Escaped Convict • Private, Job

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

It was a simple job that she had taken on today, taking a short break from Vulcans and strange cult followers. Not that the job itself should be taken less lightly than any other job, but compared to all the things she had to do in the others this was almost like a walk in the park.
A convict had recently escaped the hands of the law about a week ago. None of the police had been able to catch him because he never appeared in the same place twice. The last place he had been spotted, however, was in Era not too long ago. A couple of hours, apparently, in which not long after the police posted up a job notice asking for a mage’s help. And well, Astrid couldn’t seem to turn it down. She had never stopped a criminal before. Maybe it would end up like on the tv where they had to leap over builds before she caught him. That would be fun to try.
The musician bit into a juicy, red apple, eyeing the man just a few feet beside her as he looked over the fruit spread out neatly in the store window in front of him, trying to seem as though she too was distracted by the colorful food too.
Astrid had managed to spot him in little to no time thanks to her way beyond normal eyesight. The bushy, brown beard upon his chin gave it away immediately. It was no wonder how this guy kept getting spotted. It seemed he had no idea how to keep his appearance down. He looked the exact same as he did in his mugshot. The beard, the greasy combover, and sunken in eyes. How he hadn’t been caught already was a mystery.
Every few seconds Astrid would manage to shuffle over a step closer to him, trying to pick a perfect moment to strike and quickly restrain him so he wouldn’t be able to escape, her muscles tensing and untensing as she judged how close he was to her. But waiting for the perfect moment was hard when you weren’t sure exactly what it was or how to do it.

“Mama, mama look it’s that mage from the hospital!” The sound of small boy sounded from behind her. The violinist turned around quickly, spotting a young, black haired boy pulling on his mother’s dress to try and turn her attention. She instantly recognized him. A few weeks ago when she was entertaining the children at Magnolia’s hospital he had been one of the many she had played with. What was he doing here? And now? This wasn’t a good time. She was supposed to be undercover. And the convict was right there!

“Oh, is that so?” the mother hummed, looking up softly from her son to Astrid. Astrid scanned the two over in a split second, unsure of what to do.

“Erm… Me?” She questioned with a nervous laugh, waving a hand in a dismissive manner. “I think you have the wrong person. I’m just a simple violinist.

“Uh-huh! You used your violin with magic! I saw you! You were talking about your adventures and how you capture bad guys!” the child puffed his small cheeks out, trying to confirm his memory.
Thud. Thud, Thud.
The sound of footsteps echoing into the distance sounded from behind the musician. Crap. He had heard.
Taking no time to pay the child any more mind the slayer dug her heel into the pavement and started a quickening chase.
“Pardon me! Excuse me! I’m terribly sorry” Astrid apologized over and over, having to push her way through a crowd of bustling people to try and catch up with the escaping man. Some shouted at her to watch where she was going while others stared, watching her sprint past.
She was on his tail, just a few steps behind him. And with her enhanced speed she was catching up fast. Just a few seconds into the chase she was already within arm reach. She just needed something to slow him down… A final push… Then it came to her.
“Pétillant Miroir…” An exact clone of Astrid was pushed into the front of the man, catching him off guard and causing him to stumble and fall onto the pavement. His brown eyes widened as he tried to stumble to his knees, but a force was pushed onto his back before he could. One of the four clones Astrid had created placed her foot onto the man’s back to keep him in place, arms folded across her chest. As the other three clones all stared down at him, the original came forward, bending down to his lowered height.
“Do you give up?” she asked, rather bluntly. If this was anyone else she would probably be a bit more kind to them. But he was a criminal, she couldn’t take any chances of him sprinting off again.
“Come with me, or i’m afraid i’ll have to make you.” The clone pushed down more onto his back, placing more pressure on it.

“P-Please!” The man cried out, tears streaming down his face as he laid under the light clone’s foot, shaking.
“I-I just wanted to see my daughter…”
Astrid winded her eyes at this revelation, ordering the clone to release some of the pressure.
“I only escaped to see my daughter… I haven’t seen her in two years. Please… Please… Just… Let me watch her. A little longer then you can take me back.”
The story made the girl’s heart heavy. Oh… That’s all he wanted. To see his little girl… She was reminded of her own father. If he was in the same position too… She knew he would try and do the same… It seemed wrong to not let him do this.
She let out a sigh, each clone disappearing one by one in a puff of white smoke. She stood up to her feet, offering the man a hand and a small smile.

“I will let you do this… But only if you promise to not escape. I will be keeping a close eye on you”
The man looked up to her hand, eyes widened as he nodded, taking her hand and standing up to his feet once more with the support.

“Thank you… Wizard…”

Two hours had passed as the mage leaned against the brick wall, yawning as she felt a bit sleepy from standing in the position for so long. But she watched the man the entire time, watching him look at his little girl play near one of the shops in the district as he hid himself near the corner of the wall next to it.
After the little girl’s mother had taken her arm and led her away the convict returned to her, ready for her to return him to jail without a fight.

It had been no tv series action… But Astrid had still found it satisfying enough.

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