"Remind me to put him on the list of people who shouldn't touch my Staff, then," Nico said, nodding toward the weapon she'd leaned against the counter. Though Mikey touching it probably wouldn't get her permanently on Nicholas St. North's Naughty List.

Nico finished the rest of her gingerbread person, then grabbed a candy cane.

"Think crime bosses," she said, snapping the candy cane in half. "Only with magic, advanced technology, mutant and alien powers, and monster bosses as back-up. All very subtle and under the radar, mostly. But they owned the police department and the media. We ran when we saw them ritually murder a girl, and they pinned us with her death."

She snapped the candy cane again. This...wasn't her favorite topic. But then, her parents never had been.