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Angelica still maintained that all this superhero bullshit was all Alexander's fault.
They were by no means the first superheroes. As long as there had been super powers, people had been using them. Ms Miracle had been wearing a mask far longer than any else she knew of, and Angelica had her own suspicions about Commissioner Washington and the (long retired,) vigilante who'd once been dubbed 'The General.'
Their superpowers weren’t Alex’s fault either, that was all coincidence. Right place, right time. If she was asked she could probably give you the exact odds of it all, but it didn’t take Athena to tell you that they were slim.
She threw a punch, The Manipulator dodged.
Angelica would never have put on a mask if it hadn't been for Alex's passionate speeches about being divisive instead of indecisive; about using their powers for good. Not that it had ever done her any good, of course.
She threw another punch, landing it in the centre of his smug face with a satisfying crack.
Their respective villains could probably say the same thing. If Angelica had had her way, they would’ve never indulged the super villains by actually fighting them. If they’d ignored The Manipulator’s stupid schemes while they were still mostly-harmless, he probably wouldn't have stepped it up. Now he, and his rag tag evil team, made a sport of testing the city's hero's limits. And Alexander insisted on picking every fight that looked his way. Fucker.
Angelica missed another punch. Suddenly something felt off. She stared at The Manipulator as closely as she could while still dodging his attacks and - there.
There was a tell-tale waiver in the air around him, distorting his purple suit just enough for Angelica to realise that she was no longer fighting the real Manipulator. He was probably long gone.
She dodged a vicious right hook (or at least it would have been, if she wasn’t fighting a fucking illusion,) and hissed “Where are you?”
The Manipulator quirked an eyebrow, finally catching on. “Not here.”
With a shit eating grin, the illusion vanished. Angelica cursed.
John Laurens @SuperWatch
Update on the Showdown in Time Square: #Athena and #TheIllusionist vs. #TheManipulator. 4 block radius evacuation order has just been issued. #SupersNeverSleep
[picture attached]
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Maria Lewis @MarieLew
@SuperWatch So I assume you’re going to stay right in the middle of the war zone?
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John Laurens @SuperWatch
@MarieLew You know me so well :p
John watched (and filmed) the ongoing battle from the (relative) safety of a parked car. At this point, the novelty of superheroes was beginning to wear off for most people. Soon they would be designated to the same category as muggings and traffic jams; just more minor inconveniences in New York life.
Not for John though. There was still something wonderful about the scene in front of him, like something straight off the pages of a comic book, only more dangerous and exciting and real.
He watched the Illusionist confuse and misdirect a hoard of the Manipulator’s mindless minions with half a dozen copies of himself, keeping them away from the real fight at the centre of the square. Athena vs. The Manipulator.
It was thrilling; more intense than watching an action movie, more exhilarating than skydiving. John watched eagerly as the Manipulator's sloppy movements transformed into a well choreographed dance, as he gracefully twirled and dodged Athena's attacks, and he knew that the fight was minutes from over. The real Manipulator never fought that gracefully (though he clearly thought he did,) and they were seconds away from Athena noticing the change in fighting styles. John adjusted his camera, focusing in on Athena's masked face.
Then, quite suddenly, there wasn't a fight in the middle of the square at all; the Manipulator, or more likely a copy of the Manipulator, vanished, and though was almost a hundred feet away, John heard Athena cuss. And just like that the battle was over. The minions dispersed, looking rather dazed but no worse for brainwashing, the heroes vanished and the street began to fill with people again. For once, the collateral damage had been minimal. Time square bounced back to life almost as soon as John stopped filming, as if it had been a flash mob instead of a brawl, and he half-heartedly wondered when things like this had become common place.
Chat: SOC (Save Our City)
MsTheO: Why the hell do villains feel the need to attack the city in the middle of the night
BestOfWomen: Ghostbusting again?
Pinky: Ha, Ghostbusting
DoYouMind: Why do they attack the city at all
Pinky: @DoYouMind Alex do not get philosophical
TheBrain: @MsTheO @DoYouMind Do you really want me to answer those questions? Because I could.
Pinky: Please don’t, my head hurts enough as it is.
The hot water pipes groaned. Maria groaned along with them.
She didn’t know what kind of fucked up hours her neighbour worked, but 3am was not the time to be showering. Especially when the building’s water pipes sounded a lot like they were being tortured. Especially when those water pipes happened to be right next to Maria’s bedroom.
If it was just a onetime thing Maria wouldn’t be so pissed, but it was becoming more and more frequent. She hadn’t had a decent night of sleep in over a week.
She groaned again. The water pipes groaned back.
Maria had already tried everything short of actually confronting her neighbour; banging on the walls, passive aggressive glares in the hallway, loud music to drown out the pipes, everything she could think of. Well fuck it, Maria thought, it’s not like I'm going to get any sleep like this. Besides, I'm tired past the point of being reasonable. She pulled on a pair of pants, staggered out into the hallway and began to hammer on her neighbour’s door.
The door was wrenched open from the other side. Maria was ready to start cussing this person out like a sailor, but oh damnn. The woman standing in front of her was 5 ft 7” of toned muscle and drop dead gorgeous, and if Maria hadn't been so tired and pissed off, she would probably would have hit on her. Or tried to.
“What?” Hotstuff demanded, sounding at least as pissed off as Maria felt.
“Your shower is really fucking loud and I can’t sleep.”
“Oh.” She said, mouth contorting as if she was about to say something else, when the window behind her slammed open and a really short dude in black and green spandex climbed through it.
“Angelica have you seen my – Oh, hello.” He said.
Maria stared at him, her jaw dropped. She'd once seen the Queen, in real life. It had been the only time her family had ever gone abroad on holiday - the only time she'd ever actually left America - and, of all the god forsaken places in the world, they'd decided to go to England (it was probably because they'd been visiting family, but still.) and the Queen had been opening some important building in the town, so her family had gone to stand with the hoards of other people who wanted to see the Queen in real life and, for a good 30 seconds, they'd all seen the Queen in real life. It had been horribly surreal, and Maria thought this was a little like that.
Logically Maria knew that the Illusionist existed. She'd seen thousands of Johns pictures and videos and conspiracy theories, so much so that she'd stopped thinking of him as a real person and began to see him as more like a distant, bizarre staple of local pop culture, and as something that happened to other people. Distantly she wondered why he was in her neighbour's flat. She realised that the Illusionist had been trying to say something to her.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, who are you?" He repeated, smiling quite pleasantly through his mask.
“Maria Lewis.” She said, still a little stunned.
“My neighbour.” Angelica added, with much the same tone, though she was glaring at the superhero. "Thanks for letting me know you were dropping by," She added sarcastically.
“Nice to meet you,” Said the Illusionist, ignoring Angelica's last comment altogether. “Angelica, have you seen my phone?”
“It’s on the table.” Angelica said, and they both watched in uncomfortable silence as the Illusionist grabbed his phone and stepped back out onto the fire escape.
To Lovely Laurens: I think I just met the illusionist?
From Lovely Laurens: Maria its 3am, wtf
To Lovely Laurens: Idk? He was just in my neighbour’s apartment
From Lovely Laurens: Of course he was
From Lovely Laurens: Go the fuck to sleep