Welcome to Pixie Hollow, a quaint little town filled with hicks and deadbeats in the middle of bumfuck-nowhere. With little to do to except drugs and repeating the day to day monotony, most of the excitement comes from the frequent cape fights and the brand new PRT Headquarters build just on the edge of town. Oh, and those rumors of the Beast of the Woods if you believe them.
Besides that, though? It's just life as usual for everyone else.
So what happens when one young woman stuck in a rut finds the most explosive way out of that rut? Everything is up for change, and she'll do whatever it takes to make those changes. Right after she gets her revenge...
Before we begin, I want to take a moment to issue a content warning and general warning. Some of you may recognize me as the dice girl, the mute tentacles girl, or perhaps the vanishing meme girl from that colab fic. For those familiar with my writing, you may have noticed a general trend of serious topics littered in with the crack and fun.
This fic will start off incredibly dark. This is a warning. Just as Mixed Feelings by @Kittius has a very dark first arc that can turn off readers, I'm expecting this to perhaps be darker than people are going to want to read. Probably not on the same levels as Mixed Feelings dark, but still.
But just as Mixed Feelings gets brighter after that first arc, so too shall this get better. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy.
~Alice~
With all of that said, let's get into the real meat of this intro with a proper intro.
Welcome to Pixie Hollow, a quaint little town filled with hicks and deadbeats in the middle of bumfuck-nowhere. With little to do to except drugs and repeating the day to day monotony, most of the excitement comes from the frequent cape fights and the brand new PRT Headquarters build just on the edge of town. Oh, and those rumors of the Beast of the Woods if you believe them.
Besides that, though? It's just life as usual for everyone else.
So what happens when one young woman stuck in a rut finds the most explosive way out of that rut? Everything is up for change, and she'll do whatever it takes to make those changes. Right after she gets her revenge...
FAQ When do I update?
Honestly? I have no fucking clue. I'm releasing chapters as they're ready, but I'm putting a lot of work to make these chapters the best that I can and as such it may take some time between updates. Add in that (as of thread creation) I'm having computer troubles... Long story short is that I'll update as quickly as I possibly can.
Will Taylor be in this story?
No. While canon characters may appear further into the story, with some surprise visits from capes you might not expect, Taylor will not appear in this story.
Is this canon compliant?
Yes and no. While I aim to be as canon compliant as possible, I will bend canon details to better suit the story that I want to tell. Such as the PRT Department that was just started in this town that I've made up.
Character Page
(Updates as characters appear in story) May contain spoilers
Kali Iris K.
Twenty-six year old college graduate stuck in her hometown after a failed attempt to start her life somewhere else. Bitter. Slightly shorter than average, straight black hair that reaches halfway down her back, with piercing blue eyes. Dresses in hoodies and ripped jeans normally, though isn't against tank tops and bright colors and skirts when she feels up to them.
Brewer
A cape dressed in a lab coat covered in beakers filled with liquids. Runs an underground operation called the Distillery located underneath Baker's Warehouse, an old storage building turned into a night club. Tinker, has admitted to being able to modify bodies permanently.
Has a body count and performs human experimentation in an undisclosed location.
Void (Alex)
A mysterious cape who rescued Kali and has offered their assistance.
Tiger Lily
A mysterious cape who gave Kali a mask and cryptic advice.
I awoke to darkness. The only illumination came from the subtle glow of the LEDs in my alarm clock, and I fumbled around the nightstand for my phone as it buzzed. Rubbing the blurriness from my eyes, I raised an eyebrow when I saw the time. Who was trying to get ahold of me so desperately at three fifteen in the morning? I swear to god, if it was Becky trying to talk to me about the latest fucking cape bullshit, I was going to strangle her the next time I saw her. How many times did I have to tell her not to bother me with that shit before she got the hint?
Fucking hell. I half hoped that it was just a wrong number. I couldn't imagine why anyone would be sending so many messages otherwise.
Unless something had happened to Mom.
That thought pushed me to full alertness as I put in my passcode.
Unknown Number said:
I can help you.
I know what you're looking for.
You want your problem gone?
Of course you do.
Never have to be like that again.
Make you real.
No money, just a favor.
Not illegal, promise.
Just show up if you want it.
Want to be normal.
Baker's Warehouse.
Today. Before 7.
Ask the bouncer for the Distillery.
He'll hook you up.
Tell 'em Brewer sent ya.
I blinked at the words for a moment before darting to the window. Outside of my little apartment window I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but a sense of uneasy paranoia was slowly building. How had this person gotten my number? Was I being followed or stalked? I couldn't think of anything weird or noticeable happening lately. It was all the same, day in and day out, a boring blend of reminders that my life had run into a wall the day I graduated college.
Or maybe it was just spam? Normally those were calls though, and they didn't usually include local places. Especially not a local place that had been an abandoned warehouse retrofitted into a kind of club and hot spot. So, probably not spam.
Which meant that it had to be cape shit again. It was always cape shit.
I collapsed back onto the bed, running a hand through my hair as I looked at my phone. If there was one thing I'd learned it was that capes were bullshit. The second was that if a cape wanted me, they would've already gotten me. The only way I could think of for why this cape was contacting me was that either someone had blabbed about my questions or that they'd tracked me down through my online posts.
I wasn't sure which was worse.
Or maybe they really were offering a solution to my problem. I'd been putting out feelers to the less than legal places in town to see if anyone could help me. Maybe someone had passed on word and they'd decided to help? To finally get what I had dreamed of for so long, but at the hands of a cape? Was that something that I could live with?
My gaze turned to my hands as I slowly turned them around, watching the shadows play across the surface of my skin. So much work just to get this far, and no hope of going further. Not without help. But could I, should I, accept help from a cape of all things?
It's not like capes had done a damn good thing in my life. They had pushed my job sector into irrelevance, there were gang-related disturbances in town nightly, and, hell, superpowered-Nazis were taking a chunk of the eastern seaboard. They were always at the heart of the problem, and the so called heroes weren't much better than the villains.
But… Well, I couldn't deny the fact that finally not having to worry about how I fit into the world would be a massive weight off of my shoulders. To never have to deal with that feeling of being so innately wrong floating over my head? That alone would be worth it. Finally having something go right could be the kickstart I needed to get out of this town. And then I could have a fresh start where no one knew me, where my past wouldn't haunt me every single day.
I stood up suddenly, walking to flip the light switch and open my closet as I came to a decision. Tossing clothes behind me onto the bed I wondered if I was making a mistake before deciding to push the doubt out of my mind. I had to do this. I didn't know if someone had leaked my situation or if the cape had no sense of privacy in scouting me, but did it really matter in the end? As long as no one was after me it couldn't be that bad, right? I'd worked hard to make sure that the wrong people didn't learn about me.
My phone stared back at me from the nightstand as I got dressed quickly, the slow and steady pulsing glow of a full charge giving me something to center myself with. I could do this. Stuffing my phone in my pocket along with my wallet, I nabbed the house keys on my way out and locked the door behind me as I stepped into the brisk night air. Streetlights, starlight, and the moon were the only things to turn their bright gaze my way as I started walking at a brisk pace.
With one hand on my phone in case of an emergency, I mentally mapped out the best way to get to Baker's Warehouse. It wasn't a terribly far walk, a mile or two if I had to guess. I could still remember when it had been a storage building for one of the local mines, back before tinkers had made the owner nearly bankrupt and forced him out of town. Fucking tinkers, and all capes for that matter, thinking they could just do what they want.
I didn't see a soul as I made my way across town, which wasn't surprising given how late it was, but I couldn't help but note how eerie it was to see everything so dark and quiet. As I got closer to my destination, however, I noticed that people were still out and about. A few drunks passed out at the bus stop, some girl dancing to the sound of nothing in the dirt parking lot, and a line waiting to get into the building itself. The bouncer, even from across the parking lot, looked absolutely massive. For a second I hesitated, feeling like maybe I should just go back home and forget this silly business. But then the bouncer looked over my way, slowly looking me up and down before jerking his head in the universal sign for "come here."
This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy, I thought to myself as I started walking over, cutting the line, and found myself face to face with someone easily two feet taller than I was and twice as wide at least. His arms looked like they could be as big as my torso, and I could imagine that if he felt like it he could literally break me in half with his bare hands. As the line started to erupt with complaints he held up a hand to silence them as he looked down at me.
"You lost, ma'am?" he asked in a thunderous voice. "I can call a ride if you need one."
"Uhm, actually, I was told to meet someone here. Or come here, I mean. Something about the, uh, Distillery," I said quietly, trying to ignore the stares of the line. "Said to tell you that, uh, Brewer sent me?"
He stared at me for what had to be a full minute before nodding once and pushing open the door next to him and pulling a lanyard out of his back pocket. Putting the lanyard over my hood, he guided me much more gently than expected into the hallway beyond the doorway. "Downstairs. Enjoy your stay, ma'am," he instructed me, pulling the door shut behind me.
Inside the building it was almost as dark as it had been outside, dull red lights lining the walls of the hallway. The hallway opened up into a large, expansive room full of people dancing and lights flashing, fog flowing over the floor lazily, a purple haze moving along people's feet as they kicked it around, spewing from a machine behind the bar in the center of the room. I stood still in the entryway, partially in shock and partially from anxiety at the amount of people, amazed at how utterly loud it was in here. In the far corner of the room I saw a neon sign, glowing letters forming an arrow.
Well, I'd found the Distillery at least. I just had to find my way across the room without attracting a lot of attention and I'd be fine. Or I could just turn around and leave the way I had come. It would be easy, simple, and all it would cost me is never knowing if this was my way out. After all, there was a chance it wasn't even a cape and just some weeb or something thinking code names were cool for non-capes. As if having a fancy name was a good thing when it meant people would consider you a cape of all things.
