[center][color=lavender][h2][b]Vertigo[/b][/h2][/color][/center]
[hr][sup][color=silver]Midnight[/color][/sup]

The streets of Santa Celia always seemed different at night. During the day everyone had a place to be, a friend to chat with, or an important phone call to make as they passed through the streets. All of the healthy, everyday folks filled the city with a chaotic hum. At night, they all retired; they preferred to stay indoors, where it was safe and comfortable. Those who took to the streets under the moonlight were the odd ones: the outcasts, the night owls, the ones who roamed the streets endlessly in search of booze, drugs, or pleasure. Most of the crime in Santa Celia took place in the silence of the night. The day was for the citizens, but the night was owned by the criminals.

The word silent is a term used loosely in Santa Celia. While nights in Santa Celia are considered silent compared to the cacophony of the day, the quiet never lasts longer than five minutes at best. Intermittent sounds fill the night with eerie tones. A car speeds through the streets, its tires screeching as it makes a sharp turn. In the distance, the shouts of a drunk man echo against the walls of an alley. In another direction, an infants cry is heard through an open window. Another way, a gunshot fills the air and soon sirens wail through the streets.

Eli stepped soundlessly through the shadows, her feet barely making a sound against the concrete as she listened to these sounds. Her bright eyes peered through the lace mask, slowly taking in her surroundings. Which direction would she take tonight? Would she venture far away from her side of the city, or stay in the area she knew as well as the back of her hand? She couldn't decide, so she continued to stroll through the night, listening and waiting for a chance to take action. She found herself heading downtown, where she was familiar with the stretch of bars and clubs mixed into the lavish restaurants and shopping centers of Santa Celia. There was always trouble where there was booze.

It didn't take long before Eli could hear a distant cry of help, followed by a muffled scream. Eli's head snapped to look in its direction before her body turned and dashed towards it. As the distance between herself and the scene shortened, she could could hear two gruff voices speaking alongside the terrified whimpers of a distressed woman. She neared the corner of a wall and pressed her back against it before slowly peeking around the corner into the alley. Two men roughly in their late-twenties had a woman no older than 24 pressed against a dumpster. A scraggly, small man covered the woman's mouth with one hand, and in the other hand he held a gun at her stomach. A tall, ghostly man was rummaging through her purse and pocketing any cash, credit cards, or other items he deemed valuable. He finished quickly and tossed the purse aside, then turned to look at his partner. "Get 'er jewelry. This bitch came out of The Parlour. She must'a paid at least a hundred bucks to get in. Nobody's gonna walk inta that kind of club wearing fake diamonds."

The shorter one grinned, bearing his yellow teeth to the woman. "Alright, lil lady. Take off your jewelry, hand it over to my buddy here, and you'll get out of this okay. Any funny business and you'll regret it. Capiche?" The woman, overwhelmed by her fear, simply wailed into the man's hand. The man growled and moved to press the gun against her head. "Now!" Eli felt her entire body tense with rage as the woman became nothing more than a sobbing mess. Without another second to waste, she stepped into the alley and pulled the baton from her waist. It snapped open, and Eli hit it against a metal pipe close by. As the men were startled by the noise, Eli focused her mind on theirs and altered their perception of the sound to be loud enough to overwhelm their eardrums.

The taller man collapsed to his knees, covering his ears and groaning. “What the fuck!?” He wailed. His partner cried out, removing his hand from the woman's mouth to cover his ear. He turned to see Eli standing five feet before them, poised next to another pipe in case she needed to replicate the sound. “Who the fuck are you?” He shouted as he released the woman and covered his other ear with the gun. The woman sunk to her knees and stared at the men as if they had gone crazy. To her, the noise had barely been enough to cause an echo in the alley.

Eli glared at the men before her and gripped the baton tighter. [color=lavender]“Give the woman back her belongings or you’re going to find out the hard way,”[/color] she hissed. As an incentive, Eli banged the baton against the pipe once more, raising the volume of the sound loud enough for them to think they felt pain. The men wailed together, each clutching at their ears tighter than before.

“Fuck. [i]You.[/i]” The man with the gun growled through his teeth. The second man seemed to agree with his partner. “Shoot her, Russ! She ain’t human!” Just as Russ began to aim his gun towards the masked woman, Eli raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Within seconds, the men’s perception of depth drastically malfunctioned. The ground beneath them fluctuated like a wave in the ocean, and the walls in the alley seemed to sway like trees in the wind. Their heads were suddenly overcome with dizziness and nausea. Both men groaned, and the shorter one joined his partner on the ground. The gun fell from Russ's hand\ and clattered against the concrete. Eli swiftly stepped forwards to kick it aside. "Uugghh, I'm gonna be sick," Russ moaned aloud. "What the fuck is goin' on?" His partner didn't respond; instead, he turned and proceeded to empty his stomach onto the ground.

Eli grimaced at the sight. She quickly turned her attention elsewhere, to the woman who still sat in shocked silence. [color=lavender]"Are you alright? Don't worry, they'll be like this long enough for the police to arrive."[/color] As the woman seemed to collect herself, Eli grabbed her purse from the ground and helped the woman to her feet. She pulled the woman's phone from her purse, dialed 911 for her, and gave it to her. [color=lavender]"You know what to do. Take care of yourself, okay?"[/color] She said with a soft smile. She could only imagine what was going on inside of the woman's head right now.

The woman opened her mouth, as if to say something or ask Eli a question, but Eli was already walking away. An emergency operator answered the phone, and the woman raised the phone to her ear. "Y-yes, I've.. I've been mugged.... No, they're still here. Someone stopped them..."

Eli turned the corner of the alley and stopped. She had to stay close to the men in order to keep the illusion going. She saw a fire escape above her and climbed up onto the second story. From there, she listened to the woman give the operator her location and soon sirens blazed through the city. Eli stayed until the police arrived, ensuring that the men were still feeling the effects of their punishment. As soon as the first officer stepped out of his car, Eli disappeared into the night. She was beginning to feel the toll of her abilities weigh her body down, but she pressed on. Eli would not rest until she was overwhelmed with exhaustion. So she continued to stick to the shadows of the streets, ready for the next cry of help to pierce through the not-so-silent night.