Chapter 1
Ok before I start I need to do a little explaining,
"This is Babbles" the voice in Macie's head that is random and crazy, Babbles makes it hard for Macie to have regular conversations. Babbles is actually based on different ideas and plans I (the author) have been spouting off.
"This is Baddie" the voice in Macie's head that is murderous. Baddie is the voice that thinks killing and violence are the answer to everything. Baddie talks less, but when she does Macie has a hard time telling her no.
I hope you enjoy my little story.
It was a dark night; the stars shone brightly in the Michigan sky. Macie was sprawled across her bed, resting her chin on her arms in her windowsill. The teen closed her eyes as she felt a light breeze, it stirred up the brown hair around her shoulders. Her face was lean and pale, and she wore a long flowing white dress that made her thin pale arms and legs appear longer than they were. Her green eyes were abnormally large and very green. The window overlooked a dirty, stinking alley way filled with trash cans and litter.
Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer!
"Oh Babbles, we just listened to this song, would you stop!" Macie said quietly. She didn't bother to open her eyes; she wasn't talking to a real person anyway.
Oh but it's a good song!
The teen's green eyes slowly opened.
"Sing something else," the brunette grumbled, her gaze cut off by narrowly spaced metal bars fitted to the window. Macie sighed, reaching up and yanking the brunette wig off her head, rubbing the short blonde stubble that covered her head. The baldie unceremoniously dumped the wig on the bed. She owned at least a hundred of them and so she didn't mind if one was tangled.
What am I supposed to do? We have been sitting at this same window every night for years! Another makeover? More online shopping?
We could escape. These people aren't equipped to stop you, just blast them off the face of the planet and we can be on our way.
The girl made an angry huffing sound and slapped a slightly scarred pale hand over her red scarred right ear. Her green eyes flashed and her pale face flushed bright red.
We could you know. Just blast them all, nothing too fancy, just burn their bones.
Macie shook her head, trying to rid herself of the horribly satisfying mental image of burned corpses.
"Shut up! I need to be in here and you know it."
Yeah but if we left we could go all vigilante! We could be a superhero! We could hang with the Fantastic Four. What would we call ourselves though? Sun-child! No no no. Macie we need a name!
Before the insane teen could answer there was a thud, like someone falling from a great height. Macie ignored Babbles and peered through the bars on her window.
I still say we burn them and leave this dumpy place.
"Baddie, shut up okay? I heard something."The voice made an angry sound but stopped talking. All three of the people in Macie's head were quiet while the teen strained to hear. Suddenly there was shouting and a man came flying down the alley.
OHHHHH I wonder what kinda fight we will get to see tonight, man I love living in Detroit. I mean we are in the far out suburbs but still.
Macie ignored Babbles and watched the man in the alley slowly struggle to his feet. He wore the familiar red leather jacket of the Conquistadors, a gang that ran the entire west side of the suburb where Macie lived.
Wo-ah! Who would try and beat on a Conquistador in this part of town?
Shoot him! Blast his sorry ass while he's down.
Macie felt warmth gather in her right palm. She reached up and pressed the now hot skin to her right ear, burning herself severely. The skin of her ear was thick and scarred, like she burned it with her own power frequently, and that's what she did. A gunshot rang through the alleyway. When the initial bang faded away, there were words.
"Killstreak!" It was a man's voice, but he used a sing-songy falsetto. "That's ten in a row!" Macie removed her hand from her ear. A soft yellow glow was pulsing out of her hand, but Macie was so accustomed to glowing she didn't even notice. Just then another gunshot rang out, and a large man backflipped into sight. He wore a red and black full body suit, including a mask. He held two handguns, one still smoking.
"Well looks like you weren't as tough as you thought, big man." The man bounced up on his toes, and giggled?
"This is fun, like a game, only way too easy. You guys are sooo not a challenge! Oh well, I still get paid so guess it doesn't matter in the end. "
Light this up! I wanna watch Mr. Sexy in Spandex shoot dudes!