Okay, I was stalling. Just one foot forward, one step at a time, keep my head down, and I could do this. I had to do this. Pushing forward, I weaved through the bodies on the outskirts of the room towards the stairwell, my heart pounding in my chest more and more violently as I got closer.
Looking down the stairs, I saw another bouncer guarding a door with a green glow poking out from beneath it. I took a deep breath and set off down the stairs slowly, keeping a hand trailing on the railing, and came to a stop in front of the bouncer. Where did this place find guys so big? I couldn't think of anyone in town who was so absolutely massive, let alone two of them.
"Lanyard," he said gruffly, holding out his hand. With trembling hands, I pulled it back over my head and set it in his grasp. He stepped aside — apparently, I got the honor of opening this door myself — and I mumbled a quiet thanks before entering into the unknown.
I found myself rooted in place on the other side of the door as a verifiable lab greeted me. Beakers, incubators, centrifuges, safety cabinets, and fume hoods, an HPLC, microtomes, cryostats, microscope, and was that a mass spectrometer? This place was decked out full of equipment that I hadn't seen since my college days. How did they set this up? Some of this stuff was expensive, let alone the fact that I didn't think you could just buy half of these things. Unless you could on the black market or something.
"You must be Kali," a smooth voice said from my right. I flinched, eyes following the sound, and I could feel my blood run cold. That had to be a cape, no one in their right mind would ever wear something so gaudy and ridiculous. With flasks filled with liquids all over their body and some kind of modified lab coat and goggles covering his body and face it was like some kind of cheesy science horror film. "I'm the Brewer. I'm glad that you came promptly."
"I want to know what you know and how you got my number," I demanded, wincing internally at the shakiness of my voice.
"You don't ask the kind of questions you were without me finding out. You want to change your body and can't afford the normal ways. That's fine. Because changing bodies is my specialty. No scars either, no downtime to heal, just a few hours of your time," he said offhandedly as he moved around machines that I didn't recognize to stand a few feet in front of me.
"Yeah? And what's it going to cost me?"
"Precious little. You see, not all of my work is permanent. When I am developing something new, for example, the tests are always made to be temporary. No permanent changes that someone doesn't want, just testing to see if things are at the perfect levels needed to make the perfect mixture. All I ask in return is that you allow me to run a few extra tests after you get what you want."
I bit back the urge to tell him to test it on himself and fuck off. If he was telling the truth…
"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked hesitantly.
"You saw the bouncers. They're my handiwork. Wanted to be big and strong, and so that's what I made them. I imagine there's not a person without powers alive who could beat them in a strength contest." He sounded a little indignant at my question. Pride in his work, perhaps? Or did he just not like being questioned?
"How many experiments?"
"I'm sorry?" He looked up from where he was messing with one of the machines, his tone distracted.
"How many experiments for me to get what I want?"
"Just a few. It'll feel like no time at all, I promise."
"And I'd be real, finally? Forever?" I hated the longing in my voice, the desire in my chest, and I unconsciously stepped forward.
"Forever, Kali, I swear it. I wouldn't be able to have any customers if I couldn't keep my word."
"What do I need to do?"
He gestured for me to follow him into a side room filled with more machines I didn't recognize and a lone operating table. It was a little bright, and I could smell disinfectants in the air.
At least it was clean.
"Lie down. You're going to be awake the whole time, but I'm going to bind your limbs for your own safety. From all the tests this one is...a little painful," he said slowly. "When the pain stops you'll biologically be a girl, all the way down to your genes. You'll never have to worry about it again. Now's your last chance to change your mind. You're free to walk away still."
"No. I need this. I need to not hurt anymore, to not have to second guess being myself."
"Alright then. Say goodbye to the past, Kali, and welcome the future," Brewer said softly as he put leather straps around my wrists, ankles, and forehead. I shivered at the cold table beneath me as I stared up at the ceiling before he pushed something leather-tasting in my mouth.
Suddenly I felt a sharp prick in the crook of my right arm followed by a feeling like frozen fire running up into me before I could begin to wonder what the thing in my mouth was for. The feeling spread out until I felt like my entire body was burning, and I suddenly was grateful for something other than my tongue to bite down on as my muffled screams filled the room. I felt my body break and shift, my heart beating fast enough that I was sure it was going to explode, and everything felt wrong. So much worse than I felt every single day when I saw any part of my reflection.
And then the pain really started. I'd heard people describe what it felt like to be stabbed, and that was the closest thing I could think of to describe what I felt. Like every cell in my body was being perforated at the same time, over and over and over again. My nails dug at the metal table beneath me and I closed my eyes as tears started to flow.
I was going to die. I knew it. There was no way that I couldn't. This cape had lied to me and he was killing me and there was nothing I could do about it.
My last thought before darkness took me was that at least I wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.
This project has been a long time coming! I've been planning and tweaking this story since mid-last 2018, using my other projects as stepping stones to improve my writing until I felt that I was able to do this story justice.
As always, thank you to everyone who gives this a read, a like, or a comment. It means the world to me to get to share something that matters so much to me.
And, of course, this wouldn't be possible without help from the wonderful people who were willing to beta this chapter. {Comment with credit here, please} @zenithBemusement, @Mondrae205, @Vilheim, an anonymous Beta, @radiorobot.
Again, thank you to everyone who steps on this journey with me, and here's to more to come!
I came back to consciousness screaming, my throat raw and my mouth slick with the taste of copper. I could feel everything from my body, from how tense my muscles were to the chill of the metal beneath me, to the blood pulsing through my veins. Breathing heavily, I spat out the chunk that was miraculously still in my mouth and stretched my fingers.
"How do you feel?"
My eyes darted to the figure at my feet. Brewer, holding a clipboard, and sounding more animated than he had in our earlier conversations. It took me a few moments to get my voice to work again, and when I began to talk, I had to stop myself after the first two words, the foreign sound coming from my mouth surprising me into silence.
It was different. I was used to having to work at how I sounded, to make myself sound right, but the voice that came to my ears was everything I had ever worked towards, everything I'd ever hoped for.
"Different. I can feel everything," I finally answered. "I feel great."
"Good. Pain? Side effects besides this hypersensitivity?"
"No, no, nothing. Everything feels amazing. It feels...right."
He made a humming sound, his pen scribbling for a few moments. "I'd offer a mirror, but there'll be time for that later."
"You mean we're going straight into these other tests?" I asked incredulously.
"Of course. It's not like you need to heal or recuperate. And this is what you agreed to, remember?" He sounded distant, like I was just some rat in his maze or something. Did he just think he could do these kinds of things and it wouldn't matter because he was greater than the borderline magic that he was performing?
"I mean, I did agree…" I said hesitantly. "Do I get to have these shackles removed for these tests of yours?"
"Eventually, yes. Once you're no longer a threat."
That was an odd choice of words, wasn't it? I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't just talking about protecting me from myself. A nugget of doubt sprouted in my heart as I watched him move about the room out of the corner of my eyes. Had I made a huge mistake listening to his honeyed words, or was I overreacting?
For the first time in years I wondered if maybe my friends weren't right about calling my hatred of capes crazy. I certainly felt crazy for having these suspicions when I was finally myself at long last. I could feel it, too, the subtle differences and the more obvious ones.
"You know, it's always exciting to have firsts. I thought that it was magic when I made my first mixture. Y'know, before I realized I was a cape. And then I started thinking to myself, if I could make my dog big, red, and strong enough to crush cars in the junkyard before the serum reacted unexpectedly... What else could I do? So I started testing and making things, frantically at first, before I settled into a rhythm. So many firsts," Brewer said in the silence. "For you that must be quite a thrill to be able to experience these first hand. I would, but I need to be impartial. I can't let my creations cloud my own judgement. And so I had no other option except to find others. I still envy every single person I've given my mixtures to. I even envy you, right now. So many firsts and for me this is just another note in the book. Another face for the wall. Tell me, how does it feel to get exactly what you were asking for?"
I didn't like the way that his voice was changing. It was less like a scientist and more like, well, a cape. It was almost like my family when they had rejected me, when they had jeered at me when my life started falling apart, disdain dripping through the words telling me I got exactly what I deserved. What I had been asking for.
Suddenly I was feeling much less confident that this had been a good decision. Bad memories being triggered were bad enough without the thoughts running through my head. Was he just going to kill me? Was this how he got his rocks off, tempting people with bliss and then dashing them against the walls until they died?
Would death be the best option here?
"Mhmm. I know it's a bit to take in, but really now you're being rude," he snapped. "You're acting like I just asked you what the square root of pi is. It's one point seven seven two four five three eight — Oh, it's not like you even care, do you? Of course you don't. Do you even care about what this all means to me? To be able to create such wonderful things and for people to just act like I'm some kind of villain for giving people exactly what they ask for?"
"I didn't — "
"Didn't think? Didn't know? They always say that, and honestly it's a terrible excuse. As if that absolves you of your wrongs. Of course it doesn't. So, I'll ask again. How does it feel to get exactly what you asked for?"
Terrifying. I couldn't say that though, not with how he was acting. I needed to give him an answer that would pacify him and maybe let me walk out of here without being some tinker's punching bag.
"It's pretty amazing," I whispered. It struck me suddenly how different talking was. It had been effort before, constantly worrying about a crack or a relapse, constantly trying to maintain the right tone. But now it just felt like talking. Even as I could feel the physical differences, there were all these little differences that I could take months to get used to.
And it reminded me how utterly damned I felt right now.
"Of course it is," he said with an irritated sigh. "Moving on, I've prepared four test mixtures. Depending on the results, you should be done before noon. And, again, no permanent effects. Tell me how you feel as it takes effect."
"What's it going to do?"
"That's what we're here to find out, aren't we?"
"I thought you knew what they were supposed to do?"
