summary:
In a world of super-powered beings, there are those that use their power for the wellbeing of all, as well as for the protection of justice, the heroes, and the ones that use them to enact despicable deeds, the villains.
Zion City has had its fair share of heroes and villains, all of them memorable in their own ways, but their current hero, one that goes by the name of Shadik, is, in all honesty, a disappointment.
Shadik, scorned by all, must protect Zion City with the help of her new, inexperienced partner while rebuilding her reputation, but something is brewing in Zion City’s shadows. Something evil.
Something that will bring everyone in Zion City down if they get in the way to its goal.
______
Flashpoint ran after the thief, forgoing the use of any vehicle other than her sneaker covered feet. She dodged between the cars in Main Street as the thief cut through it in an attempt to get away from the masked woman.
She'd been lounging in the roof of the City Hall when she'd seen the three police cars in the small town of Swinford drive towards the east side of town. Towards the new jewellery store.
Flashpoint had run after the police cars, her thin sweatshirt, plastic gloves and leggings doing almost nothing to ward off the early autumn breeze, and had soon caught the thief's trail.
The thief had stolen some jewels, most probably to pawn in some shop afterwards or to sell them on the internet, but he wouldn't get the chance to do any of those things, not when Flashpoint was after him.
Flashpoint threw her hand in the thief's direction and after flexing her fingers, activated her power.
With her other hand, she threw a piece of glass towards the fleeing man and focusing all her energy in the action, expanded the glass.
The piece of glass stretched in a manner similar to that of taffy, looking like hot silicone, before growing long enough to wrap itself around the thief.
The strange glass solidified once again, losing its elastic quality as it created a glass cocoon around all of the thief's body, but sparing his head, Flashpoint was not a killer.
Flashpoint grinned. She'd finally mastered one aspect of her power after five months of work and this called for a celebration cupcake.
The police arrived a few minutes later to thank the hero, who had spent the small amount of time discussing with the thief if vegan cupcakes should not be considered cupcakes, and lock the thief up inside their police car so he could receive the necessary legal procedure.
Flashpoint high fived he policemen, who laughed at the young hero's enthusiasm at helping them save the jewels and disappeared into a public bathroom a few blocks away.
Flashpoint stashed her disguise into her backpack, along with the blue wig covering her brown hair, and made sure her bra strap wasn't showing through the yellow knit top she was wearing. Without anyone catching sight of the hero, Flashpoint left the bathroom and lazily strolled through the flower-lined sidewalks of the small town of Raybush, subtly walking east, towards home, and hopefully, dinner.
Flashpoint walked up to the white-painted townhouse, grinning at the way the leafy and flowery vines curled over the walls and around the windows, giving the entire house a bit of a fairytale vibe, and pushed the door open with her hip.
She pulled her sneakers off and put them beside the door, enjoying the feeling of the wooden floor underneath her bare feet, before skipping into the kitchen.
"Mom! I brought cupcakes from Mrs Sprinkle's!"
Flashpoint set the white cardboard box on top of the marble countertop in their kitchen when she caught sight of her mother, a petite woman very similar to her daughter, dressed in a nice house and pants.
This instantly confused Flashpoint, as her mother didn't dress up every day, and she wondered if she'd forgotten her parent's wedding anniversary, that is, until her mother smiled brightly at her and said, "Spencer, you've finally arrived! We've got some guests in the living room, so please put the cupcakes away, for I don't think you brought enough!"
Flashpoint– Spencer nodded and moved the box into the pantry, her mind whirring in confusion. Who could it be? Her mother wouldn't be worried about the insufficient cupcakes if it was anyone they were close to, so then it was someone they didn't now.
But, who?
Spencer crossed her arms and drew her right thumb towards her mouth, meaning to start biting her fingernails, but quickly shook her hands away from herself.
She hesitantly left the kitchen and went into the living room, a bright, colourful room with many windows looking out into their lush backyard and several armchairs and a loveseat placed in front of the large couch. She settled into the armchair adjacent to the one her mother was sitting in and drew her gaze to the man sitting in the couch.
He was tall.
And handsome.
And twentyish years older than her. He wore a slim-fitting suit which complimented his slightly tanned skin tone and made his brown eyes look warmer.
He was flanked by two massive bodyguards standing just behind the couch, though he looked like he could deal with any threats by himself if the barely hidden muscles of his arms were any indication.
He was also telling her smiling mother about a scholarship thing she'd applied to.
Spencer had never done such thing.
