Project Getaway - TommyInnit's 'Taxi' Service

Chapter 8: Consequences

From that point onwards, any action that resembled anything other than retrieving the litter, and the officer's cold, accusing stare would follow Tommy for the next five minutes. It was like a walk of shame as looks were shot at him, even by petty criminals, as he was forced to pick litter on the side of the road. He visibly deflated as he stabbed a piece of rubbish.

"You're a speedster," A voice from behind Tommy stated bluntly.

He turned around. It was a young woman with bright pink hair who looked like she had been plucked directly from south side. Underneath the obligatory blaring yellow jacket, she wore a striped jumper made of a woollen material resembling cashmere. The woman held herself with something of a condescending and prideful air and looked like she should be doing anything but spending her Friday morning picking litter up for community service. She looked at him, carefully studying him almost as much as the officer.

He nodded, casting a wary look at the woman "I am," He responded dryly.

"You're new here, aren't you?"

"To the whole community service thing? Yeah." Tommy admitted with an irritated scoff, "That obvious?"

"It's very obvious," Another voice chimed in, "No one with even an ounce of experience with community service speaks to the probation officer like that."

Tommy angled his head towards the source of the second voice and was unable to conceal the surprise on his face. "Wilbur?!" He spluttered. Sure enough, Wilbur stood there, in all his questionable glory - needless to say the hi vis jacket put a damper on his style. "What are you doing here?" Tommy asked, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"The same thing as you, apparently," He responded, "Community service."

"You two know each other?" Niki asked, though she hardly seemed shocked.

"He's the fucker who's fixing Phil's car," Wilbur explained. Niki hardly seemed entertained as she responded with a dry 'ah'.

"Why are you even here?" Tommy asked, "I mean what did you do to get community service?" He didn't know him very well, but he couldn't possibly fathom Wilbur committing any sort of crime.

"Trespassing," He admitted.

Tommy snorted, "Really? That's it?"

"Well, what did you get busted for?" The woman abruptly asked as she jabbed at a soggy piece of cardboard with her litter picking.

"I didn't register my superpower," Tommy replied, mimicking her action, slowly but surely his bin bag was starting to fill up, "What about you?"

"The same reason, actually."

Tommy's eyebrows raised as he cast another look at the woman, searching for any indication of her power, "Really?"

The woman must have decoded Tommy's awestruck gaze for she nodded and, as Tommy stared in horror, mouth falling agape, her face twisted and contorted until it was a whole other person staring back at him. No longer was the pink-haired girl standing in front of Tommy, but in her place, there was now a slender woman with hollow cheeks and dark eyes. Wilbur laughed in amusement.

"Shapeshifting," She explained with a singular word as if Tommy hadn't figured that out by now, "I'm just lucky they never caught on with all the identity fraud," She stated far too casually, softly laughing as her face shifted back. Tommy laughed along, dryly. He couldn't decipher the seriousness of her statement, "I'm Niki, by the way," The woman, Niki, said, offering her hand out, "I'm one of Wilbur's friends."

"Whoa," He replied, glancing at Wilbur, "You have friends!?" (HAhahHHH)

Wilbur scoffed, "Piss off."