"That doesn't mean that's what they're going to do," he said with a low laugh. I saw his shadow looming over me as he stepped closer, a syringe full of something blood red following a second later. "Just relax, it'll be fine. Just do your part and you'll be out of here in no time with everything you asked for."
"Well, I did agree…"
No sooner had the words left my mouth than I felt the cool touch of leather against my neck. I felt a finger, perhaps a thumb, rub at the side of my neck before I felt the needle force its way into me. My eye twitched at the feeling,and I sucked in a breath as I felt something hot pour into me. It flowed like magma down through my limbs and body, a boiling heat growing within me, and I couldn't hold back the groan that sprung forth.
"Good girl," Brewer said with a rough pat on my cheek as he stepped back. "How's it feel?"
"Hot," I gasped out as I felt my toes curl by themselves. "But not a bad kind of hot."
"What kind of hot?"
"Like there's this volcano underneath my skin, just getting warmer and warmer until it bursts."
"Good, I was curious how it would work with the transformation."
"So you didn't know what was going to happen?"
"Oh, no, I knew the expected results. I needed to know how it would work with the gender serum. I use this one quite frequently, but whenever I have something new I have to make sure that it will work with other serums, without complications," he replied with a wry laugh. "I mean, the last thing I need is for Heartbeat to work incorrectly."
Heartbeat? Something about the name sounded familiar, but I just couldn't concentrate right now. I was so warm that I found my thoughts slipping into unfamiliar realms that were making me uncomfortable. What did he do to me? As if in response to my question I felt a kind of twinge resonate through my body.
"I see it's setting in, judging by that flush to your cheeks." He sounded cocky, almost, or was I just imagining it? How much of this was just in my head?
He wasn't really that terrible of a person, even if he was a dirty cape, was he? He'd helped me out, after all, given me everything I'd ever wanted. And his outfit was kinda interesting, I had to admit.
"N-o." I started at my own voice. When had I decided to speak? No? That didn't make any sense, but it had made sense in the moment. A twinge practically vibrated up my body, causing me to close me eyes. I tried to swallow and found that my throat was dry, before I had to mentally remind myself to unlock my jaw.
What was going on with me? What was wrong with me?
My heart hitched as I felt my hair move. Brewer scoffed and I heard him mutter something as he scribbled furiously on his clipboard.
"Why am I so hot?" I asked as I felt another twinge, more vibrant than the others.
I felt the leather, blissfully cool to the touch and surprisingly smooth, slide along my neck again. A shiver ran along my skin at the touch and I felt my heart racing. What had I been thinking about? I had asked something, hadn't I?
"Are you ready for the next test, Kali?" a voice asked me. It sounded smug, but not in a mean way. Almost like those confident kids at school who knew they were going to pass the test without even trying.
Oh, yeah. Test. I was supposed to be doing tests. I tried to nod and found that I couldn't move my head. I looked around confused, but couldn't see what was holding my head still. Something about that felt like it should have alarmed me, but ultimately I pushed it out of my mind as a silly overreaction. I'd asked for this.
"Yeah," I forced out around my dry mouth. A blurred shadow crossed in front of the light shining down on me and I felt something wet and sweet drop into my mouth. Greedily I consumed it, grateful for the liquid and the coolness that came with it. Relief from this burning under my skin. "More?"
"Heh, since you asked for it," the voice said after a moment of silence before I felt my mouth filled halfway with relief.
I closed my eyes, relaxing as I felt the burning diminish in intensity, reaching up to rub at my face.
Something about the action felt wrong but I couldn't put my finger on why. I tried to sit up before I remembered that my head was restrained. Why was that again?
I reached up, feeling some kind of strap, and fumbled around trying to find the latch. Several attempts later, I felt a pressure I hadn't realized was there release, and I sat up slowly.
The room around me was tinted gray for some reason, making it hard to see anything, and I struggled to undo the restraints on my ankles before standing. Immediately I stumbled, grabbing the table-thing that I had been on to stop myself from falling. Looking around I couldn't recognize any of the blocky objects around me, but I saw a door not too far away.
Why was there a door? Wasn't I supposed to be doing something?
I grabbed my head as a spike of pain shot through it, lancing its way through my brain. I was supposed to do something for someone. Someone who had helped me. Was he through the door?
Step by step I staggered towards the door, nearly collapsing against it when I got to it, and I opened it after a few failed attempts to turn the knob. The next room was cluttered with alien objects which seemed to be moving before my eyes. I blinked and a figure appeared in front of me. A moment later and they flickered towards me, but even up close they were still a shadow. As they came to a stop I flinched, falling back against the door.
Hadn't that been open a second ago?
"You'll be a great test subject. You're the first to get up so soon. I even gave you extra of Wavelength when you requested it. I suppose I'll need to strengthen the formula if you're able to get up after just an hour," the shadow said as it inspected me. "Relatively responsive, even. Maybe a side effect of the first serum? Mhmm."
"Serum?" I asked hopefully as I remembered the pleasant warmth and soothing chill that had washed over me previously. The shadow was talking about something that made my head hurt, but the serum had made everything better.
"Oh, there'll be plenty more of those," the shadow chuckled. It raised an arm, the fingers morphing into long blade-like protrusions that it used to caress my face. "I think you might be my new favorite."
I blinked as my right arm started to spasm as something turned at the edge of my mind. A series of conflicting feelings broke through me before I settled back to happy and hopeful. He'd help me, I knew he would. These other feelings were just lies, lies like my old self.
There was a sharp pain in my side, just beneath my ribs, and then the shadow vanished along with everything else.
With no floor or anything beneath me, I found that I didn't need to walk to wander the endless void that was suddenly around me. Occasionally shadows would pass by me, but they passed by much faster than I could see. And the further I wandered, the darker the shadows became across the neutral gray fog surrounding me in the void.
I found that if I stopped the shadows would whisper to me, threats and words that made my skin crawl in fear. When I stayed still they started to reach for me, red marks appearing against my skin and my clothes ripping where they got too close.
I kept moving after that, but soon they were there even when I was moving, countless shadows all just out of sight and in the corner of my eyes, all threatening me and following me.
I couldn't get away from them. And soon they brought the stench of death and decay with them. Had they always smelled? Or was it that the further away I got from that warm and relaxed feeling with the first shadow the worst these other ones got?
A scream would have broken through me when they started growing maws that stretched half their mouths, holes for eyes that burned with a palpable hunger, but I couldn't. I could only keep moving, try to escape them, as the warmth was slowly replaced with pain and a chill began to take over my bones.
There was no happiness left. I wandered this void under constant harassment from the shadows, and no matter what I did they always caught up to me. They always hurt me.
Tears slid down my face as I found a wall that I couldn't see. There was no turning back, it had been too long, and soon the shadows would catch up to me.
I had got exactly what I had asked for. And all it had cost me was everything else.
I closed my eyes and whispered to myself.
I am good for nothing except to be a tinker's test subject.
And there's chapter 1.02! This was possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to write because of a lot of details going on behind the scenes that I didn't want to actually write and put on screen. But this chapter needed to be done to help tie into the next and help showcase the story.
I'm still glad it's done though. There's some heavy stuff hidden in here that may or may not get picked up on the first read, but I hope that it was at least well done if you do pick up on things.
As always, thank you to everyone who reads, likes, and / or comments. You're all fantastic and wonderful, and I'm happy you're joining this ride alongside me.
And as always, thank you to the wonderful betas who looked over this chapter to make sure it was up to speed since I wrote a good 2,000 words of this drunk. @Mondrae205@zenithBemusement @Vilheim @Juff
I struggled to move, desperately wanting to escape the hell that had become my life. Every attempt at action was met by the complete refusal of my body to do anything. All I could do was move my eyes and everywhere I looked was a fresh horror, another reminder of where I had found myself.
I would have gagged at the smell if not for the silence I had vowed to keep. Closing my eyes to all the bodies around me just meant I had a clear backdrop to relive every second since being put down here. Was it ironic that I had killed who I used to be and was now surrounded by those killed by the devil I'd sold my soul to?
A tear traced its way through the grime on my face as I realized that I was going to die down here.
Above me, I heard a door shut and I couldn't stop the panic that rose in my chest. He was back. Another test was coming and it had only been a few hours since the last one.
No, no, nononononononononoooooooooo.
I couldn't do it, not again. I couldn't. As I started to hyperventilate, I took the one action that was left to me and fled to the shadows of the past. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Brewer said with a light slap to my cheek. I didn't bother trying to reply, my voice raw from the screams that were still echoing in my ears. I tried to turn my head away but couldn't, and Brewer quickly took my attention again as he held up another syringe. "Now that I've got you here, we can really begin. Guess you had some complications with Blackout going by the screaming at the end there, heh. So, this one here I call Lockjaw and it's going to keep you from causing trouble. Already used it, in case you couldn't tell, so there's not going to be any of this 'run' business the first few dozens kept wanting to try."
He pulled an opaque flask into view and I could imagine the smile that must be on his face. "This one, however, I'm only calling TT19. Haven't quite figured out the exact mixture yet, so let's hope it's not like TT18. That was a bit of a disaster, haha. So! Bottoms up."
I felt my mouth pulled open as my head was forced back and something slimy slid down my throat. An acrid taste lingered in my mouth that I couldn't get rid of. Minutes passed in silence and for a moment I thought that perhaps he had made a dud.
Until it felt like someone had driven a spike through my stomach and I gasped from the pain. The feeling quickly spread, as if I was being stabbed at every possible point on my body, before the dark room seemed to come alive around me.
The shadows were back, I realized, and they watched with jaws slightly open.
Instinctively I knew that they were hungry for my suffering. I had no idea how much time passed between visits. But every visit brought pain, sometimes with the shadows coming alive around me, and more than once I found myself being slapped back to reality.
Eventually they brought in a little girl, her whimpering cries the only sound between the first few visits. The first visit after her appearance was hard, and I tried to comfort her after that. We'd escape eventually, I insisted. We just needed to be strong.