A light of curiosity burned in Macie's eyes and so she brought her glowing palm even with her eyes. The superhuman took a deep breath. The light from her hand seemed to shift and pull. It gathered itself from her palm and then began to float. After a few seconds Macie puckered her thin lips and gently blew. The little ball of glowing heat rocketed into the sky above the alley, it stopped above the man in red and then exploded outward. The entire alley was lit up as if the alley had its own sun.
Light the alley with our little sun, make the night into day! Babbles sang, her voice cracking with excitement. The light revealed a whole group of the Conquistadors, at least thirty. The man in red looked up, revealing that his white eyes were ringed in black.
"The fuck is that?" His voice was now a deep gravelly rasp.
What now, he's gonna realize you're up here and get you. Shoot him! You can do it.
Macie slapped her hand over her ear and made an angry hissing sound.
"Shut. Up."
"Oh well," The gun toting manshrugged, now using a normal male voice,
"All the more light to kill you by, grandmas." The leather-clad gang members seemed shaken. Three or four of them were already down, their blood spreading across the dirty concrete of the alley way.
"That's it, you spandex freak! GET HIM!" The huge hulking leader of the crew of men brought a large shotgun to his shoulder and the familiar sound of gunfire shattered the air. Macie gasped and Babbles laughed. The man had dodged the bullet. One of his many belts of pouches however was torn and fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Ugh, that was real leather! I bought this as a gift for myself and you just shot it. Why can't you just lay down and die like the dog you are? I really need this pay out. I mean, Spidey's b-day is coming up." The man was like lightning; he leapt and spun his way between bullets and over trash cans until he reached the hulking leader, all while rambling on about how hard Spider-man was to shop for. He reached the red clad leader and before anyone could react there was a sword in his chest.
"That was for my belt, you little bitch." Macie was fascinated, and Babbles was losing her mind fangirling.
Hey, get in on this, target practice. These Conquistadors deserve it, and no one will even think to look for an accomplice. Gunshot after gunshot rang through the alley as leather clad corpses fell in droves before the red and black blur. Then Babbles shrieked,
There's a sniper up there! Macie glanced up at the high fire escape across the alley.
Take him. You can handle this shot. There was a red jacketed sniper half hidden away, he was aiming a huge range rifle at the odd fighter in the alley.
I agree with Baddie! We can't just let him shoot Mr. Sexy in Spandex! He's the only real entertainment we have had in a long time. Macie started to breath hard, conflicted. She didn't want the man in the alley to die, but she didn't want to kill the guy on the fire escape.
Just kill him! He's attempting murder! Just kill him!
Kill him! Kill him! Shoot him dead! Macie slammed her right hand over her ear and raised her left hand, making a gun with two of her fingers and her thumb.
"I am not killing anyone!"A small light grew at the end of Macie's fingers as the heat raced from her heart to her hand. Then she took a deep breath and jerked her hand up, mimicking a gun's recoil.
BANG! Babbles screamed, giggling like a maniac. A small ball of light shot across the alley and rocketed up to slam into the man's leg. The leather-clad sniper screamed and slapped a hand over the gaping hole that appeared in his leg. Macie felt a smile tug at her lips. His scream made her heart pound.
If that felt good, imagine blowing out his head. Macie could see it, his brain splattered against the building, his very existence gone, all because of her. Macie made a growling sound and slammed her hand against her ear a few times.
"Stop!" Before she could say anything else another gunshot rang out. Macie's green eyes flashed back down to see the man in red and black clutching his chest. Blood dribbled out from under his hand.
"You know," he said irritably, but calm, "I just washed this, and my dry cleaning bill is ridiculous." The killer was surrounded by bodies and he was talking to the only Conquistador left alive. The swordsman brought his thin sword down in an arc and completely decapitated the shaking gang banger.
That was SO COOL! Babbles shrieked, laughing and prattling on about the strange man's many different moves. Macie watched the man, wide-eyed. He had a bullet in his chest and yet he was so calm.
He didn't have any problems killing those scuz bags. Macie slapped her ear again. The man was cleaning his sword of blood by wiping it on one of the Conquistadors' jacket. He wasn't clutching his chest any more and was actually whistling, the theme song to Golden Girls. He stood to his full height and Macie couldn't help but notice how very muscular he was. Babbles wolf-whistled. The tall man slowly made his way to stand under Macie's mini-sun. Still whistling, he whipped out a handgun from nowhere and shot the little light. When the bullet had no effect, the whistling stopped.
