“Relax cuz, RELAX” Josh looked worried at the woman once known as Hat Trick who looked like she wanted to strangle the superhero whom they had sedated and tied to a chair.

This might not have been such a good idea after all.

“YOU relax! This guy is getting on my nerves!“

Josh’s cousin Amanda used to be part of a super-villain group called the Circus Gang. They had called her Hat Trick because of the top hat she had worn to hide her mutated brain. She had psychic powers.

Josh had taken a chance and knocked out the masked man the newspapers called Cat after he had saved his life as he was looking after his uncle's store. Kind of a dick move, but he couldn’t resist. Guys like him aught to be someone with money. Money enough to buy costumes and gadgets that hero guys needed. So much money that you could blackmail him. And if he didn't have that kind of money, Josh could sell his identity to someone who would pay him handsomely for the info.

So Josh had dragged him upstairs to the room used for storage, tied him to a chair, tore off his mask…

And he had no idea who the heck the guy was.

Josh wasn’t sure what he had expected. Maybe someone famous, like a politician, a movie star, someone he would recognize right away. Then Josh remembered that his cousin had recently been released from jail. He made a call, knowing that she was in town at the moment, visiting her mom. Josh told her he knew how they could get some easy money. All she had to do was using that brain of hers.

But apparently, it wasn’t that simple.

“I don’t get it, explain to me again why you don’t you just read his mind?“ Josh scratched his hair.

“Josh, do I HAVE to spell it out for you? It’s not that simple! The mind is not a book, you can’t just open it at will and look up a specific page. Thoughts are not engrave on the inside of skulls, waiting to be read by invaders. The human brain is a complex and many-layered thing. And most importantly of all, it is a giant mess! Filled with memories in no specific order that you have to shovel through to find what you need. THAT´S why I usually used my psychic powers to create illusions. It’s easier to add a new thought to someone else’s mind.”

“But you found his real name, right? That’s all we need.”

“Yes, I found his name.” Amanda rolled her eyes. “AND his nine OTHER names as well! and I can’t figure out which one is the real one!”

“Wait, you can have fake memories?“

“Well, DUH! Everyone has some fake, or at least ALTERED memories! Some people even do mental gymnastics to convince themselves that something happened differently OR even that something that never happened DID happen!”

“But why does this cat-dude have so many fake memories? He has split personality or something?”

“It’s not a comic book, Josh! Split personality doesn’t work like that, it’s just something they tell you in movies and shit! And I don’t think he is insane either. Chances are that he has too much time on his hand and like to think up new origin stories for himself. TRUST ME, it would surprise you how many douches out there who does that!”

“So, what, we can’t find out who he really is?”

“Actually, we can. You see, you CAN fabricate a memory, but it will have, well, PLOT HOLES, I guess you could call it. There will be stuff about them that doesn’t make sense. So it will take some time, but-”

“Mmmh… Whuue…“ Cat’s head was slowly turning left and right, and his shoulders were moving as well.

“SHIT! The drug, quick!”

Josh took a new syringe from the bookshelf near him and injected the drug through Cat’s left arm. A few seconds later, he was knocked out again.

“Right. As I was saying… it will take some time, but we will eventually find his “origin story” that seems the least fake, and then we can find out if the identity he uses in it is anywhere to find, and THEN we can blackmail him by threatening him with selling his identity to… wait, WHO were you gonna sell it to?“

“My sister is dating a guy she calls Confidence. Told me he works for some big drug lord. So I thought-”

“Sssh! I think I found something!”

Josh closed his eyes. Thanks to the psychic link that Amanda had made to connect them, he could see what she saw in Cat’s mind. And what they saw was a man who grabbed bags and purses from people as if he was taking candy from a baby.

His name was Peter Swanson. He was once known as Mr. Nemo.

Now, he was nobody.

Once, he had been a swashbuckling hero who fought for what was right through a combination of material arts and trickery. Now, he made ends meet through pick-pocketing. Stealing purses was no achievement that requires great courage or skill for an invisible man.

Peter had an armful of bags, looking as if he was about to call it a day.

