She adjusted her head back and forth, changing the cheek that was touching the ice every time she stopped feeling it. It'd been almost an hour in the freezing cold now, stripped of her trusty cape that normally kept her warm. This back-and-forth motion was all she could do to keep herself warm due to her arms and legs being tied to a plank.
The cartel had learned a lot about her powers in the past few years, and they'd put a lot of thought into the way they restrained her. Her bare hands and ankles were strapped tightly against the piece of wood, leaving her unable to use her powers to break free without fatally hurting herself.
Attached to the end of the plank was a chain that was anchored to the ice, making her unable to escape, even if she could stand. The people that did this to her believed they were offering her up to what they called the "Sleeping God" that supposedly slumbered underneath the massive frozen lake that surrounded half of the city.
On that lake, there was a specific location referred to as the Sleeping God site, and the girl was right on top of it. A massive, blurry shape that looked like a closed eye if you looked from high up enough. The girl didn't believe it, and neither did the one man who stayed behind to keep her company.
"Are you gonna kill me?" she asked the man.
"I don't think I'll have to," he replied as he lit another cigarette.
"You don't actually believe that dogshit, do you?"
"Not really, no," the man huffed. "What can I do? People like a little ceremony," he said as he looked over his shoulder at some faded blood stains on the ice behind them, smeared towards the distant woods at the end of the lake.
The older man talked to her like a friendly uncle. He was well-dressed and gave off the impression that he could befriend anyone. The girl turned her head again, away from the man. A lock of blond hair landed on her nose, and she blew it away.
The girl worked alone, so nobody was going to come to save her. In addition to the unbearable cold, the girl was bruised all over from the beating she took when her enemies ambushed her behind a restaurant, back in the city. Even if this man kept his hands off her, she would not take long to die.
"I like you," he said as he rubbed his cigarette on the ice, then tossed it aside.
"Bullshit! You did this!"
"I like watching you work. But now that I'm in charge, I cannot be selfish and play a cat and mouse game with you using my staff as coin."
In just two days since becoming the new boss, this man took the cartel's biggest headache to her own live funeral, a feat none of his predecessors had ever managed. Even if she somehow managed to kill this guy too, there'd be an endless supply of people to take his place.
"As a token of my gratitude—" he stood up, "for everything you've given me, I mean. And I do mean it! I will give you a chance and leave you be."
The man reached over and tapped her cheek "I know you'll figure something out. You always do."
He walked over to his car and waved at her without looking back. Before he closed the door, the hand he was holding up turned into a thumbs up, then he pulled it shut and took off to go after his staff. The sound of his car got quieter until it disappeared, leaving her in complete silence.
The Sleeping God site was far away from the city, closer to the outer woods than the old harbor, and there was nothing nearby except for the icy expanse. She turned her body again. No matter how she moved, she couldn't make out that whatever she could see underneath the ice was a supposed to be a closed eye, like people said it was.
The girl grunted as she tried to pull her hands and feet free with all the strength she could muster, but the restraints were just as solid as they were an hour ago. Instead, she rolled over so she could look at the starry sky, periodically wiggling left and right to alternate which hand touched the ice, like she did with her cheeks.
The more time passed since the man left in his car, the more she was able to make out the sounds of her environment. She looked at the stars and listened to the universe, making peace with the fact that she would really die here. She tried to listen to any sounds coming from beneath the ice, from the supposed Sleeping God whose eye she was on top of, but she didn't hear or feel anything. In this strangely peaceful moment, the girl started second guessing herself and wondering if the local myth could be real after all.
The man said she would figure something out, but she didn't believe that at all, especially now that she was starting to lose focus from the cold. She never did anything special, bad people just had a tendency to run into the weapons she pointed at them.
Eventually, a faint reddish pink object moved around in the sky, far away, approaching the city. The girl blinked and wondered if she was starting to hallucinate. Whatever it was, it had covered an incredible amount of distance in the few seconds since she first spotted it, having already reached the city. Wherever it went, it gave the sky a pink hue, like an aurora, gradually coloring the whole horizon pink as far as the eye could see.
It was now flying in circles around the city, spreading its pink glow across the sky, making the girl feel like she was dreaming. It moved in a way that made it seem alive, like an actual person was gliding through the air, flying with their arms outstretched.
Then, it changed direction and headed the girl's way. When it passed over her, she could see a humanoid figure with silver hair radiating all the colors of the rainbow around it. The figure was holding something which the girl could not discern, and it looked comfortable up there. At this point, the girl had all but forgotten about the cold, and she was instead feeling relaxed.