"The hell is this." He voice was still relaxed and the man cocked his head to one side, raising a masked eyebrow. He shot the light again, this time a few times in succession. Macie was impressed to see that he hadn't missed once.
"Okay. This is getting really annoying."
Talk to him! He's gotta be cute under there! TALK TO HIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Macie watched as very apparent anger flashed across the man's face.
He can get us out. If you refuse to kill them, he can.
"I can turn it off." Macie cried, before she even realized she was talking. The man whipped around to face her window, gun pointed right at Macie's window.
"Yeah, that would be great, and you know maybe next time you shouldn't take away a guy's ele-" He was cut off as another gunshot rang out in the alley. In a spray of blood and saliva the masked man's entire lower jaw was shot off. Macie gasped, and Babbles screamed and then started to laugh. The man's tongue hung from his mutilated face, starting to twitch.
He's trying to talk. OH. MY. GOD.
He made a grunting sound and then whipped his head around. He spotted the sniper and whipped out another, larger, handgun. He shot, but the sniper had ducked behind a part of the fire escape that blocked the shot. Macie could see that the sniper was reloading and before she even thought she raised her hand and shot another light bullet, this one right through the sniper's hand. His scream echoed through the alley way and he collapsed against the railing of the fire escape, blood from his hand flowing fast and hot. Another gunshot and the sniper's brain was splattered all over the wall behind him. Macie's breath hitched at the mix of blood and gray matter.
He isn't scared.
Macie slapped her hand over her ear, forcing heat into her palm to make her own flesh sizzle.
"SHUT UP!" Macie screamed this time, fear causing her voice to tremble.
WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DO IT. KILL THEM KILL HIM JUST BLOW THEM ALL AWAY AND THEN EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT. The sound of sizzling flesh increased as Macie poured more heat into her palm.
"SHUT UP SHUT UP!"
"I didn't even say anything!" Macie gasped and glanced down; the masked man was giving her a very incredulous look. Macie's eyes grew wide in shock. Somehow his jaw was back. She had seen it blown off, and yet there he stood jaw and all. His mask was torn and so she could see that his skin was raw and pink.
"You really shouldn't yell at people like that; it's rude, you know." The man was holstering his guns, and walked casually over to his torn belt.
"Ugh, this was expensive! The leather was right from Cambodia. Dumbass gang banger ruined it.
How did he? Babbles was the first to recover her voice. How is he- his jaw. THAT IS AWESOME. Babbles lost it, going on and on about all the possible ways he managed to dodge the bullet or use mirrors and smoke. Macie finally got her own voice back.
"H-h-how did you?" The masked man turned a curious face to the girl in the window.
"Grow my jaw back? Yeah I have this healing factor that is just about the most amazing thing ever. Wolvie is super jealous, he said so a few issues ago. Well actually he stabbed us through the brain, but it's like the same thing with him."
Oh my god, he's a superhero!
"A superhero?" Macie asked Babbles but the man in the torn mask laughed.
"Well I think I'm pretty awesome but I'm no superhero, more of a super mercenary." Before Macie or Babbles could react the man was gone.
Where did he go? I WANTED TO TALK TO HIM SOME- Just then he reappeared right outside the window. Macie screamed and launched herself across the room. She flew away from the window and managed to land, hard, on her back, slamming her head against her hardwood floor. Pain shot through the back of Macie's head and she let out a small squeak of pain.
Don't worry, we are still here. The bald teen groaned andslowly sat up. The red masked man was peering through the bars on Macie's window, his masked eyebrows raised with an almost cocky grin on his face.
"Well, well, if it isn't a caged little birdie." The large man rapped a knuckle against the bars on Macie's window.
Well hello Mr. Muscular and Mysterious. Macie stood and made her way toward the window, cautiously.
"I'm only here because S.H.I. . knows I need to be," she said.
And because she's too afraid to do anything about it. Macie raised a hand to press against her scarred ear and shrugged at the man outside her window.
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