I couldn't help but feel that Brewer was getting impatient. Every few visits we came back to this TT thing he was developing and these were the worst of everything he put me through. Idly I wondered if it wasn't making me insane over time.
I was pretty sure that I wouldn't remember how to speak if I ever escaped this place. And I would escape eventually because I knew it would be my death if I didn't. Little Sara had lasted three visits before she'd stopped responding, and I refused to end up like her.
She'd been such a sweet kid between visits. She deserved better than rotting away in this basement.
I'd avenge her one day. It was the only promise I could give her now.
The door at the top of the stairs opened, light spilling into the otherwise black room, and I averted my eyes from where the body lay. One of the large men that Brewer crafted walked down and I felt my blood run cold at the sight. On his shoulder was another, a young man who looked barely out of college.
I couldn't shake the feeling that he'd end up just like Sara. Every visit left me rattled now. Each time it was multiple doses of various substances, various feelings and effects on my mind and body forced upon me, as the bodies piled up around me. There were always more people being brought down.
I couldn't find it in me to care anymore. "Looks like we had a happy accident this time," Brewer said smugly as I stared back at him blankly. "I think I'm going to call this one Psychosis. I have to say this took far longer to perfect than I expected. But here we are. You're quite the subject, you know. I think you deserve to get some Heartbeat."
I hated myself for the longing I felt at the word. To just be free for a short amount of time…
I didn't get the option to say no, I never did, before I felt the prick as it was injected. A slap hard enough to turn my head brought me back to the present. Looking up, I glared at Brewer as he injected me with something.
I knew something was wrong before I felt the fluid enter me. He always bragged about his serums. He always talked about things even when he was angry.
It felt like acid running through my veins. And then there was nothing.
Movement at the edge of my vision drew my attention. It was pitch black down here, I shouldn't be able to…
The shadows were moving. With unnerving slowness they moved closer, their jagged maws open, and I knew they weren't going to just stay away this time. They were done watching and feeding off of my agony.
They froze for a moment as there was a monumental crash above me and the sound of things being thrown around. It wasn't enough, though, as they turned back to me. I couldn't move, I couldn't escape, and the shadows were closing in. Surrounding me, their hunger palpable, and I couldn't even fight back.
As my panic mounted everything seemed to disappear, replaced with two beings that I couldn't wrap my head around. They were impossibly large, complex, and yet I instinctively knew that they were alive, communicating, traveling.
As suddenly as it had happened, I saw the darkness around me again.
And I could feel it.
Another crash sounded from above, followed by a muffled yell, as I struggled to remember what had just happened. Something big?
I shook my head before I froze, my eyes going wide. I could move.
I all but jumped to my feet before falling to my knees almost immediately, panting, as my legs gave out beneath me. How long had I been down here? How long had it been since I had used my own body?
I felt something smooth, dangerous, wrap around my arms and legs. Pushing myself up I looked at my hands as something darker than the darkness around me wrapped itself around my hand. That feeling from before lingered as I took a step forward hesitantly, gritting my teeth at the effort. Something had changed, and all I knew was that I finally had the power to take my life back.
I was going to kill Brewer for what he'd done to me.
The door blasted open when I was halfway across the room and I raised my arms to shield my eyes. The tendrils extended from my arms as I clenched my fists before I heard someone gagging from the top of the stairs.
"What the fuck were they doing," a voice asked after a few moments. "Hey, you! Are you the only one?"
I lowered my arms hesitantly, squinting at the bright light, to see a figure I didn't recognize. A cape based on the outfit and helmet, and I clenched my jaw at the thought.
Never again.
I gathered the darkness around me and struck out, tendrils flying from all around me as a scream of rage escaped my lips. The cape moved faster, though, dodging backwards and out of sight as my whips cut through the door and frame.
"Hey! I'm here to help you, dammit. We don't have much time before someone else shows up if you want to get out of here."
I took a step forward, my breathing heavy, before I had to steady myself.
"You want to be free and live, then come with me," the voice called out after a few moments of silence. "Because I'm burning this place down before I leave."
"F-ine," I struggled to say as I released my control over my surroundings, my eyes looking towards the corner of the room.
She deserved better, I had said. And a pyre was better than this.
"I'll kill him and everyone who worked with him. I promise," I muttered under my breath as the cape poked their head around the corner.
"You good? Not gonna attack me again are you?"
"No."
"Are you good to walk or… God, you look terrible. How are you even alive?"
"Spite."
The cape seemed to hesitate for a moment before coming down the stairs, putting my arm around their shoulder, and I leaned heavily against them as we made our way up the stairs.
Cruel irony that I had to rely on a cape yet again. But this time I wasn't helpless.
On the other side of where the door had been was a vast warehouse. Debris, piping, even metal beams laid scattered as if a tornado had ripped through the room. Against the far wall I saw one of the mountain men that Brewer used unconscious and partially buried beneath a forklift.
"Is he dead?"
"No, he's a tough son of a bitch. If it wasn't for whatever happened in the middle of the fight, I think he might have been able to catch me eventually. Was gonna move him away before I torched the place."
"Leave him."
"What? Why? That's murder."
"You saw the bodies. You don't know what they did to us," I ground out. "Leave. Him."
"Jeez, okay, okay. It's on your head, though."
We walked in silence after that, going out a side door and into fresh air. I'd forgotten what it felt like to breathe without the pressing feeling of stagnant air filled with death. A sigh escaped me as I looked up at the night sky, stars twinkling and the cheshire moon grinning down at us.
"I'm going to get us a bit into the woods, I've got a vehicle stashed nearby, before I go burn the building. You gonna be okay by yourself?"
"I think so," I said quietly as I looked towards the treeline. It occured to me that I didn't know where we were. Couldn't run even if I wanted to with no idea where the nearest house might be.
I sat with my back to a tree, the rough bark more pleasant than anything I had felt in recent memory, and watched as the cape headed back. Moving faster than I would've thought possible, shooting off across distances in moments, and I suddenly realized that I didn't care who they were or what they were.
I was free, finally, and the only thing that mattered anymore was my revenge. And as much as I hated to admit it, I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to do this alone. But who did I have to help me? Besides this random cape, that is, and there was no guarantee they'd even want to.
My thoughts were interrupted by an explosion and a burst of fire from the warehouse windows. A figure was heading towards where I sat, the cape going by how they moved, and I ignored them in favor of watching as the building burned.
"We'll need to leave soon, before anyone comes to check this out, but…. I'm sure you'd like to watch it fall down at least," they said gently as they approached.
"Who are you?"
"Void. Came to the area 'cause I thought it would be quiet. Stumbled across this place, staked it out, realized something was going on. Didn't think I'd find, well, that."
"What next?"
"Get you back on your feet. Rest is up to you. I figure we could work together since I think we're both going to be looking to shut down these people, if you're interested. Two capes are better than one, after all."
"Don't call me that," I spat out, the shadows around us moving at my anger. I took a deep breath, focusing on that sixth sense, before I continued. "I want to destroy them."
"Then partners?" they asked, holding out a hand.
I looked into the glass on their helmet as I wondered if I was making another mistake before I took their hand.
Sorry for the delay, but thank you everyone for reading / liking / commenting! This is the last of the stupid dark chapters, finally, and I hope you enjoy the update.
I don't have much to say this time, but as always, thank you to @zenithBemusement, @Juff and an anonymous beta for reading through this chapter. I kinda jumped the gun with posting before anyone else could get to it, so minor edits might occur in the future, possibly.
I stared into the fire, the crackles and pops echoing through the dark room around me. The flames flickered as a log collapsed, and I recoiled, flinching as images jumped across the room. Minutes passed before I managed to slowly open my eyes. I pulled my shaky hands from my head and gasped for air. My gaze turned upwards as I leaned my head backwards onto the couch and stared sightlessly at the ceiling above me.
Two weeks wasn't enough to stop reliving the nightmare that had been my life. I still couldn't believe how much time was missing, and whenever I thought about it I felt dirtier than I had before.
Dirtier than I felt just by existing. How was I supposed to deal with anything when I was one of them? When I was even more ruined because of him?
How was I supposed to continue when his influence was everywhere, poisoning everything?
When he had broken me?
A strangled sob broke through the silence as I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to shove myself deeper into the rundown couch. I couldn't go to my apartment, I couldn't return to my life, I could barely keep food down.
I couldn't stop thinking about killing him for what he did to me.
The sound of the door unlocking caused me to jump to my feet, my heart hammering as I pulled the shadows to me. My breath caught in my throat as my entire body tensed for several long moments.
"Hey, I'm back," Void's voice called through the house and I could breathe again. They entered the living room, coming to a stop as our eyes met, and a sigh sang through the air between us. "I wish there was more I could do to help."
"Train me," I said rather forcefully. "Teach me to fight."
"I don't know how to fight."
"You beat the big guy when I… When — that night."
"With my powers," they muttered as they shook their head.
I broke eye contact at the word, scowling at the fire instead. It always came back to powers, didn't it?
"Uh…. You okay?"
"No. I just realized my entire life is a fucking mess — worse than it already was — because of powers. Kinda feels like I got what I deserved."
"No one deserved what I saw down there."
"So, I guess I just continue to practice on my own then, and in the meantime we can come up with a plan."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You need information before you can plan, and there's precious little information on this Brewer person. Best I've got is some possible connections to local drug dealers, and a lot more questions about how he got up to the scale of what he was doing." They ruffled their blond hair absently for a moment before continuing. "I didn't want to bring it up while you recovered, but I think he's underground. Finding him has been impossible, and I'm not entirely sure if that'll get better without him wanting to be found. I don't even know how you ended up in his sick operation."
"I went to him," I forced out around my clenched teeth. "I knew I shouldn't have, I knew it was a bad idea to go to someone that sounded like a cape, and I still did it."
