"She totally ditched the hearing 'cause she don't answer to nobody!" a voice on the radio said.
It belonged to a man who sounded like he'd been smoking a blunt.
"What do you think changed? She showed up to hearings in the past," another voice said, sounding far more sober.
"Everything's changed, dude. Who do-"
The stoner spoke and interrupted himself to cough.
"Who do you think created her? Some guys in a lab? Nah, dude."
"Well?" the host asked.
"The lizards, dude. They want you to think she wiped 'em all out, but that was just the first step."
"What's the next step?" the host asked, noticeably enjoying himself with this guest.
"The moon, dude. That was the next step. The tides are changing and the climate's gonna go to shit," the stoner continued.
"And then?" the host asked.
"That's endgame, dude. They wanna slowly destroy us while we point fingers at each other."
The stoner paused, presumably to take another huff.
"And Sparkles is the key to everything. If she wanted to, she could destroy us all tomorrow, but-"
Tatters kicked the radio with enough strength to crush it, stopping the broadcast.
"Shut up! Idiot!" she yelled.
It was past midnight, and an angry and impatient Tatters nervously paced back and forth across a rooftop. The radio was supposed to help her kill time, but all it did was stress her out.
So far, each murder took place in a different district of the city, and there was only one left. So, the police were all over the place. Unmarked cars surveying the streets, trying to catch the killer before another civilian lost their life. Naturally, Circus was also part of the operation, but she was in one of the cars down below, joining her colleagues.
At this hour, the city was dark and covered in fog. Mysterious and creepy, enough to keep people indoors. As a result, the streets were deserted, maybe that's why nothing had happened yet.
Three hours had passed since she took her spot on the rooftop, and Tatters had to keep herself from phoning Circus and asking if anything was up. She just had to trust that if there were any developments, her sidekick would call right away.
Still, something wasn't right, and it bugged her. The approximate time of death for each victim was earlier than this. Did the killer catch on to the surveillance? Was Tatters giving herself away by being restless before the moonlit sky?
Then, her phone rang with a ringtone she didn't recognize. When she grabbed it, she remembered she'd hastily gotten a new one after dropping her old phone from a building. She still had the same number and all her contacts from her old SIM card that she was able to salvage, so the screen showed the caller as Circus. She'd never picked up a call faster than this.
"Where!?"
…
"You should get some sleep," phone-Circus said.
"What!?" Tatters had to cool down when she realized it was a false alarm.
"We're about to change shifts. I'm heading home, too," Circus explained.
"Just like that? The night's not over yet!" Tatters asked.
"It's protocol, and for good reason."
"I don't tire," Tatters snarled into her phone.
There was some silence from Circus' end.
"…at least walk with me," Circus calmly replied.
Tatters pulled the phone away from her ear and made a frustrated face.
"Fine…" she said as she hung up.
Tatters could vaguely spot Circus exiting the unmarked car through the fog. The precinct wasn't far, so there was no harm in walking with her. At the end of the day, even Circus was a young girl alone at night, and the killer was still out there.
Tatters touched down to the ground in an alleyway between two buildings and leaned against the wall to wait for Circus. In the corner of her field of view was that apparition again, looking at her with its crooked smile. Tatters looked at it to make it disappear and saw a man sitting further away in the darkness next to some cardboard boxes. It was dark and the man was wearing a black hoodie, so it was hard to make out any details. It looked like he was smoking something. Tatters looked the other way. Just a junkie. Probably the safest junkie in the city right now.
When Circus walked by, Tatters joined her. The girl was quieter than usual and looked tired.
"I've been up since yesterday morning. Don't normally get a double shift," she said.
"You don't have to explain yourself," Tatters replied.
Circus looked guilty and didn't respond as they walked in silence.
"Y'know, I'm still on standby. I'll call you if they call me," Circus said.
Tatters gave her a frown. Circus was clearly insinuating that they should both call it a night. Tatters didn't respond.
"You don't have to carry the world on your shoulders just because you have powers," Circus said.
"Don't talk like you know me," Tatters said calmly but with a hint of anger.
Circus looked hurt, and she drooped her head down with a sad face.
