I stood up quickly, the metal legs of my chair screeching against the concrete causing the two girls to look over at me. I paid them no attention. I could only hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Olivia.
My little sister at home with Nana. After what happened to Gabe I couldn't help but panic. Does The Machiavellian know who I am?
I forced myself to calm down. There was no reason for me to suspect he knew my identity yet. Last night had been the first time The Midnight Hour and The Phantasm had been alone together; he didn't know we were friends. And even though I was friends with Adriana, why would he be concerned about Courtney the regular human?
Though these thoughts eased my anxiety slightly it didn't stop me from looking over my shoulder every ten seconds as I raced home to make sure I wasn't being followed. Some people stared at me as I ran down the crowded sidewalks but I didn't care. It was too crowded and I didn't have the time to stop and hide to change my image into a projection. I was frustrated I didn't bring my suit with me, but it was my birthday so I thought I could have the day off. I let out a humorless laugh. I guess me and Nick had that in common, both getting called into work on our birthdays. Though I bet his birthday didn't involve superheroes and fighting for your life.
As I got to the door of my home I forced my hands to stop shaking to insert the key. Nana probably hadn't seen the news yet and I couldn't let her know anything was wrong or else she would never let me leave the house.
I slipped inside and Nana was in the living room reading to Olivia.
"Hi Nana."
"Hi baby. Did you have a good birthday?" Nana asked me looking up from the book and Olivia reached out towards me.
I nodded my head and forced myself to smile.
"It was great." I went and picked Olivia up giving her a hug before also hugging Nana. "My friends are having a small birthday party for me tonight so I'm just gonna grab some things and head to Adriana's." I let the lie slip out smoothly and headed up the stairs while Nana called out for me to have fun.
In my room I scrambled throwing my book down on my bed and tearing open my drawer to grab my suit. In a haste I slipped my suit on but the spandex kept sticking to my legs from the sweat due to the heat of August. I wanted to scream in frustration but instead a single tear slipped out. I wiped it away quickly. I couldn't be crying before fighting a supervillain. I was just so damn tired. Why did it have to be today?
"You know birthdays are happy days Courtney."
"My birthdays always make me sad. It's only happy now because I have you."
"Well, I 'm never leaving you so I guess you'll be stuck having happy birthdays for the rest of your life."
What a fucking liar.
I finally finished slipping my suit on and quickly braided back my curls the best I could to slip my mask over my head. I didn't even give myself a chance to glance in the mirror before heading out the door.
I projected my image into myself wearing jeans and a nice top. Something I would be wearing if I was actually going to a party instead of fighting a crime. Nana was unable to tell anything was suspicious as I told her I may come home late tonight and headed out the door.
Outside the door I quickly changed my image into that of a teenage boy wearing jogging clothes letting me run down the streets without suspicion. My superpower made it easy for me to hide my identity and get around and I wondered sometimes how the other supers did it without the same abilities.
Wasting no time I took off towards downtown where I had seen The Machiavellian on tv. I sprinted for about ten minutes and my side started aching causing me to slow down. I was surprisingly out of shape for a superhero. My powers were focused on the mental and emotional, I never really had to get involved physically.
I was in luck as I saw The Conveyer appear on the top of a nearby rooftop. His head was swiveling around and I knew he was looking for me as he had picked me up in this area before to transport me to battles. Quickly I let my disguise mentally drop, far away enough from the home that I didn't mind if pedestrians noticed me.
"Conveyer!" I yelled out and he quickly appeared by my side grabbing my arm and pulling me into his teleportation.
I felt dizzy landing from the teleport and I closed my eyes for a second to make my head stop spinning. When I opened my eyes I saw I was on top of a rooftop closer to downtown. I walked to the ledge and looked down. There in the streets was The Machiavellian.
And another Machiavellian.
And another Machiavellian.
He had mimicked Green Facsimile's cloning powers so a blur of Maroon and Green suits swirled in the street fighting.
I felt sick. It hadn't been a dream and seeing him once again and his incredible power left a pit in the bottom of my stomach.
I glanced back at The Conveyer hoping for reassurance but he just gave me a small nod before teleporting off the rooftop down into the action.
Slowly I sank down onto my butt. The Conveyer had brought me onto the rooftop because this is where I was the most helpful. Far enough away from the action where I can focus on manipulating the mind without being distracted or seen by The Machiavellian.
My heart was racing as I tried to come up with a solution. I couldn't be as careless as I was with normal criminals that were so easy to manipulate. I had to be extremely careful with him as to reach into his mind without him realizing it was me changing what he saw. If my projection was too unreal he would quickly realize that I was nearby and start using my powers for himself. That could get messy fast. He had used my powers once before in a fight at the beginning of the summer. He had seen me hiding in an alleyway and tapped into my powers to change his image and disappear into the surroundings. I needed to avoid that again at all costs.
I scanned my brain trying to think of an approach. If I manipulated his environment to believe that he was trapped or captured I didn't think he would stop. He knew my powers were all mental so he would be prepared to physically test anything I threw at him.