"Then you know where to find him?"
"No. Yes. Kinda. I don't know!" I floundered, flailing my arms around as my shadows coiled around my arms. "He texted me in the middle of the night so much it woke me up. Offered to make — to give me what I've wanted for my entire life. I knew it was too good to be true, I fucking knew it."
"Hey, relax, I'm not blaming you and you shouldn't be either." Their voice was low, soothing, and reminded me to focus on my breathing. "It's not your fault that a monster preyed on you. And hey, you've got powers now. You can use them to make things better for others so they don't have to go through what you did."
"Yeah, I guess," I admitted grudgingly. "I think I was supposed to die that day."
"That's a sudden claim," they said tentatively. "What makes you think that? From the little you talked about —"
"The last dose. I think he was killing me because the results were wrong or something, maybe. Or he knew you were coming. Or someone else was on his tail, I don't know. It just wasn't normal."
"Maybe," they said neutrally. I didn't think they believed it, though. "Anyways, you've seen my face enough that I wanted to do proper introductions. Don't feel like you need to, though. I've been trying to keep the pressure off of you. But if we're going to be working together we'll probably need to be around each other a lot without costumes. So...The name's Alex." They paused for a moment before continuing, "An associate of mine will join us in a few days. I was thinking that, with you, we could set up as an official team over the course of the month to remove the villains from the area. If you're interested."
Fighting against the urge to roll my eyes, I pretended to consider the offer for about half a second before I held out my hand.
"Kali. And I'm very interested," I said without hesitation.
"You're going to need a cape name and a costume," Alex reminded me ruefully. My eye twitched as I turned away to walk to my bedroom. Their voice called out after me, "And maybe we can talk more tomorrow. It was nice actually hearing you speak more than a few words at a time. I was worried you were going to stop talking entirely."
I didn't care if I had powers. Nothing would make me be a cape. Even if it meant being something different or new, I refused to walk the same path as those who had repeatedly ruined my life.
Maybe it was the months in my own personal hell but I felt better when I was in the darkness of my room. There was a palpable difference, a familiarity that I could touch if I wanted to, as I stared out of the window. The lights from a car lit up the room temporarily, my eyes watching the vehicle pass by, and a pit formed in my gut.
Was that my life? To be this bystander that things happened to, who just watched on as everything drove past? Would I just be stuck in dark rooms until I died because I was too terrified of what was hiding out there?
I struggled to draw in a breath as the room started to feel unbearably small. There had to be something other than being walled in forever, had to be something more than waiting around. The window shook as I shoved it open, the brisk February air sweeping into the room. Goosebumps rose in waves as I hung half out the window, practically panting as I watched the cars drive by.
As I watched my life drive by.
With a sound of disgust, I shoved myself away from the window and ripped the hoodie Alex had given me from the bed. Hesitating for a heartbeat, I slipped myself out the open window and took off running as soon as I had my feet under me. Snow crunched under my shoes as I darted across the hastily plowed street and heading towards the edge of town.
I could see it. It was like nothing had changed as I ran past drunks and strung out bums, weaving my way past snow mounds before I skidded to a stop in the parking lot. There was the line, the door, the same as I remembered. I traced my footsteps in a haze of black, little spots of red following me against the white on the ground, as I struggled to draw breath against the oppressive weight in the air around me.
I stopped in front of the bouncer as I finally noticed that he wasn't the same mountain of a man as last time. For the first time since I had gone through the window I faltered, doubts springing to mind as I glanced at the angry faces of those in line and the hostile words they were throwing my way.
"Lady, you need to wait in line like everyone else," the bouncer said with a hint of irritation in his voice.
A muscle in my jaw twitched as I worked to release the tension, struggling to find the words to make him understand.
When none came to mind I raised my fist.
"Jesus, what did you do? Smash a bottle on the way over? Fuck," he said suddenly and I blinked in confusion. Before I could figure out what he was talking about he pulled a walkie from his belt and started speaking into it. "Jim, get the first aid kit out here. I've got a bleeder."
Bleeder? I shook my head slightly to try and clear the fog as the door opened and another normal man stepped out with a white box. As he opened it and stepped towards me, I darted around him and through the open door. The inside of the building looked the same, the entryway and the thunderous music, and I bolted for the stairs.
There was no mountain man waiting at the bottom to collect anything this time. I collided with the door hard enough to rattle it in its frame as I fumbled with the handle and flung it open.
I made it one step across the threshold before I sank to my knees.
It was all gone. He was gone. The only things around me were storage crates and barrels and cleaning equipment.
I raised my hands numbly, and for the first time I saw the blood from where my nails had gouged out lines in my palms. The red on white was strange to look at, nearly as strange as the room I was kneeling in, and I let out a strangled giggle that quickly turned into a shaking sob.
The sob turned into a raw scream as I slammed my hands down on the hard floor. Around me shadows whipped and thrashed at the edges of my vision, and I rose to my feet slowly as my thoughts sharpened.
He could run all he wanted to. But I would find him. I would find him and make him suffer.
"Christ, lady, the hell you do —"
The man's voice cut off as I turned around, the door slamming behind him as shadows forced it closed.
"Where. Is. He?" My voice trembled slightly. More shadows moved with each word.
"I have no idea who you're talking about! I just started here a week ago, I swear. Please don't kill me," he begged.
Why was he begging?
"There used to be a cape working down here. Sound familiar?"
"No! This has just been a storage basement since I got hired, I promise. I don't know any capes."
I turned away from him, casting a glance across the rooms. The door to the other room was gone, just a hole in the wall now, and I felt shaken.
Could I trust my own memory anymore? Or was that something else he had taken from me?
I couldn't stay here. If he wasn't here then I needed to go elsewhere, but I had no leads that I could follow. My prison was out; Alex had made sure it burned to the ground when we left, and with my phone gone there was no way to get the number Brewer had used that fateful night.
I was sure he'd changed phones since then anyways.
I walked past the guy who was cowering on the floor, went back up the stairs and out of the building. Outside I paused for just a moment to glance around, those in line and the bouncer eyed me warily, before I set off for the heart of town. I needed to think, to figure out what to do, because I couldn't accept that he was unreachable.
Time passed in random spurts as I walked. I could see the large clock of city hall. Sometimes it seemed like it was frozen in time, and sometimes I'd look up to see that it was suddenly twenty minutes later.
I flinched as the clock struck midnight, the echoing notes shaking me to my core, and I felt the cold come in with it. How long had I been out here? How many circles had I walked in while aimlessly wandering?
"You know, you're going to die if you stay out all night like this," a quiet voice called out to me from ahead. Looking down from the clock, I saw a young girl in a dark green costume that looked like it was covered in scales. Her visor was a shade of offwhite that was slightly reflective and she wore a similarly colored skirt over the rest of her outfit. She finger gunned at me from her perch on the wall to the court's parking lot, and I reflexively stepped back. "Oh, no, please don't run. I noticed you seemed kinda lost and wanted to see if I could help. My girlfriend's going to be pissed I ran out on her at the bar to wander around for almost an hour looking for some random person."
She smirked, or was it a smile? "She didn't see what I did though. So before you do anything else, maybe put this on?"
A package landed in the snow between us, just a few steps in front of me. She made a shooing motion, pointing at the thing, with a big smile on her face.
How old was this kid?
I shook my head, stepping forward cautiously to look at the object. It was a mask of some kind that looked like it was supposed to cover the lower half of the face below the eyes. It was black with some kind of white design that I couldn't see in full.
"I bought that earlier for skiing, but I have a feeling you're going to get more use out of it than I will. And I've got like ten others at home. Wear it so no one else who might remember your face will. Cause being new to the scene and making shows like you did back there with your face out… not everyone plays nice."
I picked it up gingerly, watching the fabric shift to reveal the jagged outline of teeth on it.
"You can keep the shirt too. I was going to give it to my sister but I don't care enough about it to get close to you to get it back. Take care of yourself, shadow girl," she said in an upbeat tone before she leaned back and flipped over the wall and out of sight.
My eyes searched for any sign of her coming back for a few minutes, and when I was reassured that she was gone I turned my attention back to the cloth in my hands, reaching down to pick up the shirt. Inside I noticed an envelope with a hastily written note on it. Carefully opening it, I read what I had to assume were the cape's words.
Take care of yourself. You'll do well when you're barely making a whisper of sound half the time. Good luck with whoever 'he' is, and maybe we'll see each other around on the job some time.
And learn to talk, god. Muttering demands and being all stoically quiet is so 2000's Batman!
Don't freeze to death!
~Tiger Lily~
I stuffed the paper into my hoodie pocket with the shirt and carefully put on the mask.
Maybe I couldn't find Brewer as Kali. Maybe I had to give in to this stupid power and hunt him down as someone else. My mind flicked back to the letter and what Alex and I had talked about earlier.
If I couldn't be Kali, then maybe Whisper would have to be good enough.
And there's chapter 4! As always, thank you everyone for reading, liking, and commenting! It means the world to me, and I can now say that we are officially past the dark chapters. Hooray, right?
If there was one thing I hated half as much as I hated Brewer, it had to be winter. I scowled at the fluffy whiteness around me, as I made my way slowly down towards Alex's house, my hands buried in my pockets. Each step felt harder than the last, not just because of the cold seeping into my bones, but also because I was not looking forward to what was probably waiting for me. Unless I got lucky and the window was still open for me to slip into.
I chalked that up as wishful thinking and continued forward at a slightly slower pace. I could put off dealing with Alex for a while longer without freezing myself. Truth be told I was less concerned with that than I was with the absolute lack of leads that I had. It felt like I was always surrounded by questions without answers, all the why's whipping around me. As depressing as the weather was, the reality of my situation was more bleak to look at. It felt raw and cancerous, pulsing with the evil that continued to haunt me, and a weariness was seeping out into my bones.