The flying object didn't seem to notice the girl and instead flew along the edge of the outer woods as part of a long detour back to the city. She watched it get smaller and more distant, and she felt cold again, having been reminded of her predicament. The girl looked back up at the sky above and understood that she wasn't likely to live long enough to discover what the object was.
Then, her calm moment was disturbed by the sound of an explosion in the distance. It came from the gas pipeline that ran to the city above the ground, and when she looked, the girl saw the object in the sky firing a red beam of laser at it and blowing it up.
In response, the girl closed her eyes and eased her head back down on the ice, like it was all just a dream and none of it mattered.
…
When she opened her eyes again, she woke up to a pack of wolves circling her. She gasped and looked up at the sky, only to find the object and any pink trail of it had disappeared. Did she doze off and dream it all up?
More importantly, these wolves were here to take their prize.
Even those who didn't believe in the Sleeping God knew that anyone offered here above this eye would eventually disappear without a trace. However, anyone with a bit of critical thinking could reason that the offers were simply taken by wolves from the outer woods. Now, it was her turn.
One of the wolves approached her and got close enough to sniff her face, and all she could see was its snout covering up her field of view. She closed her eyes and accepted what was about to happen.
But then, she felt a warm tongue on her face. The girl opened her eyes to find the wolf licking her.
"W-What?"
She looked almost disappointed at this, scared they were going to lick her and then leave her to freeze to death anyway. More wolves from the pack came over to join in, and they all licked her like they were familiar with her. If this was any other moment in her life before this one, she'd probably enjoy this more.
Eventually, one of the wolves started chewing on the ropes restraining her hands. Another followed, working on her feet. One by one, the ropes tying her to the plank came free, and she slowly sat upright, struggling to believe what was happening. Some wolves pressed their bodies against her to warm her up while others continued to lick her face, and the girl moved her shivering hand to start petting them.
This went on for about a minute until the biggest wolf stepped away from her and looked at the city, then back at her, as if to tell her where to go. Slowly, the others stopped licking and cuddling her and gathered around what was probably the alpha wolf, until the pack walked off, returning to the outer woods. The girl saw them off, realized just how much they'd warmed her up, then rubbed her cheeks and got up.
She walked over to the plank and broke it in half, then picked up one of the pieces to serve as a shield and a weapon. After all, if the man wasn't lying and truly expected her to find her way back, he would be waiting.
♦
When she finally reached the old harbor, the girl saw her welcome party waiting at the gate leading to the city. Oddly enough, she felt a sense of relief at the sight of life, even if they were likely to take hers. The girl hadn't done anything subverting their expectations when she made her way back, so the odds were not in her favor walking into an ambush like this.
The man from before was sitting in front of a truck on a plastic camping chair, surrounded by armed staff. When he saw the girl, he started clapping his hands above his head, then turned to a man next to him who reluctantly handed him some cash.
"Thank you, dear," he said as he stuffed the cash in his breast pocket, then addressed the girl. "You almost—" the man stood up with the chair stuck to his behind, so he had to pry it off. "You almost didn't make it on time! We agreed on an hour, we did!"
He waved his finger back and forth between himself and the other man who'd just handed him cash, then walked over to a girl who was lying in the snow with a bag covering her head.
"Young Lily here never had any doubt about you!" he said as he kicked the girl, causing her to grunt.
Then, he grabbed the hostage by the collar and pulled her upright.
"Or did you, Lily?" he asked and pulled the bag off her head, revealing a girl with a lily in her hair. "You're probably not really called Lily…"
"It's—"
"I don't want to know," the man interrupted her and shoved her back down to the ground.
The girl with the plank looked at the hostage. "Lily" was a waitress at a local restaurant that saw a lot of cartel traffic, and she was eager to share information. The two were supposed to meet last night, but the waitress never showed up, and the rest is history.
"I see you brought a souvenir," the man said and pointed to the plank.
In response, the girl activated her power, making her left pupil and the plank glow pink. Seeing this, the man drew his gun, aimed at the glowing plank and fired a single shot. The plank recoiled from the impact but was otherwise left unscathed, deflecting the bullet like it was made of steel.
"Never gets boring," he said with a smile.
Then, he lowered his gun, suggesting he wasn't going to shoot again. He looked left and right at his staff and repeatedly waved his hands upwards to tell them to get going, like they'd agreed on some sort of plan before the girl got here.
They spread out in an arc around her so they could shoot her from multiple directions at once. The girl in turn gave the broken pointy bit of her plank a blue hue, transitioning from the pink base that she was holding. But it was a hollow threat, and she stood no chance against this many people this well-prepared. When they tied her to that plank, they took her equipment and left her with a stripped-down version of her normal attire.
