My past battles with the Death Eaters had taught me to remain calm no matter how furious I was. I glanced at the finished dishes on the nearby kitchen counter, a plan forming in my head. I got up, found a clean chef uniform in the familiar storeroom, put it on, donned a chef's hat, and tidied my appearance. This plan was definitely not perfect; a lot of things could go wrong. The people who were in the dining room could shoot when they saw how young I am. I didn't know how many of them were in that room or if they were armed, but I really didn't have a choice. The police of New York weren't equipped to capture a mind controller, I didn't have any contact in S.H.I.E.L.D., and even if I did there was a chance that they would be part of Hydra, so yeah — I was on my own.
I carried a tray of finished dishes out of the kitchen.
Composing myself, I stood outside the kitchen door, scanning the area. I saw the waiters standing by the restaurant and the table of guests seated in the center of the dining room.
There were two guests at that table, a man and a woman.
The man, dressed in a pretty ridiculous purple suit, was eating and smiling as he spoke to his stiff, expressionless female companion. I mean, I like purple, but he was just ridiculous in that suit.
But I knew him from somewhere. If you guessed it you would be right: the one controlling everyone in the restaurant was Kilgrave, also known as the Purple Man!
Kilgrave, if my memories of the MCU are not fired up, possesses the ability to control people's minds by emitting pheromones. Coupled with his twisted mind, he is well known for controlling women and raping them, among other crimes. However, sad as that is, his actions had never caused too much harm, so organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't truly noticed him, and the police weren't really equipped to catch people like him, allowing him to remain free — well, at least until Jessica Jones dealt with him.
Speaking of her, she sat across from him, black hair cascading over her blank, emotionless face. I had no intention of starting a fight with her—especially not while she was under the control of that bastard. But today wasn't his lucky day; one of us wasn't leaving this restaurant alive.
I walked step by step toward Kilgrave's table, took a deep breath, and began casting the Occlumency spell. Although Occlumency was intended to block mind-reading magic like Legilimency, I was confident enough that it could help keep my focus.
That theory worked because, since I had set foot in the restaurant, I wasn't affected by the pheromones. I sure was not very close to Kilgrave, but there was still a chance that if I cast Occlumency I could be immune to his power. Since I got back my memories I started practicing Occlumency unconsciously because, even though the main plot has not started, I still live in Marvel, and to my surprise mutants exist, so yes, I had to protect my mind.
My eyes gradually became hollow, as if my mind and brain were locked behind the door of a mind castle, protected.
I continued walking until I stood before Kilgrave's table and placed the dishes I was carrying on it.
Seeing the new dishes, Kilgrave immediately spoke to his blank-faced female companion, "Come, Jessica, this dish is the restaurant's most famous; it's a black truffle cream soup. Hurry and taste it."
As he finished speaking, Kilgrave didn't even look at Abel, simply waved his hand and said, "Alright, you can go now. Hmm? Didn't you hear me? I said, leave!"
Kilgrave turned toward me, eyes narrowing. I could feel his impatience—before he could speak, I lashed out and gripped his neck, cutting him off.
Jessica didn't even look up. She just kept tasting the black truffle cream soup in front of her, completely blank. I smirked slightly—she hadn't received any orders, so she didn't care about Kilgrave struggling.
Kilgrave thrashed against my hold, desperate. Then, in a sudden move, he pulled a gun and fired toward me.
Bang!
I barely had time to react. I dodged instinctively. The bullet missed me by an inch. When I loosened my grip on Kilgrave's throat to dodge the bullet, he stepped back from me, coughed, and rasped toward Jessica, "Jessica… kill… kill him!"
Her eyes flicked up from her soup. With a push off the floor, she charged at me. A punch with super strength from someone like Jessica Jones wasn't something that I could withstand in my current condition; one punch could actually kill me.
I had no choice but to use magic again, even if I was starting to feel my magic running out, with the use of Alohomora and the constant use of Occlumency.
I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding her strike, and my eyes caught the cracked floor beneath me. Yeah, I really didn't want to be hit by that. I raised my hand. "Wingardium Leviosa."
She froze mid-charge, her body lifting into the air. She struggled, but it was useless. Since my arrival on this earth, the spell Wingardium Leviosa had changed: in the Harry Potter verse this spell could only lift objects into the air — for example, to levitate a human you had to use another spell — but here it was more like a localized telekinesis. That jump in power for the spell was good, but it also meant that I had to put much more power into the spell — power that I didn't have right now.
With a wave of my hand, I propelled her out the restaurant window. She screamed — or maybe the pedestrians outside did; I couldn't care less. I mean, she was durable enough not to be killed by that — she became a blur and smashed through the glass window.
Kilgrave's reaction was what I expected: he raised his gun at me again.
But I was faster. Another flick of my wrist, and Kilgrave slammed into the ceiling, blood trickling from his mouth and nose. His gun clattered to the floor.
"Cough… Jessica… save me!" he wheezed.
I moved to finish him. I lifted him again with a Levitation Charm, ready to repeat the trick, but Jessica, carrying Kilgrave, burst through the broken window. Before I could react, she pushed off and vanished down the street with him.
Damn it. I couldn't let them escape. Mom was still under the control of Kilgrave, and she was just a normal person. I couldn't allow her to get hurt.
Kilgrave had to die.
I tore off my chef's uniform, pulled my hood over my face, and sprinted out of the restaurant. I saw Jessica and Kilgrave leaping onto a building across the street. With no hesitation I cast a Levitation Charm on myself, pushed off the ground, and followed.
Pedestrians gawked, capturing everything on their phones. I didn't care about my magic being discovered. My focus was entirely on them.
I landed on the rooftop behind them and pushed myself forward. Jessica's physical abilities were extraordinary, far beyond mine, even with my magic. She was faster, stronger, and relentless. But I couldn't let them get away. I had to intercept them before they disappeared. I could not let them vanish.
Not today.