Halting my aimless wandering, I leaned up against a shop wall and rubbed my hands together. When was the last time I'd been outside in the cold for this long? When I was a child, playing carelessly, imagining the great future I was going to have? I'd never felt so lost, so adrift in the world as I did right now, and the thoughts of what used to be seemed so distant that I wondered if they were even real. How much of the world that I was looking at was what it appeared to be on the surface and not just a front, a lie, with some dark corner waiting to suck me back into the depths?
"You got Heartbreak? Nice, dude. My parents are out on some business trip, we could do a thing. I heard Becky was willing to show if we got anything good." A young boy's voice broke through the fog clouding my mind and my head snapped to the side. There was a parking lot on the side of this building, and a quick peek around the corner showed a car with some teens standing around together. In one of their hands was a small bottle with a broken heart logo on it, filled with a very familiar blood red substance. My tongue snaked across my lips as I stepped forward instinctively, as the need rose to the surface before my mind caught up with my body. Furiously I clenched my fists as I stalked forward, crouching low so I could use the vehicles along the way for cover. Maybe they'd tell me where they got it without me having to ask.
I could always take it from them after getting the information that I needed. Take it so that it was mine, so that I could feel it destroy it. I didn't need it I needed it. I could just drink get it out of their hands.
My hands gripped at the edges of the mask over my face as I stared down at the snow and shivered. It was just the cold. It was just the snow I was kneeling in. It was just —
"Oh, me? I got it from Drew. He'll set you up real good if you ask. I get my grass from him, too, and I get some powder for Sherri sometimes. He's probably got X, yeah. Probably got some meat if you're looking for a quick fuck."
My body felt jerky as I stood up, like a rubber band being pulled and released repeatedly, and I turned slowly in the snow. Everything was slow, white on black on red, and I felt like I could count every snowflake falling around me.
They were the same as him. They were using people, they were using that beautiful horrible stuff. They were hurting me.
There was a soft crunch beneath my feet as I charged forward, the quiet rustle of bodies as they turned slowly, and all I could see was red against the white.
Tendrils launched out from my hood and the depths of my sleeves, moving from their own shadows cast from the car headlights, lashing out to grab and tear and slice. White was interrupted by black as their cries of surprise stopped abruptly in a sea of red. Red, red, red red red red.
My fingers twitched as they closed around smooth glass, my body relaxing from a tenseness I didn't remember getting, and I felt a weight lift from my chest as the shadows slowly retracted. My eyes were glued to the Heartbreak in my hands, so close and all mine. It was okay now, everything was —
A disaster. My thoughts were crystallizing as I looked around at the blood. So much blood sinking into the snow, running a red river towards the road, and it was my fault. A shiver ran up my spine as I looked at the limp bodies and scraps of cloth scattered across the poorly plowed parking lot.
Wordlessly I turned and ran. I hadn't meant to. I hadn't wanted to hurt anyone.
I didn't want to be a monster.
They just needed to stop, that was all, just stop.
With a shuddering breath I shoved the rising scream down deep into my chest and kept running as the red chased after me.
The window wasn't open. I shoved the bottle into my hoodie, the red lingering before I remembered that I had blood on my hands. I plopped down on the front porch and let my head hit the door frame as I stared out at the passing cars. The door opened slowly a few moments later and Alex sat down next to me as they shut the door.
"Didn't think you'd be back, if I'm being honest."
I moved my shoulders in an attempt at a shrug as flashes of red crossed my mind.
"I saw you coming up the steps. Got the shower heating up if you're interested."
There was a pause as I didn't respond and they sighed and stood up slowly. A hand entered my vision and I looked up.
"I'm not going to press you, Kali. And I'm not kicking you out because you jumped the window. I get it. Shit sucks and we can't do anything about it and you need to feel like you're doing something about it. Fuck do I know it." Their head shook slowly as they faltered. "I'm here if you need to talk. You're safe here, and hopefully you'll feel it one day. In the meantime, let's get you warm before you die from the cold and get you clean cause you kinda look like shit."
A moment's hesitation and I took the hand, slowly making my way inside and towards the bathroom.
Showers were supposed to make you feel better, or at least that's what my parents had always said. But the longer I stood underneath the hot water, steam rising around me, the worse I felt. I couldn't stop seeing red, despite the water running clear and the bathroom being a fairly ugly beige. My mind kept going back to the bottle tucked into the hoodie pocket on the floor just a few feet away, and I kept seeing flashes of the faces of those kids before I'd... mauled them. It was the best phrase I could think of for the sight I had left behind.
The water running over my hands stung a little from the little divots I'd dug into my palms, a small pain that I inarguably deserved after the mess I had made with the night. Those poor club workers.
Those kids.
I leaned back, letting the water splash across my face as I let my emotions out. The frustrations, the desires, the anger, the guilt. Just letting my emotions flow like the water around me as I made a promise to the people I had hurt tonight.
I wouldn't hurt people caught up in the fallout. If they were actually a part of Brewer's operations then it was different, but those people tonight hadn't deserved anything.
Fuck, I hope they hadn't died.
Some time later, long after the water had run cold, I stepped out of the bathroom and made my way towards the living room where Alex was sitting with a laptop across their lap.
"Hey," I mumbled as I stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"Feel any better?" they asked as they typed away, glancing up at me.
"Not really. I kinda fucked up big time tonight." The admission felt heavy on my tongue as I rubbed at the back of my neck. "But I might have gotten a lead out of the disaster."
"Oh?"
"I visited the place where I got taken. Everything's gone, it's just some club now. Wandered around after that." My voice sounded as defeated as I did as I ran through the list. "Found a cape, or rather she found me. Some kid, gave me an idea for my own name, gave me the hoodie. Not sure what was going on there. Wandered some more, found some teenagers. Kinda fucked that up."
"Oh?" Their voice was harder as they glanced at me as I pulled the bottle from my pocket with a grimace.
"This stuff is called Heartbreak. It's his. It's... highly addictive. They had it," I said reluctantly as I stared at the liquid.
"What's it do?"
"Makes you compliant. Suggestible. Some other stuff I'd rather not talk about."
"It's a rapist's dream, fucking christ!" Alex looked at it with disgust before looking at me slowly. "Why do you still have it?"
"Because," I muttered before stopping and biting at my lower lip.
"Oh fuck, you're addicted to it," they said as realization crossed their face.
"Kinda. Not really. Maybe." I turned my head away, holding the bottle to my chest as I hugged myself. "That's not the point. Look, I kinda fucked up, okay? They were talking about where they got it or something, or a party, I don't really know. And I was just watching and listening. That's all I was doing. I was gonna just steal it from them and make them think twice about it."
"But you did something else instead." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah. They talked about using people. Like people on Heartbreak or something and buying the stuff and they had it. I just lost it. I don't know what happened, there was so much blood, and I didn't mean to I swear I just — "
"I get it, Kali, it's alright. Well, not alright. It's pretty fucking terrible and I'm not sure if you should be hoping that they died or that they didn't. I'll keep an eye on the news and things for reports on the attack. You just... try not to be too hard on yourself, but you should learn from this. Stop it from happening again. Control your powers instead of letting them control you."
The couch bounced a little as I dropped down on the opposite end as Alex and curled up with my wet hair over the armrest. It was silent save for the clicking of keys. After a few minutes, I broke the silence slowly.
"There's a guy named Drew who gets this stuff in. I wanted to find out where but I fucked up instead."
"We'll figure that out, Kali. For now, maybe we should focus on getting you back on your feet? You still need a phone and to figure out what to do about your apartment. I can fix the first problem, but the second is going to be on what you want to do. And maybe some more clothes shopping, if you like?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice, I guess," I agreed around my hoodie sleeves. "And maybe we can make a plan."
"Kali," Alex warned.
"Look, I've got a name now and everything. And that girl might know something useful, like who this Drew guy is. And then we can get to Brewer and put an end to it all!"
"And what name is that? Shadow Girl?"
"Ha fucking ha. No. It's Whisper."
"That's certainly a name. Why Whisper?"
"It was just something that girl said that stuck with me. And it's symbolic or something. A Whisper in the dark or whatever. You're the one who said I needed one, for fucks sake."
"Yeah, I guess I did. I just, I don't know, didn't think you'd actually pick one or use it."
"I'll do whatever it takes to get him, Alex. Anything."
"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of."
I ignored the jab with an eyeroll and settled in as Alex shifted the laptop to the table with a video loaded up. Avatar the Last Airbender, the complete series.
"What's that?"
"A show from Aleph. Feel free to watch with me, though I might fall asleep in the middle of it."
"A show would be nice, yeah. I'll take the hint and shut up for the night."
"Good, cause people talking during shows and movies are the worst."
I giggled at that, thinking of happier times, as Alex pressed play. As the opening credits started, I pulled the bottle a little closer.
And there we are! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always I want to thank everyone for reading, commenting, and / or liking.
And, of course, thank you to the wonderful people who looked over this chapter to fix all of my stupid mistakes as usual. @zenithBemusement @Juff
Until next time, take care of yourselves lovelies. <3
You were supposed to be able to tell a lot about a person by their looks. Granny had always said that you could see unhappiness and sickness if you knew what to look for. The eyes, the tilt of the lips, the way their brow furrowed, the color of their skin.
I didn't understand it then, and as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I wasn't sure if I understood it now. My eyes were the same jade green as always, my skin was maybe a little lighter than it used to be, and I couldn't tell if my expressions were different since Brewer had broken me.
I still had trouble accepting the physical changes that had sealed my fate all those weeks ago. With a sigh, I pulled a few stray strands of black hair out of my eyes and turned to exit what had become my bedroom. Alex had been more than kind, even after my outburst the other night; they promised we'd start Legend of Korra soon, now that we had finished Avatar, and I'd kept my promise of staying put. Well, other than when we went shopping.