The girl took a step back and tried to look for anything in the environment she could use to escape her situation. But the man in front of her was smart, and he'd probably prepared for every possible scenario. On top of that, the girl was freezing again, and she couldn't think straight. The armed staff pointed their guns at her, and the man pointed his gun with them. No matter what she did, the girl would not be able to block every single bullet.
Out of options, she gave one final glance to the innocent waitress, who returned it looking pale and terrified. Then, she noticed something glowing on top of the gate under which the armed cartel stood.
…
And they never fired at her. Instead, the man lowered his gun and impatiently waddled her way until he reached her side and turned his head to the top of the gate.
"Excuse me, we are conducting an—" he fell silent when he saw what she was looking at.
The girl thought she was hallucinating again, locking eyes with the same figure she saw in her dream on the ice. As it floated above the gate, it looked down on her with its red glowing hair, black goth dress and black tiara. The figure was holding an unconscious person upside down by the leg, and the moons were illuminating it from behind on either side, making it look like a deity.
The figure looked at the girl with great curiosity, then at the man when he stepped into view. The girl looked over to see the man standing by her side, facing his staff and pointing up as he silently gestured "wow" with his lips.
"No…" the girl muttered when she realized the figure was really there, and what she saw on the ice wasn't a dream. "The pipeline…"
Hearing her words, the man looked at her with a frown.
"You saw?" he asked while pointed up at the figure like he was asking her if it was the culprit.
The girl nodded and the man looked back up again. He shook his head and gestured with his hand for the flying figure to come to him. To the girl's surprise, it obeyed and descended to the ground until it stood in between the girl and the man, not letting go of the leg of person it was holding. When it stood firmly on the ground, the figure's red hair stopped glowing and turned silver.
"That's better. I was about to ask…" the man said as if the figure just took off a hood that obscured its face.
He took a step forward and completely ignored the unconscious person that the figure was draping over the ground.
"Now then, did you or did you not destroy my pipeline, young lady?" he asked calmly with his hands folded behind his back.
The girl looked at the figure and saw that it looked otherwise human with its hair back to normal. Well, almost human. The figure had a strange, empty smile on its face, and its arms had subtle panel gaps, almost like a robot.
The figure didn't answer the man's question. It didn't even give the impression that it heard the question at all, instead turning around and examining the people who were aiming guns at the girl a second ago, like it came to her rescue.
The man pointed his gun at its head, and his staff did the same.
"You're on the news, you know? Brought something with you. What is it?"
The figure turned its head back to the man but did not respond.
Ever since he came into power, this man had been in complete control of every situation, just like tonight. But this was the first time she'd ever seen him sweat, face to face with a mysterious, flying entity that singlehandedly destroyed the gas pipeline not too long ago.
This city was isolated, and it took almost a full day to travel to the next town by car. Without gas, the whole city would be plunged into freezing cold.
"It's rude…" The man moved his gun into the figure's mouth, which was somewhat opened, and inserted the nozzle as far as he could, "to do what you're doing."
Then, the figure bit down like the gun was made of paper, and the man pulled his gun back to reveal that most of the shaft was missing.
With a bewildered look on his face like his understanding of the world had just been shattered, he turned around and walked back to his staff, showing them what remained of the weapon up close.
Behind him, the figure took the other end of the gun out of its mouth.
"My friends, I think we've got—"
Then, the figure tossed it at the man's back, breaking his spine and launching him across the ground. His staff didn't hesitate to unload their magazines at the figure, and the girl jumped back with her shield up, trying not to catch any stray bullets. She could see the figure standing there like the bullets were nothing to it, and she saw the same kind of laser that destroyed the gas pipeline, but much smaller, cutting through the assailants in one sweep.
The girl didn't close her eyes and saw every detail of the massacre, including how the innocent waitress wasn't spared.
"N-No…"
Nothing about this made any sense. Every person in the figure's field of view was cut in half in some way, and the snowy ground was painted with their guts.
Rather than feel relieved, the girl felt an intense hatred for the figure, wondering why she had to go through all this struggle tonight just for this thing to indiscriminately kill everybody like some drunk driver. Ten dead cartel members didn't compensate for one dead civilian.
The girl stood up while maintaining eye contact. She stared at the figure with hatred in her eyes, and the figure stared back at her with simple curiosity. Its pupils were still glowing red, ready to cut her in half. The girl's power could theoretically block anything, including that laser, but something about its eyes told her it wouldn't matter. The way it looked at her, it felt like that kind of logical thinking didn't apply here, and the laser beam was just a physical representation of this demonic being willing people to death.
