Problem Child: 8

On her third day as a solo act, Aiko indulged in something personal, since she was pretty sure that she could get everything important that remained for Marvel's protection done tomorrow after her ballet class. “I think he’ll want to see me,” she told the secretary, leaning up on her tippy toes to put her hands on the desk. “Buzz me in, please.” It was hard to make eye contact over the glossy wooden piece of furniture.

“How did you get in here?” The personal secretary to the president of the United States looked disturbed, because adorably optimistic people always thought the personal sanctums of the upper echelons of society were actually private. She put both her hands on the desk too, leaning over a little to peer down at Aiko. Her hair slipped a little out of its pins to fall in front of her face.

“I walked in,” Aiko lied. She tried to look disarming. It was surely effective, given that she was tiny. “Mr. Luthor knows me.”

“I see. But unfortunately, you really can’t be here, I’m sorry.” The secretary stood up a little and peered around, as if there might be an adult just out of sight that Aiko belonged with. “Let’s get you a walk down to the rotunda.” She pressed an intercom button. “Security, please.”

‘The lack of communication here is really appalling. They’re been to see me twice.’’

Aiko scowled as secret service agents burst out from the neighboring office. They both had a hand on a weapon, ready for extremely ill-advised action. They dropped them when they saw who the secretary was pointing at. 

“Please escort this lost child out of the White House,” the secretary said. She seemed really stressed. “Maybe she’s a staffer’s kid? I can’t imagine who would or could have gotten her in here.”

Obviously she had teleported inside, using inter dimensional math. Come on, Candice. Aiko was 7 whole years old, and she could move her own self.

‘This seems like a big overreaction to an unattended child, in a culture that doesn’t have child assassins. She thinks I’m a distraction from a security breach? A bomb? What is her deal?’

It was all rather sad. Aiko huffed out a sigh and put her hands on her hips.

“You heard the nice lady,” said the Secret Service Agent on the left, who was himself a young father. Aiko remembered him from her personnel check. “Let’s get you downstairs and find your mommy, okay?”

Ugh. Saccharine. She rolled her eyes. Her mommy would kick his ass. 

Aiko put her fists up and fixed her footing as if she thought they might be a threat to her. It felt more polite to give them the respect of pretending to take them seriously.

The closer agent looked resigned. The other one looked like he might laugh. They both gamely tried to grab at her. 

“Come on,” she complained. She dodged them both in a roll. “As I’ve said, Luthor will want to see me.”

“Good morning.”

Everyone stopped moving as one of Mr. Luthor’s lady friends came into the room. Her blonde hair was slicked back, and her oversized suit was expensive-looking.

“Ms. Graves,” the secretary said. Her professional tone hid more than a hint of intimidation. “Do you know who this is?” 

“Yes.” Mercy beckoned for Aiko to come closer. She stuck her tongue out at the security guards as she passed them. “This is Aiko. In future, do not interfere with her entrance.” Aiko tossed her ponytail and put her nose up as she trotted into the office. The purple baubles on her ponytail holder clattered snootily in her wake.

The secretary pursed her lips, brown eyes darting over the situation. She hid her obvious puzzlement behind a brisk nod. “I’m adding her to the list. My apologies, Aiko.” 

“You’re fine, Candice. Alex, Rhodey.” She nodded to the secret service agents and pretended not to notice their sudden discomfort. Mercy had a faint, mean smile to match Aiko’s when they both made their way into the next level of security. 

“You are unexpected today,” Mercy said. They took a sharp left down a gray hallway. Her tone was bland and probing.

“But not unwanted, I hope.” Aiko had to pump her legs double-time to keep up. Ms. Graves had a long stride and leonine, predatory way of stalking. 

“One wonders how you have crossed the country by yourself. Were you not at elementary school this afternoon?”

Aiko shrugged innocently. “It’s not too out of the way,” she lied sweetly. 

She got an absolutely derisive look for that one, roiling contempt and irritation unmasked. Mercy Graves seemed to have finally decided whether or not she would physically fight a child, and the answer was yes. 

‘She’s got good instincts. But Luthor is definitely invested in me. She would kick me out now if she had the authority.’

Aiko couldn’t help but laugh. She cut it off after an instant and then ducked under the arm that Ms. Graves held out to open a conference room door, barely clearing a support pillar in the center of the hallway. Aiko hoisted herself up onto a straight-backed chair and put her forearms on the table to lean over and beam toothily up at Ms. Graves. Because she was just a little girl, and of course she didn’t know how phenomenally irritating she was.

Mercy closed the door. The lock clicked.

Aiko was suddenly paying close attention. She didn’t let on that she had noticed anything as Ms. Graves pulled out her own chair and put her briefcase down on the table with a click before seating herself. “Mr. Luthor is unavoidably detained at the moment. In future, you might consider making an appointment.” She smiled. Her eyes were cold.