Was it weird to be doing these normal things when there was so much wrong around me? When I was still waking up surrounded by shadows? Did I even really know what normal was anymore?
I certainly wasn't any more normal than I had been two months ago. Sure, I had the body I had always obsessed over, that I had always dreamed of, but it had cost me everything. Being able to walk down the street without a care in the world was a thing of the past, something that seemed alien to me now. Being a cape was the furthest thing from being normal. I could laugh at the absurdity of it, how being trans wasn't even a factor in my life anymore.
The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
Speaking of things changing... I turned my attention to Alex as they moved past me to go start breakfast. I wasn't sure what to think about the cape, and I was a little ashamed to admit that I was largely confused by them. Maybe part of it was my own suspicions about them, but there just seemed to be something off that I couldn't quite put my finger on. While they had been open to my probing about their identity once they had unmasked that first night — I had to know if they were like my family before I could even think about sticking around — they just seemed oddly accepting of everything.
I had to shove down the rising hysteria screaming inside me that they were one of his. Paranoia was helpful sometimes, but if I couldn't trust anything ever then I would never be able to get over this.
Instead, I watched as they moved around the kitchen, flashing a smile as they saw me staring from across the counter, and thought about what Granny might see in them.
They weren't bad looking, even if they weren't my type, but I didn't think Granny would be looking at sex appeal. Thinking back on it, I couldn't think of a time where they didn't look fine. It was obvious that they took care of themselves, their brown eyes were frequently inquisitive and caring, and I'd only seen them really upset once since I'd met them. And that was after a fight and my attempt at attacking them.
They had taken my assault and possible murders without even blinking. Which, thinking about it, might be a worrying sign. I didn't know if they did hero or villain stuff in costume, now that I thought about it. What if they had just been raiding that building I'd been in? But... that didn't mesh with everything I had seen since. The way they didn't invade my personal space, how they announced themselves instead of risking scaring me. Unless it was just being scared of my powers... but they'd dodged me easily enough before, hadn't they?
I never knew if it was paranoia or caution anymore. Like I was balanced on a knife's edge, tilting and swaying above a bottomless abyss. All my mistakes, my failures, threatening to swallow me whole if I so much as slipped. The very act of keeping myself standing was a cause of pain.
My fingers traced the length of the bottle in my pocket, my hands trembling slightly with the proximity. I needed to center myself before I got lost in what-ifs and maybes. In my pocket was a known evil, one that I could do something about.
"So…" I cleared my throat as Alex looked over their shoulder for a moment. "What's the game plan?"
"Drop you off to buy clothes while I go pick up Laura. I can give you cash and you'll have plenty of time to shop. Was thinking we could go up to the mall, it's only like a forty minute drive, since I need to stop by the airport anyways."
I chewed the idea over for a few minutes. It would be nice to get out of the house. Some fresh air, fresh sights. I hadn't been to the mall in ages, and clothes shopping would be nice.
"There's one problem with that," I said sheepishly as Alex slid a plate across the counter to me.
"Oh?"
"I don't know how to, uhm, size. Anything. It's all different."
"Oh." An awkward silence stretched between us as I stabbed at the food on my plate. "We could pick up Laura first and see if she'd be willing to — "
Whatever Laura might be willing to do was drowned out by a series of shrill beeps from Alex's laptop on the counter by the stove. I eyed the device warily, setting down my fork onto the shredded food that I hadn't actually touched. I stood up slowly while Alex all but flew across the kitchen.
"The fuck is that?" The words were sharp, the accusation hanging in the air between us.
"An alert. A bad alert."
"What do you mean by 'bad'?"
"The news story finally broke. The one about you."
"Oh. Oh. Shit."
"Yeah. So, here's the quick and dirty version. The police were called by a passerby who saw the blood, and the injuries brought in the PRT. The kids were taken to the hospital, all of them are in critical care. They're not saying if they're expected to recover. The PRT is releasing a statement in two hours. Channel 3 is calling it gang violence, it looks like."
"So, they're…"
"Alive, yeah, for now at least. It doesn't sound like you made it easy for them."
"Fuck."
"Mhmm, that's weird. Looks like one of the police deputies let it slip that power effects were at play, but they're trying to shut down reports on that."
"Where are you getting all this info from, anyway?" I asked, partially to change the subject, and partially because it was a little overwhelming.
"I've got some contacts who can pull up a lot of public info in a very short amount of time. Given what you told me and our plans for the future, I figured it would be a good idea to tap some favors. I mentioned I'd keep an eye out."
"Yeah, I guess so. It's just kinda weird."
"Powers are weird, Kali. It comes with the territory. We'll need to watch that press release, though. See if we can't find out how much they know and figure out where to go from there."
"I fucked up."
"No one's going to dispute that. Just; learn from it. Be more careful."
"Yeah," I said slowly. I turned towards the hallway after a moment while Alex huddled over the laptop and started switching between tabs. "I'm going to just go get dressed."
"We can leave when you're ready. I can pull up the press release on my phone when it gets released. If Laura's plane is on time she'll be able to analyse it with us."
I was already scurrying away, making a beeline for my room before locking the door behind me. My chest felt tight, like there was a vice clamp keeping me from breathing properly, and my entire body felt shaky. There was so much red; I could remember every drop of red. Red in the darkness. Red in my veins.
Red in the beating of my heart and the warmth of my skin.
Slowly I pulled out the little red bottle from my pocket as I fought to pull in breath.
I needed it. I needed to stop.
I wanted to escape.
The cap bounced across the carpet as the scent of what could only be described as bottled lust filled my nose and my heart jumped and I dragged in a shaky breath.
More? You want more? Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess you can have more.
I threw the bottle across the room, the glass shattering against the leg of the desk in the corner as my pulse thundered in my ears. A shiver rolled across my skin as I stared at the glass.
That's a good girl. Look me in my eyes. Yes, there we go. How does it feel?
What made me any different from those teenagers I'd attacked? How was I any better than any drunk in a gutter, any addict wandering the park for spare change looking for their next fix? Or my father taking pain killers from the bottle, growing more irritated without the relief of his addiction?
Would I ever stop wanting more?
Ah ah ah. You'll get more when I decide you get more.
Was I just a tool, something to be used and thrown away?
Was I weak?
A series of quick knocks drew my attention to the locked door at my back.
"Kali? Are you okay?"
My tongue snaked out, over my lips, following the trail of red to catch every last bit that might have been missed before I replied.
"Yeah. I'm better than okay now."
"I heard something break."
"Yeah, that was me. It's fine. Don't worry your pretty voice about it, okay? I'll be out in a minute and we can leave. Laura sounds lovely. Can't leave a lady waiting, can we?"
"...Alright."
I ran my fingers across my lips gingerly. Red. They felt like red.
After a moment they lifted into a Cheshire's red grin.
The softness of my clothes sent lightning dancing across my skin as I quickly changed into sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt under my hoodie. Absently I ran my tongue over my teeth, breathing in the scent of red, before I stepped out of the room.
"I'm ready," I called out as I slipped into a pair of boots. As Alex stepped into the room, they gave me a confused look.
Reaching for their keys on the counter — I'd never noticed how their hands reminded me of pianist hands — Alex's eyes flicked across my face. "Are you sure you're okay? You sound… Different."
"I'm fine," I insisted, rolling my eyes at their words. "I'm just red. I mean, I'm ready. Nervous about meeting Laura, I guess."
"If you say so." They were clearly not convinced, shaking their head slowly before opening the door for me. Playfully I bumped my hip into theirs as I walked past, winking as I hurried off to the truck while a shiver ran up my spine from the contact.
This was so much better than the tense, coiled, miserable Kali. I had to admit to myself that being miserable was something I didn't want to be anymore, now that I recognized how miserable I actually had been.
The ride was quiet once we hit the highway, small talk wearing out as I turned my attention to the passing trees and cars. Every once in a while I could see deer or the occasionally stranded vehicle amidst the fluffy white.
What would Laura be like? Alex trusted her, that much was obvious. Maybe she'd be cute! I couldn't help but want to have someone who I could talk to about stuff that Alex wasn't interested in. I perked up as a sign for the airport passed by as we exited the highway. I'd find out soon enough it seemed. A few more minutes of daydreaming and I'd be meeting this enigmatic woman.
My attention was pulled away as Alex swore explosively and the truck accelerated past the speed limit. The whine of the engine made me turn from looking curiously at Alex to the dash, and something dark caught my attention.
"Oh fu — "
The impact sent the truck skidding and then rolling across the road as my words died in my throat at the shattering of glass. My body jerked violently and I heard a snap before I was flung bodily from my seat.
The sound of explosions rang in my ears as I clawed my way back to consciousness, scrambling my way through the remains of the windshield I was hanging out of. The taste of copper filled my mouth as I slipped my mask from my hoodie to my face and flipped the hood with a sense of finality.
Looking around, I couldn't see Alex amongst the wreckage; it looked like the front half of the airport had been ripped apart and thrown around the area.
I pulled myself to my feet, the hood buckling underneath my weight, as I looked for the cape and Alex. They couldn't be that far, judging by the crashing and explosive sounds that I could still hear. Darting forward, I ran over glass and around rubble as I entered into the building itself.
I didn't have to look long before I came across a woman in a form-fitting outfit, who came to a halt five feet in the air above me. She had long hair dyed red and blue, held in place by a band connected to the red and blue mask covering the top half of her face.
"Heya cutie. Sorry, but I've got things to do and that doesn't include you right now. Try again when I'm done."
Her lips were a ruby red and my gaze lingered on the color before she gave me finger guns and launched straight up in a haze of red.
And there's 1.06! This chapter changed a lot while I was writing it, a lot of events happening that I did not originally plan for but were much too perfect for me to not include. I hope you enjoyed it! As always, thank you lovelies for reading, commenting, and liking. It means the world to me.