So the boy decided that now was the time.

SPLASH!

“What the hell!?”

Peter coughed. His throat had not been used for words for so long that his outburst of surprise was almost too much for it.

A man screamed as he saw what looked like red paint hovering in the air.

The boy could see that Peter was about to panic. People could see him. Peter looked up, looking for whoever had splashed paint over him and saw the kid who grinned like an idiot. His supper body was hanging out of a window as he triumphantly held his now empty paint bucket.

The boy ran to the front door of the apartment, opened it and went to the stairs. He saw Peter was running up the stairs. Despite not having been an active crime-fighter for years, he seemed to be in great shape and reached fifth floor in no time. As he reach the floor, the kid had not moved an inch. He was even waiving at him.

Peter grabbed him by his collar, forced him inside inside the open door to the apartment the kid had been inside and then dragged the boy to the open window, sticking his head out of it.

“How?! How did you see me!? I’m invisible, god dammit!“ Peter yelled.

“I didn’t see you.“ The boy laughed. “You bumped into me a month ago. I was confused to begin with, but then I remembered that Twilight used to have a hero who could turn himself invisible. I had to be sure, leave floor on the ground near this house where you had bumped into me, to see if you made footprints, to make sure it had been you. It took me two weeks to be sure that you would cross this street again. You are a creature of habits, you know that? So I decided to get your attention with some paint. I didn’t count on splashing THAT much on you, I had hoped for a shoulder, or maybe one of your legs. But hitting you right on the head? AWESOME!“

“I could kill you, punk!“

“Yeah, but you won’t. Or else you would just have thrown me out of the window by now.”

"Hey, this seems real." Josh said.

Amanda shushed him.

“You want something from me, smart guy? You gonna blackmail me?“

“No, I just wanted to find you. I want to ask you to teach me everything you know.”

Peter was stunned for a second.

“Excuse me, what?”

“I want you to teach me everything you know. You are invisible, so you can walk everywhere you like, right? You must know so many things about this town. And a TON of secrets. And how to fight. It’s you, right? You are Mr. Nemo. I heard that you used to be a great hand-to-hand fighter when you were still a superhero.”

Peter loosened his grip on the boy and allowed him to get his head inside the apartment.

“Kid… Don’t tell me that you want to be a superhero. You have any idea where we are?”

“Sure, Twilight City. The most crime plagued city in the country. Still better than living in Jersey.“

“You know why I disappeared? Why I gave up? Because this city doesn’t want to be saved. Not really, anyway. Anyone who is actually doing something more serious than pickpocketing or break-ins either has friends in the police or can bribe their way out of jail. Everyone with some sort of influence or power in this town is in the pocket of some crime-lord called the “Empress”. Do yourself a favor and just… DON’T. You will just frustrate yourself if not killed.“

“Ah, boo hoo!“

“Excuse me?”

“I said boo hoo. I boo at you, sir!”

“Now, you listen-”

“Na, YOU listen! I want to at least TRY and do something that matters for others. Something worthwhile. And I so happen to have a extreme dislike of a specific guy who owns an underground casino. But before I do anything, I need you to train me. It won't hurt you a bit.”

Peter looked at the boy. Then sighed as he came to the realization that he could try and teach the kid a thing or two so he MIGHT not get himself killed, or leave him to die for sure.

“What´s your name kid?“

“My name-”

CRACK!

SLAM!

Hat Trick got a fist in her face as Cat had finally managed to break the armrest and thereby free his left arm. He stood up and then swung his right arm that was still tied to the chair and slammed the whole thing at Hat Trick. She landed on the floor.

“Oh, crap!“ Josh looked for the gun he had been dumb enough to leave somewhere in the room and now he couldn’t find it. Before he knew what happened, he was in an arm-lock, pushed up at a wall.

“WHAT THE HELL, MAN!? WE DRUGGED YOU SENSELESS!“ Josh could feel the cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

“I eat sedating drugs for breakfast!“ Cat laughed. “Okay, I actually don’t do that, but it sounds cool. Now, you wanna know who I am, eh?“

Josh gulped as Cat turned him around, held him by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. He was unmasked now, Josh could see his whole face.

