreed to this. Sure I don't mind taking out a couple of marvs that have been using their powers to kill people or play freaky mind tricks with them but abducting some teenage girl in broad daylight was reckless and stupid.

Yeah she needed to be put down (all of them did) but there were better ways to do that. Like smothering them in their sleep or a bullet to the head. Kidnapping was messy and left witnesses. Witnesses I'd have to deal with later. I arrived at our current HQ that was located on the outskirts London about an hour after the rest of the gang got the girl. Sierra called and apparently Mr Bowler hat got away. The girl didn't. I'd stayed behind to deal with witnesses and police but nobody saw anything. Nobody on a busy street in the middle of London saw a teenage girl get kidnapped from the front of a hotel that was full of people. Either this girl is one of those freaky mind control marvs or she was working with someone who was. Again , not good news. I did the incredibly stupid secret knock and waited for someone to unbolt the door and let me in. It was Marg who finally let me in but when I stepped through the door into the familiar surroundings of HQ  the whole gang was a flurry of conversation. Not a friendly one by the sounds of it.