Tatters didn't like to brag, but she didn't like being told how to take care of herself either. She healed faster than anyone else in the world, reacted faster than the people around her and could go for days without sleep if she was stressed. Sometimes her body would activate her powers on its own, to protect her. In small ways like that, she stood above every other human being in the world. Just like Jenny, who carried the world on her shoulders.
It was Jenny who motivated her to pick up her pieces again. On that fateful night when she was bested by Dark Jenny, Tatters was able to take on a part of that burden and face the demon in her stead. That same Jenny went to bed one day and hadn't woken up since.
So yes, the world was on her shoulders now, and she could take it because she was better than others. Tatters didn't say any of this out loud, though, and the mood instead turned sour as they walked in silence.
"Is this really the fastest way to the police station? Feels like a detour," Tatters said after they'd walked for a couple of minutes.
They were walking through a quieter part of the city. It was dark and eerie on this night, and as Tatters correctly guessed, not exactly a straight line to the precinct. Circus gave her a tired look that still had a hint of sadness in it, causing Tatters to look away and drop the subject.
Luckily, a nearby scream brought them together again. Tatters took off into a sprint towards the source of the sound while Circus followed. When they turned a corner, the screaming was coming from a small courtyard up ahead. Tatters quickly grappled onto one of the surrounding buildings to get ahead and ran to the edge of the roof to view the scene.
Two people in the courtyard. A young girl with colorful hair tripped into a bush as she backed away from a man in a black hoodie. It did not escape Tatters' attention that the girl was familiar, but her focus went to the equally familiar man in the black hoodie instead. Tatters leaped off the building and tackled him before he was able to do anything to the girl, and they rolled across the ground until Tatters was on top of him.
But the man was not a man at all. Inside the hood was the head of a… robot? A puppet? The thing didn't move anymore as it stared at her lifelessly. It had no pupils, so Tatters couldn't tell if it was even looking at her. It was like all signs of life had left the thing as soon as she jumped it. There were no strings attached to it either, Tatters would've felt them as they rolled across the ground.
Before she could check on the other girl, she was overwhelmed by large vines that grabbed her waist, wrists and ankles and lifted her up into the air. They were powerful and unnatural, and they flipped her flipped upside down, holding her limbs tight and keeping her restrained.
It was only now that Circus finally caught up, running into the courtyard and coming to an abrupt halt as soon as she laid her eyes on the girl in the bushes. A captured Tatters moved her head to look at her sidekick and saw that she looked almost hypnotized, staring at the girl in the bushes and doing absolutely nothing.
Tatters, still upside down, moved her head back to the subject of Circus' gaze and saw that the vines that restrained her came from the bushes beneath the girl.
Tatters inspected her and concluded that it was indeed the same one who took a picture with her before. Only this time, she wore a red armband around her left upper arm, with the Adventurer's Guild insignia and the number two on it. The same as the piece of cloth that was left at one of the earlier crime scenes.
The girl stood up with a grin on her face and walked away from the bush, making sure to wrap a single vine around herself to maintain contact with the unnatural plant. As she walked, she lifted Tatters further away from herself to maintain a safe distance. When the lifeless puppet from before came back into her field of view, Tatters saw that it was now sitting upright, like the girl was somehow controlling it, too.
But the mysterious girl had no business with Tatters just yet, and instead walked up to Circus, who looked back at her with infatuated eyes.
"You've been an absolute doll," she said as she tapped Circus' forehead.
When she did, Circus' overall expression changed back to normal, and she took some steps back as she caught up to the present moment.
"H-Huh!? What's going on?" she asked as if she just woke up.
"What did you do to her!?" Tatters asked angrily.
The mysterious girl didn't give Circus an opportunity to act, though, and additional vines appeared from the bushes behind, grabbing Circus and restraining her in the same way they did Tatters. In Circus' case, though, one vine covered up her mouth and prevented her from speaking.
"And here I was worrying if our trap was too simple," the girl said, ignoring Tatters' question.
"You killed those people!" Tatters yelled, hoping to take the girl's attention away from Circus.