“Take a look, pal. Take a gooood, loooong look! What do you see?”

“Ahh… Um… I-“

“That’s right! NOTHING! I am nobody! You think I’m rich? Famous? That I own something worth for you to get through blackmail? Na, I practically don’t exist! You wanna know what you have to give up to be a masked crime fighter in this town? EVERYTHING! I have NO LIFE when I’m not wearing this tuxedo and my cat-mask!“

Josh wanted to cry for his mama.

“So there you have it. I’m a tramp. Too bad for you. But here is a piece of advice; I like being kept alone when I’m digging through the trash in search for food and empty bottles. So tell anyone what I look like, you won’t even get anything for it, I will hunt you down! There won’t be a single place in this damn city where you will be able to hide from me. Hell, not anywhere in the country!”

Josh kept opening and closing his mouth, trying to say anything.

“What’s the matter? Cat got ya tongue?“ Cat laughed. “HA! Get it?“

Josh felt as if he was gonna get sick.

“Ah, it was funny.“ Cat pushed him down on the floor next to Hat Trick. Josh didn’t get up, he was too scared out of mind to do so. So he lied there as Cat found his mask on a box near a window, attached his mask to his head. "The two of you better hope you never see me again."

And jumped out of the window.

“Man…“ Cat made a sigh of relief as he jumped to the nearest downspouts, and used it to climb up to the roof. “Thank Allah I know how to bluff.”

…

“I knew I should never have listened to you!”

Amanda and Josh were on their way to the bus-terminal. They had fetched some clothes, their toot-brushes and what else they would need as they packed their bags and got tickets to get out of Twilight as fast as possible. As they did, they looked left and right, making sure they wouldn't cross ways with any homeless people. One humiliating beating was more than enough.

“Mom always told me you were dumb as a door.” Amanda had her sock hat pulled down over her ears to keep her brain out of sight. “Why did I listen to you? I served my time in the slammer, wanted to quit getting the stuff beaten out of me by supers, and like an idiot I listen to you when you tell me you know how to make easy money-“

“Yes, I get it, I suck! Geez! Don’t have to remind me, cuz.”

“Don’t you cuz me, Josh! I swear, I’m gonna-“

They walked so fast and were so busy bickering that they paid no attention as they bumped into a elderly man who tripped and dropped his bags.

“Oh, I am so sorry, sir!“ Josh offered his hand to the man and helped him up on his feet as Amanda picked up his bags. “We didn’t mean to… mean to…“

The two cousins stared as the fella as he dusted off his jacket. “Something wrong?“ he asked.

“Um… no.” Josh decided that he was mistaken. He could see on Amanda’s expression that so did she. “No, we thought we knew you.“

Then, they ran, leaving the man alone.

“Hmm. That was odd.“ Peter Swanson shrugged, and then turned invisible.

@boschepg:

@admirallogic:

@stahlflamme:

@jackalantern: @heroup2112: @flumox56: @stumpy49er: @cbishop:@tommythehitman:

Chapter 31 is up.

@waezi2: Nice. :)

@cbishop: I wanted to do this story for a while, mostly because I always thought that telepathy seemed like a more or less perfect superpower, and if one super-villain had that power, there would be no more secret identities in comics. So I wanted to make my version of the power, giving it rules and flaws.

@waezi2: Makes sense. Another way to go is to have your hero not have a secret identity to begin with (I'm thinking of Brainape vs. Savage Dragon). I think I prefer some kind of "psychic dampener" type of device to protect against telepaths. I dunno. I never really think of them using it for secret identities though.

@cbishop: Savage Dragon would have a hell of a time trying to have a secret identity. You can't pull a Crimson Chin In Image Comics.

@waezi2: Well, yes, that's true. The point though is that he has no secret identity, so there was nothing for Brainape to find out. A lot of my characters are famous in their real and super identities, so there's nothing for a telepath to find out on that level. Just saying it's an option. :)