Anarchy's Mystery

Chapter 5

 "Ooh, sharp!" She exclaimed, her hand returning to her body the moment they noticed it touching the knives in the place of the kids fingers. He cowered back. "Wimp." She muttered under her breath.

"Alannah Steward, we need you to come with us." Simon ordered, the three of them stepping forward as one.

"Yeah, sure. Just put those handcuffs on my wrists..." She said, holding her hands out in front of her. "Oh wait, it looks like I don't have any." She shrugged, grinning. Her hands and wrists returned to their rightful places as she stepped forward and planted a solid punch to the boys cheek. Spinning around, she got a roundhouse kick to the Dread Warden's stomach, knocking the air out of him. He staggered back, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath. Alannah grinned and stepped back, only to have a fist in her eye. Her head slammed back into the brick wall and she collapsed to the floor. She quickly rolled to the side and jumped up, watching the girl who had punched her.

"You're on the wrong side, sweetie." Alannah used a sickly sweet, patronising tone which made the girl glare. The boy stood next to her, the Dread Warden still struggling to breathe and none of the other prodigies willing to come closer.

"Well, this is disappointing." Alannah threw a knife at the girl's foot, which she dodged by jumping almost inhumanely high. Alannah frowned, but turned and ran up three stairs before sending her hands to grab the lost knives. She turned to the two prodigies standing behind her, the Dread Warden now having joined them. 

"No use in wasting my knives." She shrugged as she tucked them into their sheathes and continued running up the stairs. She heard footsteps behind her and continued running. She was near the top when she stopped and looked at the situation she was in.

"Oh come on, since when did you have someone with the ability to fly in the Renegades?" She groaned, looking at the Dread Warden and Jack below her and the girl on the steps above her, hands on her hips.

"Yes, Brooke is quite unique and skilled." Simon replied, taking a step towards her.

"You Renegades really are stupid, you know that?" Alannah laughed. In the blink of an eye she had grabbed a knife and thrown in into Brooke's foot and Brooke was screaming. Another knife was in her hand before anyone could move and was up against Brooke's throat as she sobbed. "Don't come closer, I need to grab my knife." She pulled the knife from Brooke's foot and wiped the blood off on Brooke's clothes. Alannah put the second knife away in its sheath and held the one that still had a bit of blood in it in her hand.

"You probably didn't know this, but I don't actually like stabbing people. It makes my knives dirty and it's a pain to clean the blood off. I prefer to... you know... just kinda tease people, intimidate them. It's fun!" She exclaimed, grinning. She wiggled her fingers in a wave and turned on the spot, teleporting away. While the others all ran to Brooke to make sure she was okay, Alannah appeared on a nearby rooftop and tucked her knees up to her chin, letting the wind blow her hair out of her face. Her face was burning and her eye was sqAfter awhile, she felt another person lean up against her and sit in a similar position.

"How was your day?" The girl asked. Alannah laughed softly. The girl brought out the only nice part of her.

"Crap. How about yours?" She replied, a small smile on her face.

"Alright. I've got another double shift tonight though, so that'll kill me." She sighed, leaning her head back against Alannah's, who avoided flinching, despite the massive bruise that was surely forming there.

"How do you do it?" Alannah sighed, thinking about her friend.

"Do what?" The other girl asked, wrapping her arms around herself, tucking her chin against her knees.

"You're so nice to people Natalie, you get along with them so well. I just... don't." Alannah replied, sighing. "I like who I am, just no one else does."

"I do. But you don't need them to like you for who you are. Not everyone will like you. Danna never liked me. Still doesn't. Only the people you love, the people who matter, they are the only ones who need to love you. They're the only ones to care about." The girls leaned back against each other, each so different that the other but they worked so well together. Natalie was friendly and kind, with pale skin and black hair with a streak of red. She had bright green eyes. Alannah was sarcastic and rude, perhaps a bit psychopathic. Her hair was black, matching her black eyes. She was around the same height as Natalie, not tall, but not short. Her skin was tanned, not dark but not light.

"Thanks for the pep talk." Alannah said, standing up and stretching. "I guess I'll see you soon." She then walked over to the edge of the building and dove off. The wind rushing against her, she felt like she was flying. Even though she was going down.

Someone screamed as she neared the ground and a moment before she crashed into it, she teleported, changing direction as she did so. She landed on the floor of the subway station to the middle of an argument. She stayed frozen in the shadows.

"Winston, we told you that you can't come! It could ruin the whole plan!" The Detonator shouted.

"But it would be so much more fun if I came!" The Puppeteer giggled crazily. No one noticed Alannah's arrival so she stood in the shadows, listening.

"Winston I would have a better chance of shooting the Captain if you didn't cause a distraction and well, distract him." Nightmare replied.

"I think if you caused a distraction, Winston, it would give Nightmare a far better chance of hitting the Captain. He wouldn't expect an attack from wherever she is, he'll expect one from where you are." Alannah cut in, stepping forward.

"No, it wouldn't." Another voice said, joining the competition. It suddenly got a bit darker, a bit colder. "Winston, let Nightmare take her shot. Another Renegade down will be good for us." Phobia was the only one of the Anarchists who never revealed his name.

"Fine." Winston replied, but his eyes drifted to me. I grinned mischievously. There was no way in hell we were letting them go off on this adventure without us there.