Shortly after Cass’ mother died, she had met Auntie by happenstance, who had watched over her, and they formed a mutually beneficial relationship.
A loud crash behind Cass brought her out of her reverie. She was beginning to get winded, her skinny frail frame unaccustomed to such a long pursuit. She usually could stay under the radar and not be noticed. Still, the men came, unrelenting in their chase. What do they want?
She yelled for help as she passed a group of teenage boys. They just whooped and cheered, apparently rooting for her pursuers. The burst of anger she felt gave her a bit more gas in the tank.
After a couple more turns, she had the uncomfortable realization that she was in unfamiliar territory. She made a few additional blind turns and the alley opened onto a cross street. The spray-painted plywood and cobbled-together hovels gave way to clean walls, textured and painted. It was like crossing some invisible barrier from the slums to the burbs.
Those damn guys are still chasing me? What gives? No one would care if you got mugged or worse in the Garden. But these guys could face major punishments for committing crimes on official Faction territory. If, and that was a big if, they were caught.
She ducked down another clean alley. It turned midway and as she bolted left, she found that it ended in a large door used for truck deliveries. No other exits were visible. She saw security cameras above the moving door but harbored no illusions that some white knight would see anything and deign to come help. People were sick. They probably would watch like an MMA fight or worse.
Turning her back to the wall, Cass evaluated her options. Maybe no one coming to help would work in her favor. She doubted anyone from the Garden would see her, so she raised her hands, and pulled inward. Energy flowed into her, invigorating her.
The effect caused her hair to raise as the energy built up; she really needed to find a workaround for that. At the worst of times, it got in her face and she couldn’t see. She was tempted to cut it in a pixie cut, but she’d had one when she was young and they just made her look too mousy and small. The young girl would never have guessed her current bedraggled appearance would in time transform to rival the model on the billboard hanging far above the secluded alley. Focus!
The men ran into the alley and they skidded to a stop, knocking the first man down as the others crashed into him. “Yep, you were right,” the guy on the ground said to the leader, who threw another scowl to get the guy to shut up. They turned their predatory eyes to her and slowly began to inch forward.
“Come on now, little miss. Let’s not do this the hard way,” Scowler said.
Hot-stepper licked his lips in a slightly crazed way. His lazy eye didn’t help his look and made his already creepy vibe even worse.
Cass started to extend her hands and began to move the energy out. Energy arced between her fingers, emitting an occasional flash of red or green as the oxygen molecules in the air reacted with the rising charge. Blues and purples began a bit later as the nitrogen in the air began doing the same thing. The men were mesmerized by the light show. Most people typically were. That was, until she sent the energy out in a spray.
Not only was it spectacular to see, but it did a number on men. The attack itself had become vastly more powerful since the last time she’d had to use her powers. How long has it been? A couple years, at least. The men clutched at their eyes, and Cass could see where the spray had etched the men’s skins like they had been sandblasted.
Pockmarks littered their exposed skin like bad acne, which then began to bleed. There was a pretty good chance they had been blinded too, but she wasn’t sticking around to find out. She sidled out into the alley as the men writhed on the ground from their wounds. Two of them were clutching their faces, but the third still sought her out.
As she was trying to sneak past the man who was reaching out around him with his eyes tightly closed, the security camera pivoted to keep her in full view. She flipped her middle finger at the camera as she continued to move out of the alley. The closest man moved his arms as if questing for a towel to dry himself. He almost grabbed her, and she inhaled, holding her gut in to make her profile that much slimmer. When he moved on, she finally tiptoed out of the alley.
As she turned back, she ran headlong into a burly, muscle-bound man in a purple suit. He had a big smile on his face and said simply, “We need to talk…”
“…Aurora,” someone whispered. She broke from her memory and lifted her head. Her stomach tightened at the thought of another impending cycle of torture. Opening her eyes, everything was quiet except for the occasional sound of water dripping. Aurora swept her eyes left and right in the dark, but no one was there.
“Great, I’m going insane,” she said, voice cracking a bit as she fought back the exhaustion and pain that had brought her to the brink.
“Aurora,” the tentative voice repeated. This time she could tell it was in her head, becoming more distinct.
“Who is this?” she asked, wondering if this was some mental super from Purple Faction come to rescue her.
“Aurora, are you able to hear me at last?” Hope was evident now at finally being heard.
“Yes, yes!