The girl started laughing and walked over to Tatters.
"You've gotta put in a little effort to make things believable."
"You're killing people just for an act? For what!?" Tatters asked.
The girl ignored the question once more and stopped when she stood within arm's reach of Tatters.
"I've read about you, black cape! You've got quite the body count yourself!"
"I've put that life behind me, but I'll make an exception for you," Tatters responded calmly.
"Scary! Scary! Even upside down!" the girl said cheerfully and reached out to poke Tatters' forehead with her finger but stopped like she'd changed her mind at the last second.
"Oops! Almost got me!"
Instead, the girl pulled her arm back and started walking in a circle around her restrained opponent.
"What are your powers really?"
"You first," Tatters quickly answered.
The girl didn't rotate Tatters along, so she eventually disappeared from Tatters's field of view.
"Can't you tell? I control all life, cupcake. Including you!" the girl replied from behind her.
Tatters' eyes twitched. Was already she under the girl's control, just like Circus before her? Just by indirectly being in contact with her through the vines?
"What about the puppet?" Tatters asked and laid her eyes on the thing.
"Oh, don't worry about him," the girl said dismissively and hurried to poke her head back into view from the other side, "more importantly, aren't you excited to finally meet someone else with superpowers?"
"I don't really care," Tatters replied.
"Geez! Did your parents beat you when you were a child? You are NO FUN!" the girl yelled.
Tatters couldn't tell if she was being serious or just putting on an act. Either way, she didn't let these provocations get to her.
"What do you want?" she calmly asked.
The girl's face took on a seductive look, and she took a step forward. Then, coming out of nowhere, Tatters smelled the girl's intense perfume, even though she hadn't smelled a thing up until now.
"You," the girl answered lustfully.
She took another step forward and ran her tongue across her lips.
"When I saw you on the news, I knew I just had to have you."
She stared at Tatters' lips with a lustful look in her eyes.
Tatters could hear a muffled Circus trying to yell something from behind, but there was no way to discern the words. Even still, she could put two and two together. The smell of perfume was already starting to make her feel lightheaded, and Tatters concluded that this witch was about to put her under the same mind-controlling spell as Circus.
"And, maybe afterwards, you could introduce me to Jenny?" the youthful witch giggled, "I'm a biiig fan…"
Nasty thoughts were already running through Tatters' head. Under complete control of this witch, forced to do unspeakable things to her friends at the whims of some psychopath…
"No…" Tatters muttered with a distraught look in her eyes.
The witch closed her eyes and moved in for a kiss, and Tatters panicked. A kiss? Forget about getting mind-controlled, she wasn't about to have her first kiss stolen by some villain!
In a gut reaction, she spat on the witch's face.
Bullseye. The witch froze in place before her lips touched and slowly opened her eyes as the realization set in. She had a look of shock on her face, l like her prey wasn't supposed to be able to move a muscle. Their faces were so close they were almost touching, and in a moment of pure tension, the world made no sound. The witch looked at Tatters like a lion veterinarian whose patient had just woken up mid-surgery.
But someone had to make the next move, and that was the witch. Unable to resist the itch, she moved her hand over her face to wipe off the saliva.
And at that moment, Tatters took the opportunity and used her powers on her cape and shoes to disintegrate the vines around her waist and feet. Due to there being no extra layers beneath her gloves to protect her skin, she then had to kick her feet up high enough to break the other two vines that were holding her wrists.
Following her complete unshackling, she landed on the ground and pulled her cape over her arm, then leapt at the witch, who had only taken a single step back in the mere second it took Tatters to escape the vines. Judging by her body language, the witch was taken completely by surprise and had no backup plan.
The cornered witch jumped back in a panic and lunged a single vine at Tatters, only for it to disintegrate into the blue-glowing cape and offer no help.
Tatters' turn. She grabbed the witch's forehead and slammed it straight down, causing the back of her head to hit the pavement hard enough to hear her skull crack.
Tatters quickly recovered her posture and checked on the puppet. It still sat in the same spot as before, but now with its mouth wide open, like it couldn't believe what just happened. Other than that, the thing hadn't moved a single joint, so she returned her attention to the downed witch.
