Standing outside Omni-Man's hospital room, Mari wasn't wearing her usual Raven armor. Instead, she was dressed in a plain black suit the kind worn at funerals. Her gold eyes masked with red eyes, were the only feature betraying her true identity. She leaned silently against the wall, a distant look in her eyes, waiting.
she quietly summoned a lollipop from her form ring, she pulled out a lollipop, popping it into her mouth as she thought.
There was no real reason to question Omni-Man she knew he was the killer. She had seen the show. But there was no evidence .Cecil wouldn't trust her on instinct alone. After all, she'd been a hero for just two weeks. Omni-Man had decades of reputation behind him.
That bitter truth gnawed at her.
A soft creak interrupted her thoughts—the sound of a door opening. She turned as a doctor stepped out of the room, their expression calm but worn under the surgical mask.
"how is he?" she asked, arms crossed.
"He's stable and will recover in time. But I must ask that you not disturb—"
Mari held up her hand, expression flat and deadly. A silent, very clear message: Don't waste my time.
The doctor hesitated, then gave a quiet nod and walked away, head down.
She didn't wait. She stepped inside quickly.
Omni-Man glanced at her, raising a brow. Before he could say a word, Mari summoned a chair from thin air and flipped it backward, straddling it as she rested her arms on the top rail. Her gaze was sharp, her tone sharper.
"Listen, I didn't sacrifice my sleep to play nice with you, old man." She sucked the lollipop with loud indifference, eyes burning with barely restrained suspicion.
Omni-Man frowned. "Then why are you here? Can't you see I'm fine?"
"You're fine now. But I'm not here to check your vitals. I want the truth. Everything you know."
The lollipop clicked once against her teeth as she stopped twirling it, eyes narrowing like a blade being drawn.
Omni-Man stiffened, pain flashing across his face as he tried to sit up slightly.
"Did Cecil send you?" he asked. "Why would I trust a novice—a child—with something like this?"
Mari tilted her head mockingly, white hair brushing her shoulders as her eyes seemed to glow faintly red again. She rocked in the chair slightly.
"Boss man said to get your statement. So do us both a favor and cut the crap. Just. Talk."
Omni-Man stared at her, like he was trying to size her up. Finally, he sighed and began speaking.
He told her everything.
When he was done, Mari stood, the lollipop now clenched between her teeth.
"That's it?" she asked, her voice unreadable.
"That's all."
She turned toward the door."Fine. I'll inform your family that you're awake."
With that, she left the room without another word.But in her mind, her thoughts were loud and vicious.
A thousand ways to kill Omni-Man played out like a silent movie.
---
Mari sat in one of the quiet hallways of the GDA, posture relaxed as if she had nothing better to do—when in reality, her mind was already running through every possible scenario of what might come next.
"Ahh, this'll be my first funeral," she muttered, tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling with a slight grimace.
"You'll have to get used to that in this business," Cecil's voice suddenly came from thin air, as he blinked into existence without warning.
Mari groaned, shielding her eyes. "Seriously? You really are burning through government funding with all this teleporting nonsense."
"Efficiency," Cecil replied dryly. "Now, did you get anything out of him?"
"Yeah," Mari sighed. "And I think he's lying."
She recounted everything Omni-Man had told her—details, gaps, tone. The more she spoke, the more Cecil's face darkened. He didn't interrupt, just listened, and with each word, the weight of her suspicions became harder for him to ignore.
When she finished, he let out a long, tired breath and sat beside her on the bench, both now staring up at the ceiling in shared silence.
"So, got a plan, boss man?" Mari asked, breaking the quiet.
"No," Cecil admitted. "For now, we buy time."
"Well, give me enough time, and I will beat him."
"You sure about that?"
Mari turned to him with a smug little smile, the lollipop from earlier now gone, replaced by a confident sparkle in her eyes.
"Yep. I just need time to learn more spells, grow a little, and—boom—omni-dead."She gave him an innocent, childlike grin that didn't quite match the dangerous glint behind it.
Cecil snorted. "You're something else, kid."
"Anyway," she said, switching gears, "when does the funeral start?"
"Tomorrow," Cecil said.
Mari blinked at him. "Wait, what? I thought you said it would be as soon as possible?"
"I said 'as soon as possible,' not today."
Mari threw her head back in dramatic frustration. "Ugh, I thought it was today! I even bought a funeral suit for this!".
Cecil chuckled under his breath as Mari slumped again in her seat, arms crossed, pouting slightly.
"They're here," he muttered, his tone shifting back to serious as Mark and Debbie came into view, their faces tight with worry.
"I'll go talk to them," Cecil said, standing up and walking toward the mother and son with his usual unreadable expression.
Mari watched them quietly from behind, but didn't follow.
"I need to get some overpowered character or item gacha already… this is getting ridiculous," she thought with a tired sigh before rising to her feet and casually heading outside.
As she stepped into the open air, the cool breeze brushed against her face, letting her hair lift and sway in the wind. She tilted her head back to glance at the sun, basking in the moment of peace, if only briefly. Then, with a fluid movement, she began performing a handsign.
A shadow clone appeared in front of her a perfect double. Golden hair, sharp features, and a confidence that mirrored her own. The clone tilted its head, a smirk forming.
Its eyes shimmered red, and with another handsign, it created a second clone… then a third… then a fourth.
All four stood together, identical and smiling at one another like a team of sisters.
"Looking at me like this, I just realized… I'm so beautiful, I could marry myself," Mari said, grinning as she laughed at her own joke.
Two of the clones vanished with a puff of shadow as she dismissed them.
"Four's my limit for now… though keeping one active is easy," she thought to herself.
She gave the remaining clone a nod, and it took off running down the road toward a location she'd were she was going to take someone
it was time to get D.A. Sinclair from Upstate University as where the clone had run of to.