Sheila pulled on her pants. White, tight pants that ended in two thick socks that replaced her shoes, because shoes made too much noise. She took the hood of the reasonably tight white jumper she wore and pulled it over her white-blonde hair, and put on her red laser-goggles over her blue eyes. This was her cape-costume.
‘Do you REALLY need to get dressed up every time you go out?’ Her younger sister asked her from behind, accompanied by the sound of pressing buttons and music from the video game on the TV she was playing. She was blonde with blue eyes, just like her, but slightly shorter and with dyed purple lines in her hair and overall just a bit bigger than Sheila in the places that mattered.
‘Nobody’s going to see you, anyway.’ Viola continued, not looking at her big sister.
‘I don’t want to be caught without being dressed for it, if someone does see me.’ Sheila answered, watching her carefree younger sister playing video games. Playing a game Sheila stole for her, on a console Sheila stole for her, on a TV Sheila stole for her… Stealing a TV had been an effort. The room was filled with shelves, and the shelves were filled with the books, games and consoles that her hoarder sister used to entertain herself. A computer in the corner.
‘Sure. Whatever floats your boat.’ Viola verbally shrugged, giving up the argument and continued playing. Sheila momentarily confirmed that her sister was still playing as she stepped out the front door of the apartment they occupied, and was about to close the door. However, after she had intentionally made the sound of her closing the door, she opened it the slightest, listening for numerous seconds. It wasn’t the first time she had done this, but it had never yielded results, much to Sheila’s relief. But this time…
‘Tsk.’ Sheila realized she had heard Viola click her tongue. Listening closely, Sheila heard grunts from the TV that sounded like Viola was taking a lot of damage. Fearing the worst, Sheila waited a little longer, before…
There. The tell-tale sound of Viola using her power. The sounds of buttons being pressed, the movements in the sofa. They sped up and the grunts from the TV vanished instantly, replaced with the sounds of successfully striking the enemy. Sheila slammed open the door.
Viola flinched, the flickering translucent field one meter around her instantly vanishing. She paused the game and turned in fear to her sister as she realized Sheila hadn’t actually left.
‘I told you. STOP using your power for trivial things!’ Sheila shouted at Viola.
‘B-but, it’s so much easier to-’ Viola started, panicked.
‘DON’T!’ Sheila demanded.
‘It’s not worth it. Don’t spend your time… like that.’ Sheila stressed. Every time Viola used her power, it aged her. During the four months since Viola had adapted the name Speedrunner, Viola had physically aged considerably. Sheila wasn’t so sure she was the older sister anymore.
‘I know. But it’s hard…’ A disgruntled Viola admitted her fault. Sheila knew it wasn’t easy. Viola knew the consequence of using her power, but it was an addiction. It was so tempting for Viola to use it, at any time she had the slightest desire to do things more quickly.
‘Make an effort. Don’t waste your life.’ Sheila said, before closing the door. She stood outside the door for several moments, before hearing Viola inside.
‘Don’t waste my life? What worthwhile are we actually doing with our lives? I’m lazing around, and you’re a thief…’ Viola stated, her voice hurt, before the sound of the video-game started again. Sheila recoiled behind the door. Viola’s words were painful, even though it didn’t sound like they’d been intended to actually be heard. Sheila recognized that what she had said might have been hypocritical. But, Viola was hypocritical, too, using said stolen things while criticising the thief. Guess that’s simply how they lived their lives now. It had proven to work, for now, so why change?
Outside the door, she was now Wisp.
She felt the light as it entered her sphere of influence, how it bounced naturally on everything. She started controlling it, curving it around her body, removing herself from view while redirecting some light to her eyes to give herself a bent view that showed everything around her. Using her own knowledge, she painted the ground below her feet so that there was no trace that she stood there to anyone watching, even though her feet actually blocked light from bouncing below her. She did that instinctively now. Invisible, she wandered off.
_______________
On the streets, Wisp naturally swayed back and forth, avoiding walking into people who couldn’t see her. It had become a natural talent of hers now, acting the ghost, following the path of least resistance. Nobody could see her, even as she maneuvered through a crowd of people towards her target. Her subconscious handled curving light around her, avoiding using any area of her range beyond the bare minimum, the light barely moving even an inch from her skin.
Soon enough, she reached her destination. This was a hardware store, and she looked forward at the boxes containing the newest console Viola wanted. And just like that, Wisp was going to steal it for her. It had simply been part of her schedule. She waited until no customers in the brightly lit and buzzing store were in the immediate area, and then she reached out her power to the box in front of her. To any watching eyes, it’d look like the box simply vanished into thin air. Then, Wisp silently carried the box out of the store.
There. That had been so easy. Her whole suit was geared to making no sound, staying invisible. She held the box with the handheld console under her arm as she continued her game of avoiding pedestrians that couldn’t see her. Some day, Wisp figured, she’d be caught. It was inevitable. But… it wasn’t today. So, now she just headed home with this box. They lived in a villain-controlled area, because there was less chance of being tracked there from stores, but that had its own slew of consequences.
