Cheshire grinned as she made blood splatter again the wall, then she swiped again and more blood was on the floor.

Her head twisted to the side and she inspected her work for a moment before adding some more blood all over the bad guy’s face and neck. It was perfect!

“What are you drawing there, sweetie?” a kindly voice asked.

Cheshire looked up to find a store assistant, a portly man whose skin was a shade lighter than hers looking over her shoulder. She looked back down at her Alexandria and Buddies Colouring Book, the page now covered in brightly coloured bad guys and the hero of the book posing in mid-air. Her red crayon paused above the page. “I’m makin’ a drawing for my big sis,” she explained.

“That’s awfully kind of you,” the man said. “Which one’s your big sis?” He gestured at the rest of the store and Cheshire looked through the racks of cloth and thimbles and needles and whatnot, trying to find her big sis.

Taylor was a little deeper in, her head only just visible over the racks as she reached up towards a bolt of greenish cloth. “That’s ‘er over there,” Cheshire said.

“Right, now you keep one eye on your big sis, alright? I’ve got to man the cash, but I don’t mind you working on your little art piece if you’re nice and well behaved, okay?” He patted her head before moving back behind the counter.

She grinned at him and nodded. “Yeah, yeah.”

Her drawing was coming along real nicely when she heard the old guy at the counter gasp. Looking up, she saw three guys, all asian looking with red and green shirts. A couple of them had bandanas around their necks and were walking as if they had trouble keeping their pants on.

They started talking to the nice old guy behind the counter. He looked rather nervous for a bit before reaching under the counter and bringing up an envelope.

“This is it, this is it. I didn’t think you would be so early,” the old guy said.

One of the guys, the leader of the group, if Cheshire had to guess, pushed up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing a long, intricate dragon tattoo before he took the envelope and pulled it open. He tsked after counting the stuff within. “This ain’t enough.”

The old guy was looking a little sweaty. “But that’s the same as last month.”

“Yeah, but it’s higher this month. You don’t want those nazis walking all up in here, do you?” the leader said. He smacked the envelope on the desk a couple of times. “C’mon, double it up.”

“Double?” the old guy said. “I can’t afford that.”

“You’re making me waste my time, there’s a fee for that. Now you’re protesting, so it’s triple.” The other asian guys started laughing at that.

“Hey, leave him alone,” Cheshire said as she hopped off her chair and came to stand in the middle of the corridor leading to the exit. She balled her fists and placed them on her hips, a glare fixed on her face the entire time. The old guy had been nice to her.

“Oh shit, who’s this?” one of the guys said. He came a little closer and leaned forwards. “This one your daughter, old man?” he asked.

“N-no, she’s a client. Leave her out of this,” the old man said. “She’ll go back to colouring, right sweetie, I’ll pay you, just give me a moment.”

“Nah, it’s good old man,” the leader said. He was looking at Cheshire in a way that made her feel icky. “We’ll take the girl. Oni Lee said we needed to find more anyway. It’ll be worth more than your spare change.”

“You ain’t takin’ me anywhere, you weirdo,” Cheshire said.

The guy closest to her snorted and reached out. He grabbed her by the shoulder, thumb digging into her. “Shut up, and come here.”

Glaring, Cheshire phased out just long enough for his hand to swipe through empty air, then she cocked her leg back. The boy just stared wide-eyed as she swung forwards and punted him between the legs.

“Cape!” the leader screamed. He grabbed his other buddy by the shoulder and shoved him towards Cheshire.

The guy pulled a baseball bat from his side where she hadn’t noticed it and swung it at her. She let it pass through her head. “Moron,” she said. Reaching over to the counter, she grabbed a handful of crochet needles and walked over to the guy she’d knocked down already. Taking one needle in her free hand, she phased it and let it drop. It reappeared in the middle of the guy’s knee.

He started screaming a lot.

“Oh shit, oh shit,” the leader said before he spun around and ran out. His buddy with the bat swung at her again while backing off.

Snorting, she tossed all of her needles at him and watched them phase back stuck all over his legs. He fell back with a howl, bat flying off over the counter.

“What’s going on?” Big sis said as she ran to the front. She took one look at the two thugs on the ground and then turned a glare onto Cheshire. “What did you do?” she asked.

“I ain’t do nothin’ bad,” Cheshire said. “They were givin’ off these nasty stranger danger vibes.”

“Dammit Cheshire,” Taylor said. “That’s not a reason to, to,” she paused to take in the needles planted into the thugs legs. “What did you even do to them?” she asked before she started to bend over one of them to help.

“They were going to kidnap her,” the old guy behind the counter said. “They’re from the ABB. You need to leave, now.”

“Really Cheshire?” Crochet asked. “Couldn’t you have let them take you?”

“Hey, fuck you,” she shot back.

Taylor gave up on helping when she heard the old man. Her eyes narrowed down at the idiot still squirming before her. “I’m sorry about all this, sir. You might want to call the police,” she started to say.

The door jingled as it opened and the leader walked in. For a moment everyone paused, then he raised his hand, gun pointing right at Taylor.

“Big sis!”