And as always, thank you to the wonderful people who beta'd this chapter. @zenithBemusement @Juff
My gaze remained fixated on the last spot that I had seen the woman before she had floated out of sight. I could see a hint of red still in the air, if I squinted a little. Biting my lip, I jumped when another explosion echoed through the building.
With a small sound of irritation, I turned and headed for the nearest flight of stairs to chase after the cape. Alex would be running around as Void, judging by the explosions, and any idiot could guess that he was fighting this mysterious villain. Letting my breath out in a huff, I took the stairs two at a time, keeping an ear out for any indication of where the fight might be happening.
Which turned out to be harder than expected. Whenever I heard a crash, or the sound of Void decompressing a space, it echoed through the white halls and stairways. Going by the few times I had been in this airport back when I was in college, I was beginning to wonder if I had any hope of finding them. What if I was going in the wrong direction?
A vending machine blasted through a wall ahead of me, ending up halfway into the next before it stopped. Moving forward, I kept my eyes peeled for movement, expecting the woman to come through the hole. Instead, Void came perilously close to hitting the vending machine before they arrested their momentum.
"Where is she?" I kept my words soft.
"You shouldn't be here," Void growled. "Not in the state you're in."
"What are you — I can help."
"Go find the evacuation group, then, and look for Laura. She might've landed before the attack started."
"But—"
"No. Go before you get one of us hurt. If you find Laura then come and find me."
Before I could attempt to protest further, not that I really wanted to, they ran through the hole in the wall and shot off out of sight again. With a sigh, I turned around and headed back the way I came. How was I even supposed to find an evacuation group? I didn't know anything about this place, let alone where anyone might have gone. And since when did people even listen to evacuation plans and not just leave and go away when there was a problem?
Though I suppose if you had just gotten off a plane, or just landed a plane, you'd want to stick together since no one would have a way to leave. As I slid down a railing back to the first floor, I had the bright idea to head outside. Maybe they'd be on the runway or something?
Pushing off of the railing, I stumbled a little upon landing as I went straight into a sprint and headed towards the main hub. There would probably be windows or a door or something that I could exit from there, right?
As I turned a corner, however, I caught sight of a group of people. We all stopped as we saw each other, and I held up my hands.
"Here to help. God, how are you supposed to do this?" I looked at the flight attendants, pointing at one at random. "The front entrance is clear right now, I think anyways. If we all move fast and quiet we can probably avoid this crazy chick breaking things all over the place. And, uh, I'm looking for a…"
I trailed off as I realized that I couldn't just give out our information or anything. How in the hell was I supposed to find Laura when doing so could jeopardize our lives to any one of these random people?
"How do we know you're telling the truth?"
Rolling my eyes, wishing the man could see the expression I had for him, I shook my head. "Look, man, I'm a cape. If I wanted to hurt you I could've already done it. A lot. Let's just get out of here before that villain brings the place down on our heads or something."
The man opened his mouth, probably to protest judging by the look on his face, but a woman several inches shorter than him and wearing a very pretty sundress put a hand on his shoulder, silencing him. With a hard look on her face, she spoke to the man, quietly enough that I couldn't catch the words, before giving him a shove forward. With a grunt he led the way as the rest of the group quickly followed suit, moving past me silently. And I still didn't have any idea how to find or separate Laura from anyone else.
"You here with Void?"
I looked behind me to see the woman that had talked to the guy looking at me with a hand on her hip.
"Laura?"
"Keep watch. I managed to keep my carry on with me."
"What do you mean keep — Oh."
I felt my cheeks brighten as she glanced over her shoulder and dropped the sundress to the floor next to a bag I hadn't noticed. With more confidence than I could probably ever hope to have, she pulled out what I quickly realized was a costume. Practically slipping into it, I recognized it as looking similar to Void's. Dark colors, blues on black, it gave me the impression of looking into space on a dark night. Throwing her hair into a ponytail and slipping on a facemask that covered the lower half of her face, she looked at me expectantly.
"I, uh, you look good. Real good." Immediately I regretted my words. "I mean, I didn't… Uhhhhh."
"You're kind of adorable. I can see why they took you under their wing," she said as she practically skipped over and gave me a pat on the head. Looking over her shoulder — how did she look so pretty even in a costume? — she made a series of tuts. "Well, I liked that dress. I'm going to miss it."
"I can stuff it in my hoodie," I offered immediately. It was a cute dress and I couldn't see a reason to leave it behind.
"If you want to. Any idea where the fool is?"
"Void? After the villain. Both are mobile, though, and I'm not. I'd been following the sounds until Void sent me away to find you."
"Of course. Well, we better hurry then."
She took the lead, setting off at a jog, and I hurried to catch up. I couldn't help but watch the way her back shifted, the muscles and shoulder blades moving with each step. With a mental shake, and a silent thanks to the mysterious cape who had given me this mask that covered my entire face as it glowed warm, I tried to focus on our surroundings.
"So, uh, what am I supposed to call you?"
"Pushpin."
"That's an interesting name."
"And you're intent on flattery and smalltalk, aren't you?" She giggled as I sputtered. "Relax. It's fine. What about you? I haven't heard if you picked one yet or not."
"Oh, uh, Whisper."
"It suits you."
"I guess so. Thanks."
"Cheer up, bea—" she paused as an explosion sounded from above us. "Found them. Let's see…"
She stared at the ceiling above us for a second, looking around before she shook her head before she took off at a full sprint.. "Can't break through here. We'll need to catch the stairs before they move on again."
Chasing after her, our footsteps echoing around us, I couldn't help the hint of excitement seeping into me. She was so energetic in her words that I couldn't help but feel myself mirroring her energy.
I skidded as we came to the stairs, my side bouncing off of the railing, before we took them two at a time. Turning my attention to my feet, mostly to make sure I wouldn't trip myself, I felt my power begin to stir under my hoodie.It dawned on me that in the middle of the day, in a brightly lit airport, I was at a disadvantage compared to the others. Or at least compared to the woman and Void. I wasn't sure what Pushpin could do, and it didn't feel right to ask.
We reached the top of the stairs all too soon, however, and I chased after Pushpin as she took a hard right down the corridor. I nearly ran into her as she came to a sudden stop, throwing out my hands to grab her shoulders to stop from bowling the woman over. Before I could ask why we were stopping, I noticed the villain floating with her head cocked at us, bathed in red light.
"You know, we really need to stop meeting like this. Tall, dark, and mysterious really isn't my type. And I'd hate to get between such an adorable couple," she said with a smirk. "I'll get out of your way."
As she started floating backwards, Pushpin darted forward. Before she could close even half the distance, however, the space between her and the villain was coated in a blue light. As she moved through it I watched her turn red and begin to slow. Within moments she stopped, putting her hands on her hips.
"That's a dirty trick."
"All's fair in love and war, as they say."
"What's even the point in attacking an airport, seriously? What is this, some kind of shitty spy film?"
"No, just some casual chaos. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm kinda in the middle of something."
As she turned, I heard an explosion from behind her before Void bodily collided with her and the two went sprawling right towards Pushpin. To my surprise, she didn't try to escape, instead reaching out with her hands towards the villain, as if to catch her. For barely the space of a heartbeat, she made contact before Void and Pushpin were sent flying away from the villain. In the next instant, rubble, trash, cans, and other small debris flew at the cape, collecting on her side where Pushpin had touched her. From her struggle, it seemed that she was unable to remove the conglomerate from her costume.
As I looked behind me at my allies, they stood up without looking any worse for wear, despite the force they had been thrown with. Something to do with their powers, perhaps?
"Whisper, don't just stand there!" Void's warning came a moment too late, the words having barely registered before I felt myself being yanked away from them and off my feet.
"Alright, you want to play rough, then we'll play fucking rough." I looked at the red lips of the villain as she wiped away some dust on her sleeve. "How about we see if she's able to withstand being thrown as easily as you two?"
She used her power on me, and I was stuck, trapped under her control. I could already feel the needles against my skin, pressing in, as I turned my eyes to meet hers.
"Let. Me. Go."
"Oh, I will soon enough. As soon as your friends there get the hint to fuck off."
"I said to LET. ME. GO."
Ink-black tendrils shot out from my sleeves, hood, everywhere that they could around me as I screamed, and lashed out at the villain. She weaved, trying to escape, while my power reached for her and my scream stuttered as my throat gave out.
With a thud, I fell to the ground, landing on my hands and knees as red splashed across the dull walls, coating the tiled floor. Looking up at her retreating figure, I pushed, tendrils splitting off from other tendrils as I reached for her, grasping for anything to make her pay. With a scream, I lashed out and the hall turned various shades of blue, red, and purple; with a deafening series of crashes and splintering, the entire floor around her buckled, caving in as her power ripped the area apart. Before I could reach her again, she fell out of sight, hidden behind the collapsing area. With a growl low in my throat, I scrambled to my feet to give chase.
"Whisper, wait!"
I ignored the voices behind me, running forward and jumping into the gap. A flicker of blue pulled me forward, the color shifting to red, and my fall turned into a glide, until it flickered out and I dropped the last ten feet to the floor below. Jumping across the pieces of floor, ceiling, and wall, I headed towards where I thought she might have fallen. Tendrils lashed out as I ran, growing out of the crevices in the rubble, and I found a gaping hole in the wall before me. Skidding to a halt at the threshold of the hall, I peered outside.
Gnashing my teeth together, I squared my shoulders and strode forward. I was done playing.
I was done being a cape's plaything.
And there's chapter seven! I hope you enjoyed it, and hopefully it wasn't too boring? I know not a lot happened this chapter…
As always, thank you to the wonderful people who helped make this chapter possible. PLEASE COMMENT NAME HERE
Until next time, remember:
Don't trigger the traumatized cape. ;D