"Thank you so much for receiving us in your home, Mrs Bray," the man said with a dazzling white smile that left Spencer's mom's cheeks dusted in pink. "I would really appreciate if you could give me a couple minutes with Spencer to tell her about some of the finer points of what the scholarship entails."
Excusing herself by saying that she would get some tea for the group, Mrs Bray left the group alone in the living room.
Through the dumbstruck haze of being before such a handsome man, Spencer regarded the entourage with the coldest stare she could muster in the presence of such a gorgeous male. "Who are you really?"
The man let a smug grin appear in his spotless face.
"They call me the Chancellor."
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(First)
summary:
In a world of super-powered beings, there are those that use their power for the wellbeing of all, as well as for the protection of justice, the heroes, and the ones that use them to enact despicable deeds, the villains.
Zion City has had its fair share of heroes and villains, all of them memorable in their own ways, but their current hero, one that goes by the name of Shadik, is, in all honesty, a disappointment.
Shadik, scorned by all, must protect Zion City with the help of her new, inexperienced partner while rebuilding her reputation, but something is brewing in Zion City’s shadows. Something evil.
Something that will bring everyone in Zion City down if they get in the way to its goal.
______
"GIVE ME THAT." She growled, her blazing eyes hidden by the sweat-damp bangs hanging in front of her face, as she tried to snatch the alcoholic beverage from the suited man in front of her.
"Shadik," he called, "it is in your best interest to hold your tongue and sit down."
The man, a handsome lad in his thirties, pointed towards the couch just behind the spandex covered individual called Shadik.
"JUST GIVE ME THE FUCKING VODKA." The distraught woman cried, her fingers curling into her hand as a bright purple light started to grow in her palm.
The man didn't move an inch, not surprised by the power the infuriated female was displaying, and simply gave the glass bottle to one of his many subordinates, who threw it out of the apartment's window.
"NO!" Shadik yelled, running up to the window just to see the shards of the bottle scattered in the ground seven stories below. She pulled on her black hair and turned towards the man. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? THAT BOTTLE WAS MINE! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO THROW AWAY SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME!."
The man more commonly known as the Chancellor stared impassively at the raging female before bluntly establishing that "You are forgetting your place Shadik. We are upholders of law and justice, and not even your involvement with our organization will be a sufficient excuse for breaking the law regarding underage drinking."
"I AM NOT DRINKING UNDERAGE! I AM OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE IN GERMANY AND-"
"You are only eighteen, Shadik. Therefore, you must not drink until you turn twenty-one years old and I am not going to give you leeway to break the law just because you are in a mood."
Shadik growled. "So, you won't let me drink, but you will break the law to keep me in your employ? That's underage labour!"
A shadow crossed the Chancellor's perfectly shaven face, and with a glance at the many superheroes standing in the apartment's large living room, ordered them to grab the rebellious teenager.
The fight between the superheroes and Shadik was short-lived, and soon Shadik found herself restrained by all of them and forced to hear the Chancellor speak uninterrupted.
"You are erratic, Shadik. You are destroying the city more than you are saving it and have failed countless times to either catch the villains or protect the civilians."
"We've been lenient to you given your family history but this behaviour must stop, Shadik. As of now, you are deemed unfit to be the sole protector of the city."
Shadik's grey eyes widened at the implications behind said statement, and a burning blush appeared on her grime-covered cheeks as the Chancellor bluntly discredited her work in the city.
"You are to be assigned a partner, a co-hero if you must. You are required to provide housing but the League will cover all their living expenses."
The rest of the powered people in the room gasped. It was unheard of for a hero to be partnered with another hero for long term situations, and tarnished Zion City's reputation not only in the super-powered world but in the civilian one.
The Zion City people would not be kind to this new, unfortunate hero, not when they already had one, as incompetent as they considered Shadik to be.
"Your partner will be here in a week. In the meanwhile, whenever you receive a crime alert, it will be redirected to one of the available heroes to deal with. You must not engage until your partner has arrived "
Shadik's blood boiled, she was not useless! The Chancellor was stabbing at her already wounded pride with a red hot pole just by degrading her this way in front of a quarter of the League's heroes, but giving her a partner and announcing it?
That was the worst thing he could've ever done to her.
With a wave of the Chancellor's hand, the rest of the heroes released Shadik, who remained speechless at the revelations, and left the apartment with nothing but pitying stares directed at the unfortunate host.
The Chancellor stood from his seat in the leather armchair and stalked towards the shocked teenager. He laid a hand on her shoulder and looked directly into her dull grey eyes.
"You are no Zion, Shadik. Don't try to be something you can't be."
These were the Chancellor's last words before he left Shadik's apartment, silently shutting the door after him.
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(Next)