“I forgot the phone at home,” Aiko lied. She gave Mercy a silly idiot smile. Because she was a small child. Of course she wouldn’t push and pull to see what happened, if they would accommodate her or send her away. She was just forgetful. “I just got excited, sorry.” She swung her legs. “Remember I said my mom said it was okay to get stuff from you?” 

“I remember.” Ms. Graves ran a hand through her light brown hair. A sickly sweet scent faintly spread through the air when she cracked her hair wax. Aiko stopped breathing for a moment, wary of whatever that was. “I’ll have your package brought here and we can go through it together. Do you still have what Mr. Luther gave you?” She tapped at her phone with a sharp-nailed hand, keeping one eye on Aiko the whole time. She was vaguely reminded of a crocodile.

Aiko dug into her shorts pocket and pulled out the green rock to show. It fit cradled on her palm. “I keep it with me, like he said.” 

It was a good rock, with a satisfying heft to it. She rolled it to manipulate the sharp facets around her palm for a moment, indulging in how weirdly cool it was, how sharp the edges were. There was something a little eerie and mesmerizing about it. It reminded her of the chakra dense trees in the Hashirama forest. It nearly hummed to a sense that she didn’t know how to use.

It was obviously not a normal rock, nor was it a “good luck charm” as she had been told. Aiko didn’t know what it did, but she would hazard a guess that it would either allow Luthor more control over her or it was a danger to Superman somehow. It made more sense for Luthor to prioritize his enemy rather than a child who appeared to be easy to control. She was betting that it was a tactical piece in his boring old Go game against Superman. 

Green light reflected off of Mercy’s face, casting malice across her otherwise attractive features. “That’s good.” 

They both looked at the door a millisecond before someone knocked. The young man who opened the door was probably an assistant or intern of some sort, because he barely looked 20. He gave them a nervous smile that bordered on sickly. “Here you are, ma’am.”

“Set it on the table and leave.”

He bobbed his head and hurried to obey. The door shut behind him with a faint click. There was an immediate thump as he presumably walked into the pillar in the hallway.

They both ignored it.

“Can I?” 

Mercy inclined her head. 

Aiko flicked open the case and sucked in a breath. “Did he-”

Mercy’s lips flicked up in a faint smile. “Mr. Luthor is meticulous. He will be pleased that he made the right selection.”

She barely breathed as she lifted up the child sized gun with the same stickers she had put on her dearly departed bicycle. The holographic image appeared to move with the shimmering glitter background as the overhead lights caught it. Holy shit, how had he found these? “I would kill for him, if my Mom hadn’t already said no,” Aiko said solemnly. She cocked the gun. “What is this for?”

“Your protection.” Mercy was cool and unaffected as fuck about a small child waving around a gun. She added a little more wobble just to see if that composure would crack. Goddamn. Mercy was implacable. “You’ve made yourself a powerful enemy. Superman isn’t human like you or I. If he comes after you again, this can put him down.”

Aiko privately doubted that Mercy was really just human. She was too unbothered by poor trigger discipline a few feet away from her unprotected skull. Aiko nodded solemnly anyway. “Are the bullets special?” she checked.

Mercy reached over into the briefcase to flick open the tiny case to show off 10 perfect glittering cylinders. “They’re special. But if you need them, use them.” She made deliberate eye contact. It felt scripted. “We can always get you more,” she promised.

Aiko gave her effusive thanks on autopilot, sorting through the interaction as soon as she was away. She didn’t have much time to contemplate it in her daily life. 

It reminded her of Danzo’s internal recruitment playbook, except where it really ought to have been closer. He was the President. Why had he not leaned on nationalism and calls to authority–

Aiko clicked her tongue in disgust.

Because she was a small child. He didn’t think she had patriotic sentiment or duty, it wasn’t ingrained that early here. Her most impressionable years were being wasted on learning the recorder, the Golden Rule and about “science experiments” that resulted in ice cream or an obnoxious keepsake doomed to clutter up her poor parents’ home.

‘These people are wasting so many opportunities. At least Luthor is genuinely trying to instill loyalty in the younger generations, even if his approach is overly personal. I would never be so inefficient.’

In any case. Luthor was trying to use fear to set her against his enemy, and he was trying to associate himself with her favorite things and make her believe that he was an adult that she could trust. 

‘He’s probably genuinely evil,’ Aiko thought, a little bummed about the likelihood that she might have to pick Superman over this bozo at some point. ‘No one who isn’t evil operates this way. If he was motivated by real concern for my well-being, this is not how he would go about it.’

Well. She didn’t know that the situation was beyond salvaging yet. Frankly, she might not have to take a strong stand. If she went along with his mentorship and became his protégé and heir, she could do whatever she wanted when she became President after him.