With her resentful focus on those glowing eyes, it took the figure's feet coming off the ground for the girl to notice that its hair had started glowing red again, and it was taking flight again. During its time on the ground, it hadn't let go of its victim at all. Even now, it was still holding them by the leg, taking them back up.
The girl was scared, powerless and seething with anger. In the sky was a demon, looking down on her and doing to her home whatever it pleased. From down here, it looked like a deity that the girl could never touch, just like when she saw it for the first time, back on the ice.
Eventually, it disappeared completely from the horizon, and the girl threw away her stupid plank and took a closer look at the casualties. All dead, no doubt about it. The man who'd made her night so miserable seemed awfully insignificant now, face down in the snow with his broken spine. But with him dead, she could get home safely and put on some new gear. And after that, use the opportunity to get her trusty cape back.
♦
"Are you saying there's a second, evil Sparkle Princess?"
"I'm saying we shouldn't rule it out."
"That looks exactly the same?"
"Sure."
"Why did it only appear now?"
"Because it's probably just another alien. It's just… pretending to be her, and I guess it all started last night."
"Pretending? Like, pretending to have laser eyes that can take down a fighter jet? Quite impressive."
"I guess so."
"You don't think it's more likely something short-circuited in her head last night and is causing her to behave this way?"
"Don't you think she's earned the benefit of the doubt at this point?"
There was some pause before the host continued, and the sound of a page being turned.
"Sixty percent of our listeners think it's her. Jenny."
"Jenny has an alibi. The police had her in custody when it happened."
"That is not true! She escaped last night. Right on time, too. That's the opposite of an alibi! That's incriminating!"
"I'm just saying she—"
"And where has she been since then?"
The guest went silent.
"You see how this looks?"
"I guess so…"
"And you still believe in her?"
Again, the guest did not answer, and the host moved on.
"Let me put it this way. Even if the false Sparkle Princess theory is true, and the real Jenny saves us all today, she still has the power to wipe us all out."
"That's an old can of worms."
"And there's no better time to reopen it. Should there even really be a Sparkle Princess at all?"
"… There is."
The sound of the interview filled the office at the top floor of the cartel warehouse. The girl had snuck inside to find the equipment that was taken from her, and to take out the remaining cartel members that hadn't heard anything from their leader for a while now.
Crouched by the radio, the girl turned the volume up loud enough to mask the impending violence, immediately catching the attention of the two people in the room with her. Before they could reach for their guns, she tossed a wire with a small weight at the end to the closest target, and it caught around their arm. When it started glowing blue, the girl tugged it and cut the arm clean off.
The second target managed to grab his gun and shoot at her, but the girl covered herself with her temporary replacement cape, which glowed with a pink outline as it deflected the bullets like the plank did before. She held the fabric up as she charged her target and tackled him to the ground, covering him with the cape.
In a panic, the target emptied his magazine into the cape from underneath, but the bullets failed to penetrate it. When gun was emptied, the girl took a dagger from her belt and shoved it right through the cape just as she undid the effect of her power, running it into the target's chest. Then, she pulled the dagger out, turned to her previous target and tossed it into the side of their head.
Wasting no time, the girl retrieved her dagger and checked all closets and cabinets in the room for her equipment. This continued throughout the rest of the warehouse until she finally found her items in a cardboard box, including her trusty, tattered black cape. She swapped her temporary cape for it and immediately felt better, like she'd just been reunited with an old friend. This cape had visible damage and repairs all over it, like it'd already seen a lot of combat. It was also multi-layered, keeping her nice and warm and allowing her to protect herself against her own power. The rest of her equipment included a lightweight umbrella with a spinning canopy and a utility belt with a grappling hook.
When she exited the warehouse the way she entered, through the rooftop, the sun was already up. The girl hadn't slept since yesterday morning, and her body was bruised from everything that happened this past night. She took a moment of peace and closed her eyes, letting the sunlight hit her skin and allowing herself to feel the fatigue setting in.
When she opened her eyes again, the light of the distant star flickered, and she squinted to see what it was. The girl gasped and widened her eyes when she saw that it was the same object she saw the night before, just blue this time. This time, it carried two people in some strange contraption, and it touched down on the tallest building in the city. The girl's eyes filled with hatred and her eyebrows trembled, watching the thing disappear on the distant rooftop like it owned the place.
The girl repressed her fatigue and revitalized her body with fresh hatred. In that moment, she decided she could go on a little longer without sleep.