Central Park
"She's not just embarrassing us," Juno said, rolling her eyes at Adam. "It's not even about embarrassment—with behavior like hers, she barely qualifies as human."
"A wolf in human skin!" Karen chimed in, which was rare for her.
"Well, she did say she's a lioness…" Adam pointed out helpfully. "You know, the kind that eats sheep."
"Still not human," Juno drawled with a smirk.
"Man, anyone with that face is straight-up savage," Adam sighed dramatically.
"Heh," Juno couldn't help but laugh.
Karen cracked a smile too, flashing her perfect little white teeth.
"We're Little Red Riding Hood, here to take down big bad wolves…" Adam mused, half-hearing Juno and Karen's voices in his head. The idea of these doppelgängers getting double-teamed made him chuckle. Seriously, all of Magic Amy's lookalikes are ruthless—where's the good one?
"So, got any bright ideas?" Adam asked after laughing it off, getting back to business.
"Not exactly a great plan," Juno admitted with a shrug. "We can't blow our cover, so we've gotta play it smart and use her own game against her. She loves preying on the defenseless, right? There's an old saying from the East: 'Walk the night road too long, and you'll run into ghosts.' We can just… up her odds a little. With some effort, a quick 'super-sized' push should do it. I mean, this is America, after all…"
"And this is New York!" Adam grinned, jumping in.
In this TV drama world, the U.S. is the center of the multiverse, and New York? The bullseye. Aliens invade, and it's like they've got a 'taunt' debuff—straight to NYC every time. It's also a top-tier crime city, crawling with every type of crook and con artist. With Marla Grayson's cocky, muddy-the-waters style, she's bound to snag a crocodile—or even a prehistoric monster—eventually.
Think about it: she targets rich, independent old ladies or geezers. In most places, that might fly—she does her homework, picks her marks carefully, avoids anyone who might bite back, and swallows the fat sheep whole. But this is the multiverse's epicenter. Anything and anyone could be here. Who knows if that harmless-looking rich granny or grandpa is secretly a badass—or has a badass family member? A war god, a dragon king, a soldier king, a mob boss… you name it, it's possible.
And the ones who "retire" here, or stash their loved ones in this city? They've got top-notch cover—on the surface, they're squeaky-clean, law-abiding citizens. As long as the IRS doesn't sniff around, they're golden.
"Evil gets ground down by evil," Juno said with a sly grin.
"But what if two evils team up?" Adam suddenly thought aloud. After hearing Juno recap Marla's wild ambitions last night, it hit him—she's got potential. What if she bumps into another baddie, they hit it off, and form a villain duo? One works the spotlight, the other the shadows. That'd be exponential growth!
"If we don't step in, they'd cross paths eventually anyway," Juno reasoned. "They'd team up sooner or later—and you think they haven't already? We're just giving the world a heads-up. What they do with it? That's out of our hands. It's their precious 'freedom' they value more than life itself, after all."
"Hmm," Adam nodded. Fair point—this wasn't his mess to fix.
"No need to stress," Juno said, grinning. "Our goal's simple: make Marla Grayson the poster child for this crap. It's not hard. And if you're worried about her linking up with other creeps, just toss a few more into the mix. One villain might swallow their pride for profit, but throw in a handful, and at least one's bound to be a hothead with a temper. When it's their family getting screwed over, you think they won't go full revenge mode? Sure, the money's tempting, but do they really need Marla to make it work?"
"No way," Adam laughed. "Come on, the world keeps spinning without anyone."
"Exactly," Juno smirked. "These types usually care about family above all else. If they've got even a shred of guts, they'll go after the enemy who tormented their kin first. Imagine—without their skills, their loved ones would've gone from heaven to hell, all thanks to Marla. That kind of grudge? If they can just laugh it off, what would everyone think? Their crew, their rivals? Sure, they might get a pat on the back for 'business first, big man can bend'—but deep down? People would think they're weak. Or worse, that screwing them over has no real consequences. For guys like that, this isn't just about pride—it's life or death. One's a replaceable profit question; the other's blood, guts, and survival. Only an idiot picks the former. And someone crafty enough to set themselves or their family up like this? No idiot there."
"Nope," Adam teased. "Unless they've got a 'dumbass aura' cast on them, they'd know what to do."
"Where do you even get that many dumbass auras?" Juno cracked up. "This is real life, not some writer or screenwriter's fantasy free-for-all."
"Reality's wilder than fiction," Adam tossed out the classic line with a grin.
"No worries," Juno said. "We just think a step ahead, plug the loopholes, and even the wildest stuff has to play by real-world rules."
"I'll start by digging into which primary care docs are Marla's 'suppliers,'" Adam mused. "Then we narrow down targets from that pool. You come help me pick, make sure we don't screw up, and find the perfect one."
"Got it," Juno nodded, adding, "If we can't find a good fit there, we widen the net—move a target into her suppliers' turf and tip them off: 'Hey, fat sheep just walked in.'"
"I can already picture Marla's face when she spots that 'doorstep delivery,'" Adam laughed. "Eyes probably lighting up like jackpot! Hope she doesn't wimp out the second she hits a brick wall."
"She won't," Juno chuckled. "She's a lioness—'surrender' isn't in her vocab. She's said it herself: to win in this country, you've gotta be bold, focused, ruthless, even stupidly reckless. 'Fair play' and hesitation? That gets you nothing but failure."
"I'd love to see her all brave and stupid," Adam mused, picturing it.
"We won't get to," Juno reminded him. "This has nothing to do with us."
"Right," Adam grinned, nodding. "We're just simple, good-hearted folks minding our business."
(End of Chapter)