‘HELP!’ Called a hapless tourist that was being ganged up on by three muggers for having wandered into the wrong part of town, before being punched and pulled further into an alley…
Shit.That was not something she wanted to feel guilty about today.
Stay cool, Sheila. It’s not worth it. This happens all the time. You just happened to see it, this time. Ignore it, walk away, don’t act. Don’t risk your own and your sister’s happiness.Wisp suddenly stopped, blinking at her own thought-process.
What happiness?_______________
In a mostly empty alleyway, except for a few garbage-containers and such, the tourist was thrown onto the ground while one of the three thugs inspected his bag.
‘What the… It’s almost empty!’ Thug #3 reported while emptying the bag, notably shorter than the other two.
‘He left the important things somewhere safe before leaving. Smart, all things considered.’ Thug #2 called with a smile and a shrug, longer and thinner than his companions.
‘Smart? That just means we’ll need to break where the things are out of his head. He didn’t travel with nothing.’ Thug #1 said, thicker and more muscular than his underlings. He appeared to be the leader, turning to the panicked, small tourist.
‘N-no, please. Stop.’ The tourist asked, but nothing seemed to come in the way.
‘Only when you start talking.’ #1 said, walking forward towards the tourist, before he stopped had to stop in surprise, something having appeared in his way.
A white little flame had suddenly shown up out of nowhere in-between the tourist and the thugs. It hovered in midair, the size of a fist, and the light of it wandering upwards into nothing like a flame would.
‘It’s Wisp!’ Thug #3 reported, backing away in fright. So, some people actually knew her. Flattering.
‘Oooh, parahuman interference. We might want to step away.’ Thug #2 recommended, also backing away a little.
‘Shut up, cowards.’ Thug #1 told them, before looking forward at the flame with defiance.
Oh. It’s one of those kinds.‘Wisp, right? I’ve heard about you. You play with light. There have been some word running around about those who have been blasted by you. It’s just light. Blinding, but manageable.’ #1 grinned, looking forward at the flame.
Right. Of course. Because you can handle me.‘So, all I need to do is close my eyes, and…’ He closed his eyes and leapt forward, the tourist behind the flame yelping from the sudden motion. The thug swept with his arms, trying to catch the parahuman.
I feel I am being underestimated.‘... Huh?’ Obviously, he hadn’t gripped anything. His hands had uselessly waved through the dancing flame, without feeling anything. Not to say it hadn’t been close. Invisible Wisp had been forced to take a step back to avoid the wave, her one meter range not giving a lot of room to dodge, but she still maintained the flame she was identified by.
Sure, closing his eyes did close away a lot of light. Blasting light or even her laser-pointers wouldn’t be as effective. But, Wisp couldn’t help but smile. Within her range, the rules changed.
She took a soundless step forward, bringing the eyes of Thug #1 into her range, and promptly wrote tiny letters with white light on the inside of his eyelids.
CLOSING YOUR EYES
IS NOT GOING TO HELP
Thug #1 cried out, his eyes opening wide as he stumbled backwards. But, he was already in range. Here, she could control all he saw. Using her control of light, Wisp created the vision of a large, ghastly transparent spectre which launched itself at him and consumed him, sealing the deal by activating the red laser-pointer in her pocket and directed the beam into his eyes, creating the illusion that the pain was from the ghast.
She had subconsciously been saving “ammo” from the beginning of this encounter, light gathered swirling inside her range until she needed it, unseen because none of it leaked outside her sphere. She blasted it all forward at the three thugs in an excruciatingly blinding flash, punctuated by the yell of pain from Thug #1 as he vaulted backwards onto his back while the other two groaned at the sudden bright flash.
Without being able to see, the two remaining thugs grabbed their downed comrade and pulled him away, running for their lives. Only Thug #1 had seen the vision, the other two had seen nothing until the last bright flash. She could only pull stunts like that on people within her exceedingly short one-meter range. Not that he had ever known that she had been that close to him.
Wisp let herself relax, taking care not to exhale loudly. Too tense. She shouldn’t make a habit of this, too likely to fail or cause them to try to hunt her down. It had been the red laser-pointer she used on the thug’s eyes, and she knew how to focus it to cause the effect she wanted. Painful, causes temporary blindness, but no permanent damage. She had a green one for if she wanted to REALLY hurt someone, but this situation had not called for it. Too likely to cause a grudge.
‘Th-thank you.’ The tourist said, looking at the little floating white flame that was still the only thing he had seen of Wisp. She looked back at him, staring at him with eyes he couldn’t see, then let him see her flame flicker out into nothingness. It was really just theatrical, but it looked more natural and friendly than just seeing it suddenly not being there.
Wisp walked away from the scene, mild satisfaction in her veins, stolen console box still under her arm. Her “Wisp” was the only thing people ever saw of her cape identity. She wondered, how long would she be able to maintain this? For now, she had done a minor good deed. Hopefully, that would not cause some villain to actually attempt tracking her down and lead to her downfall.
There were a lot of things Wisp had to worry about, as she slowly wandered back home. Let’s see. They had enough food for three more days. Then, Wisp would have to take her thievery to a supermarket. She took care not to strike the same stores too often, so this time she might walk a bit further than usual…
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Rune_Alchemist