Just as a random note, Miranda's voice sounds like Raven from Teen Titans (Tara Strong) while Michael's voice is like Shadow's from Sonic the Hedgehog (Jason Anthony Griffith). And text in bold in the middle of the story represents a Karma Moment.
Wracked with pain, Miranda slowly got to her feet, her eyes fixed on the hand that shot the black tendril. She almost fell to the ground again, pain shooting through her body as she tried to walk. Coughing up blood, she hit the speed dial on her phone, hoping Michael would be up.
"What's up? Sleeping in the bandstand again tonight?" Michael yawned, evidently having been woken.
"I was going to, but something happened," Miranda coughed, her voice more raspy than usual.
"What happened? You okay?" Michael inquired, his usual calm gone for but a moment.
"Some guy with a metal arm attacked me. And that isn't the weirdest thing. When I got him off me, I hit him with this shadowy black tendril," she explained, making her way to the bandstand as people started to wander into the park.
"You trying to tell me you've developed umbra-kinesis?"
"I think so. Look, I'm going to try and get some sleep, then worry about this in the morning. I'll talk to you then. Night," she yawned.
"Night," Michael replied, hanging up. Now at the bandstand, Miranda thought about trying to get some sleep, when screams reached her ears, people running down the street from members of the Black Stars. One of the gang members, however, was making chunks of the street rise from the ground, trying to throw them at the fleeing citizens.
"Give me a break," Miranda sighed, running towards the group. Raising her arm, she shot out a black tendril, hitting the building and stopping the group's advance, directing their attention on her.
"So, the emo witch has powers too? Let's get her boys," the group leader shouted, aiming an assault rifle at Miranda as she rolled behind a tree, bullets and tree splinters flying past her, leaving small cuts on her cheek and ear. Being quick, she shot out another tendril, hitting the man in the chest before getting him again in the head, knocking him unconscious.
The geo-kinetic conduit pulled up another chunk of rock, throwing it at the tree. As Miranda rolled to the side, the tree fell with a resounding crack, the boulder breaking into several pieces, dust billowing over the area. Looking to her earth manipulating foe, Miranda watched as he pulled up another chunk of earth with little effort, ready to throw it.
"Damn it, there has to be some way to turn his attacks against him," Miranda mentally groaned. Watching as the rock hurtled towards her. In a last ditch attempt to avoid being crushed, she thrust both arms forward, hoping something would happen.
What did happen stunned the three Black Star members, as a large claw made of black mist formed, grabbing the rock. They watched as Miranda spun a three-sixty, the claw following her before throwing the rock back at them, unable to dodge out of shock as it hit them, practically flattening them.
"Whoa. That was….something," Miranda gasped, out of breath as people started crowding around her, many of them amazed at what she'd just done. She turned to go back to the bandstand, amazement at her own powers being quickly replaced with irritation at the crowd following her. Combined with her exhaustion, she snapped.
"Would you all just go away!" she yelled, shooting a black tendril at nothing in particular as she face the crowd, her eyes seeming to glow like amethyst flames. She watched as people left, some walking away with looks of disgust while others ran, fearing for their lives.
"Great, now people think I'm some crazy psycho. Well, more so than usual," she sighed, lying down on the wooden floor and quickly drifting into unconsciousness.
The morning light shone over Blackwater, the few clouds in the sky unable to block it. As such, Miranda was easily woken, the sunlight getting at her eyes. Stretching, she took stock of her surroundings, eyes resting on the battlefield from the previous night.
"So I wasn't dreaming. Damn, can't believe all that actually happened," she mumbled, slowly getting up. She watched as people wandered around the park, some of them giving her a passing glance of apprehension. Leaving her bandstand, she slowly wandered around the town.
"Miranda, are you there?" Michael asked, his voice coming from her phone.
"Yeah. Anything up?" she inquired, stopping in an alleyway.
"I just discovered something on the internet. According to some guy named Zeke Dunbar's blog, there's someone just like you, only they have electric powers. Blog has a lot of hits and there's even some photos. If you were here, I'd show you them," he replied, sounding calm as always.
"Really. Sure they aren't faked?" Miranda sighed, letting out a small yawn.
"I'm pretty sure. Listen, I heard a rumour that Black Stars are taking people to the docks, hoping to give them to the First Sons for their research in return for money. I'd check it out, seeing as you have powers now," he explained, hanging up.
"Great. Well, guess my powers are good for something," Miranda muttered, running back out into the street towards the docks. People stumbled out of her way, various insults thrown at her. Ignoring it, she found herself able to run faster since gaining her powers, as well as having what felt like unlimited energy.
With the docks in sight, she leapt onto a drainpipe, climbing up it onto a store roof. Looking down at the docks, she watched as members of the Black Stars herded people towards the boat, most of them wielding assault rifles.
"Quite a lot of them here. Most of them wielding guns. If I jump down and take them on as they are, I'm gonna have a difficult fight on my hands. Maybe I could use some of these gas tanks to take some of them out, but I could hurt some of the civilians. Is an advantage to me worth other people's lives?"
Having weighed up her options, Miranda jumped down, shadows building around her arm as she fired a black tendril, hitting one gang member in the head. As the rest opened fire, she dived behind a wall, firing tendrils before ducking back down. Opening fire again, she hit at least five members, winding them long enough to take them down with a tendril to the head.
With one more member still standing, she vaulted over the wall, running towards him as he opened fire again. She felt some bullets hit, only for her wounds to heal quickly. In seconds, she was close enough, unleashing a roundhouse kick, disarming the man, before grabbing his head, slamming it onto her knee, knocking him out.
"Run! Get out of here!" she yelled, watching as people ran, some giving her thanks. Heading back towards the park, she dialled Michael's number.
"Managed to get those people to safety. Nearly got shot to pieces though," she muttered, taking a shortcut through some alleys.
"Impressive. Must have gained advanced healing with your powers," he replied.
"Yeah, but now I feel drained. Probably used a lot of energy to beat those Black Stars," she groaned, stopping quickly. Looking around, she watched as people walked around, some giving her strange looks.
For a brief second, she blacked out, a vision forming in her mind. She saw herself biting into a person's wrist like a vampire, only the person seemed to be allowing her. A second later, she saw herself fighting a downed Black Star member before biting his neck, draining his blood and leaving a lifeless corpse. The next, she saw herself biting another downed Black Star, only this time, black shadows surrounded his ankles and wrists, binding him to the ground.
"You okay? You seemed to black out for a second," Michael inquired, unable to see what was going on.
"I'm fine. I think my powers recharge when I drink a person's blood," she mumbled, thinking over her statement.
"I see. I'll leave you to it. Just don't kill anyone," Michael replied, hanging up.
"Guess it's back to the docks," Miranda sighed, running back in that direction.