"Ughhhh think Courtney think!" I angrily whispered to myself. I needed to act fast as he knew I would probably be later to the scene thanks to my powers not providing me a faster mode of transport like the others, but sooner or later he would be expecting me to show up and would be trying to tap into my powers.
I exhaled as I realized I really only had one option. I had to reach deep into his mind to pull out a memory to change and play out in front of his eyes.
Of course, if he suddenly was faced with a totally different environment he would know I was messing with his mind. This is why I had to make sure it was the most horrible grotesques nightmare that would paralyze him from the complete fear he was facing. I only had one shot to throw an illusion at him.
"Shit." I whispered again to myself as I came to the realization that this was my only option. There was more to my powers than meets the eye, something about them which I found grossly unfair and left me wondering again how I was chosen to have the most unlucky powers of my colleagues.
My powers came with a price. The emotional distress I caused on others created physical distress for me. If I went into someone's mind and placed them in their happiest memory my body would feel invincible and I would feel stronger by the second as if I was feeding off their euphoria. However, if I created an environment in their minds that was horrid, their distress would take a toll on my body making me feel weaker and ill.
That's why I tried to keep my illusions as neutral as possible. I normally tried to scare the criminals just enough to get the other supers to be able to stop them, but not enough to cause deep levels of emotional pain from my illusions. The more ill will I put into my powers the more they hurt me in return.
I wasn't sure why this happened. I thought maybe it had something to do with how I connect my mind with theirs or maybe it was a form of karma or equalling out the energy in the universe. It didn't matter what the reason was. I knew creating a distressing enough illusion to stop The Machiavellian was going to hurt my body tremendously.
I had only reached into a criminal's mind to take their memories and create a nightmare for them once before. The guy was a murderer and had cleverly seen through my other projections. I was so angry when I thought about the person he brutally murdered I focused all my energy into creating his pain. I wasn't able to hold the illusion long, only about thirty seconds before my body collapsed shaking with sweat pouring over me, but it had been enough for The Judicious to capture him. The criminal was sobbing even after my illusion had stopped and I realized just how strong my powers were and how much pain I inflicted on this man. I struggled to find the energy to crawl out of bed for days after that.
I stood back up and peered over the edge of the building watching the fight below. It was almost impossible to tell what was going on as a blur of suits moved around. I saw Sam throw The Machiavellian's body against the wall, but in a second he disappeared teleporting himself behind where The Conveyer had just teleported catching him by surprise. When The Conveyer turned and started to attack him he quickly turned into three of himself tapping into Green Facsimile's powers.
On like this it went as I watched how badly the supers were suffering to catch him. My heart rate started to increase faster and faster as I realized what a threat The Machiavellian was against us and the people I loved. I thought about Gabe's life that was taken so cruelly too soon. And I thought about my own little sister and how that could be her next if I didn't stop him right now. I knew I had to do it.
I stared at The Machiavellian focusing in on the wavelength of his mind until I felt myself connect with it. From my own mind, I projected thoughts of hatred and despair. My thoughts turned dark I pushed pain in through my connection with his mind. I could feel my powers working as they rummaged through his brain like my mind had arms reaching into his own. My illusion kicked in as suddenly I felt the energy being pulled from my body and I saw The Machiavellian stop and stand still as my illusion clouded his sight. I couldn't see what I was projecting but I knew it was working as I could feel the energy leaving my body in waves and a pain over my whole body kicked in. I couldn't give up though as I needed to give the other supers as much time as they could to stop him once and for all. I continued to push negative thoughts and pain into our connection and my vision started to blur.
"Adriana!"
I blinked my eyes a couple of times trying to clear my sight as I moved my head the best I could to see if Adriana had gotten caught up in the fight.
"Adriana! No! Please come back over here to me!" the voice yelled out cracking with pain.
I realized then the voice wasn't coming from Sam but rather from The Machiavellian who was still stuck in the same place as the other supers encroached on him.
I was confused. Here I was focusing all my energy into conjuring up the worst possible illusion for him and he was seeing Adriana?
I couldn't really think about it though as my brain was flogged with pain trying to hold the connection with him. I placed my hands on the edge of the roof struggling to stand.
"Adriana!"
His voice rang with sorrow and I lifted my hand to my nose to catch the blood that had begun to fall from it.
I could hear lots of commotion going on and the shouts of the other supers. I was in too much pain to be able to focus on what they were saying but I hoped it was a good sign and that maybe they had caught him. I tried to guess how much time had passed. Forty-five seconds? A minute? It felt like an eternity to me but every second I could disarm The Machiavellian was a valuable second to his defeat. I put my last reserve of energy into the connection.
"Adriana!" His voice cried out again.
I let out my own scream consumed by pure pain and unable to hold on any longer. Our voices cried out together into the city sky as his emotional pain wreaked havoc on my physical state. As I felt my connection over his mind slip away so did the rest of my conscious thought. Blackness quickly took over my mind as my body gave out tumbling over the edge of the roof.