Tatters beheld the latest addition to her body count and saw a puddle of blood slowly forming underneath the witch's head. She looked at the palm of her gloved hand and felt her heart aching with regret.
Hopefully never again…
Her own words, from not too long ago.
The seconds after that felt like they lasted forever. All while the puddle of blood slowly spread across the ground, and Tatters had to take a step back to not get any of it on her shoes.
"…"
"Weakling!" Tatters snarked out of frustration and turned around.
She joined Circus, who slowly wiggled her way back down as the vines restraining her lost their power.
"She's dead, right?" a worried Circus asked as soon as the vine covering her mouth gave way.
Tatters nodded as she helped get the last of the vines off Circus' legs. Meanwhile, Circus reached for her radio and flipped a switch on it, triggering an orange blinking light. Then, she grabbed her gun and aimed at the puppet, which still sat there with its mouth wide open.
"You must be Lock, then?" she said.
Tatters looked back at the puppet in surprise. It stared at Circus, and Tatters couldn't remember if it was already looking in this direction before, or it had been moving its head.
"It doesn't belong to her?" Tatters asked.
Circus shook her head.
"The one you just killed was Satchel the Witch. Controls biology, but the details are vague. Despite her looks, she was over one-hundred years old."
"So, she really was a witch?" Tatters mumbled and gave the mysterious girl another look. She certainly looked physically younger than herself, but her attitude had an entitled edge to it, befitting an older woman.
"As for him…" Circus continued, looking straight at the puppet. "That's not really him. He controls wireless puppets, so his real body could be anywhere."
Tatters checked the puppet out. It was wearing a black hoodie and some old jeans. Definitely the figure from the alleyway before. This whole thing was a setup, and the witch had help from a mind-controlled Circus and this puppet.
Then, the puppet twitched its head and Circus immediately pulled the trigger, shooting its head off. At the same time, her colleagues entered the scene and pointed their own guns at the thing.
"Machine gun in its mouth," Circus said.
The puppet recoiled from the shot but didn't fall over. Instead, it got on all fours in a creepy manner and jumped on top of Satchel's body like a spider. Tatters jumped in front of Circus and covered herself in pink. Capturing the puppet was meaningless, and nobody else was going to die tonight if it was up to her.
The puppet grabbed the witch's body with one arm, clearly intent on running away with it. Tatters leaped forward and lunged at it with her umbrella, but the puppet skillfully slipped past its blue hue and circled around her with surprising agility. The thing moved like it weighed nothing at all, even when carrying the body. At the very least, Tatters was fast enough to react and turned around before it was able to attack her from behind.
Instead, she took a blade to the chest, which naturally did not penetrate her shirt, although it still hurt. The blade extended from the thing's forearm, and its hand was dangling underneath, having come off to reveal the hidden weapon. Circus and the police were hesitant to shoot the skinny puppet, now that Tatters was in a position to catch any stray bullets.
The puppet retracted the blade back into its forearm, and Tatters threw her cape in front of her body and activated her power on it.
"Now!" Circus yelled as she fired at the puppet.
Her colleagues caught on quickly and emptied their guns on the thing as well. Tatters couldn't resist the impact of the stray bullets, even with the impenetrable cape, and fell to the ground. Unable to see what was going on, she could only hear the puppet's clunking footsteps getting further and further away, along with the bullet impacts. It was escaping. The cops were already radioing the others, and some were running after the puppet.
Tatters tried to get up but flinched from the pain of her wounds when she did. That thrust of the puppet's blade to her chest dealt far more blunt damage than she thought. One of the stray bullets had also hit her left upper arm, which was a massive source of pain.
The puppet was already gone, having disappeared into the dark alley, covered by fog and leaving a trail of blood from the witch's body. She was in no condition to chase it anymore, and she had no choice but to leave it to the police.
Tatters sat on one knee and rubbed her upper arm as Circus joined her.
"Uhh, sorry… I thought-"
"It's fine!" Tatters snarked as she looked away.
"…"
"…good job," she added.
"Oh…" Circus said, looking surprised.