It was a familiar officer that was designated to approach Jumpspark. The hero watched the more mundane hero approach and had to hold back a sigh. It was clear what was on the policeman’s mind, other than his disapproval at Jumpspark being out at this time and at his age.

Despite how widespread the fact that people like him didn’t need as much sleep- normally- everyone always treated the young heroes like fragile china. It grated, but Jumpspark turned and grinned nonetheless. His smile wouldn’t make it all the way past his mask, but he’d found people could tell if he wasn’t smiling.

“Mister Gadger.” Jumpspark greeted from a safe distance.

The officer paused, then relaxed. “Jumpspark. I’m a constable. How many times do I have to repeat that?”

“Many. What was that about?”

Gadger hesitated. In Jumpspark’s humble opinion, Gadger was entirely too expressive for a police officer. High demand must have caused standards to be laxed. Years ago, going on how long the two had known each other. It was easy to tell that Gadger was both nervous, and would easily cave to Jumpspark’s request.

“One of them got away.” Mister Gadger finally said.

“Two of them got away.” Jumpspark amended. “Tall guy and the last girl.”

“Not them, we never saw those two.”

“Then…” Jumpspark trailed off when he realised what he was being told. “The bra girl. You let her get away?”

The police officer opposite the hero fidgeted, and Jumpspark forced himself to ignore how his hands ended up closer to his radio and pistol. “More that she wasn’t there when we got to the scene. And we’re calling her the grip and swing. You said she had a crowbar?”

“We’re in the alley.” Jumpspark said. “You can call it an alley. But you didn’t answer my question. You hesitated when you approached. Why?”

It was telling how the policeman hesitated again. “Sorry. Trying to think of a way to put this lightly.”

“Do me a favour and don’t.”

Gadger sighed. “Fine. You scared the boys tonight. First two we found were unconscious from electric shock, given that we didn’t find any bruises on their heads. The burns on their clothes were telling as well. You are regulating how much you’re putting through them, aren’t you?”

So they were scared of his power. Jumpspark had to contain a sigh. “Only as much as a taser. Less for smaller people.”

“And you know how much that is how?”

“Extensive and boring power testing.” Jumpspark replied, getting snappy. “We can stop this now, I can’t convince your boys to stop being scared of me from over here. I’m not going to go off the rails because I let some mooks get away.”

Constable Gadger didn’t seem convinced.

“So we caught three of the perps.” Jumpspark somewhat forcefully continued. “Any idea who they are yet?”

“Grip and swing didn’t tip you off?” Gadger asked. The hero shook his head. “It’s not something you normally see in organised crime. At least not where the criminals are all career and in the scam together. The grip and swing would probably be better described as the fall guy, since they're the ones normally left behind.”

“Can’t imagine why they wouldn’t call it that.” Jumpspark commented dryly.

“Anyway, that brings a certain group to mind, but their name is stupidly complex. Starts with ‘The U’.”

The Union of Villains Cooperating Beyond Loyalties. “Yeah, I think I know who you’re talking about.”

“But that’s a long shot. Sure, this looked like an organised theft, but it could just as easily have been a gang that happened on a moment of cohesion. Could’a just been some friends.”

“My two cents is the tall guy was putting together a gang of his own, trying to make something of himself. Won’t end well.”

“Hear hear.”

“‘Specially not for bra girl. That was caught on camera, right?” Jumpspark smirked when the officer nodded. “That’s gonna end up on TV twelve hours from now.”

“If even that.” Gadger agreed grimly. “I can tell you’re getting restless and I don’t like this topic. If you can just confirm your statement, I can let you go.”

Jumpspark nodded and walked, rather than jumped, over to the policeman. Confirming the statement didn’t take long, and the hero was shortly left alone. He glanced at a fence before leaving, and noticed a broken wooden plank. The young hero idly kicked at the loose piece of wood, revealing a small hole that someone small could probably fit through.

“Through there, huh.” Jumpspark shook his head and put a hand to the comm bud in his ear. “This is Jumpspark. Finished up at the shop. Were six, got three of ‘em, no villains.”

“Normal people doing crimes?” A young sarcastic voice responded after a few seconds. “Couldn’t be.”

“Well, we stopped them from stealing…” Jumpspark had to think back. “Ice cream and chocolate milk.”

“Seriously? Them normal criminals have good taste.”

“Then I’ll get you some chocalock for your birthday. When was that again?”

“Fuck off jumpy. We don’t hang in civs. And just because I’m nice, the director checked in while you were on that one and he was understanding, so you’ve been given an extra five minutes to complete that round. Best Friend on the other hand, he didn’t appreciate getting left behind.”

“Five minutes.” Jumpspark repeated, shaking his head. “Sure, let me just get back to the city centre in what, seventeen minutes? Took me half an hour to get here. Getting back in just about half the time sounds doable.”

“Danny got tired of waiting at the checkpoint and you’re the fast one on the team, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

“My girlfriend disagrees. I take my time.”

“Fuck off, you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Maybe. You don’t know. We don’t hang out in our civvies.”

“Right. Calling it here. These are recorded and I’ve said all I need to. Have the report here and everything.”

Jumpspark smirked at the sudden formality coming from the much younger hero. “See you when I’m back.”

“Jumpspark.”

“Lowlight.” Jumpspark lowered his hand and looked back at the gap that the shirtless girl had likely escaped through. After some consideration he pulled the metal bolt from the string and threw it underarm through the small gap. At the same time he unleashed his power, transforming into a mass of energy that flashed into the bolt the instant it would have left contact with his hand.

The hero reformed on the other side of the fence, crouched and with one hand around the flying bolt to catch it before it could skitter off into the darkness of the night. He stood and absently reloaded the crossbow as he looked around. It was a small parking lot.

Jumpspark sighed. “Long gone by now.”

With that, he aimed his small hand crossbow up carefully and released the bolt. The bolt flew away and carried Jumpspark with it. He didn’t notice the girl curled up in the corner, desperately trying to keep her breathing quiet.

~~~

The house was dark and quiet when Lucy finally made it back home. Tension that had been building since she had curled up by that fence broke when there were no familiar cars parked in the driveway. The young girl had the house to herself.

With her hands shaking, Lucy opened the door and locked it behind her before sinking to her knees. The crowbar clattered to the floor beside her and she pulled her knees close, hugging herself in an effort to feel some kind of consolation. It wasn’t very helpful. No matter how sorry Lucy felt for herself, it didn’t change the truth of the matter.

Tonight had been stupid.

So. Fucking. Stupid.

Somehow it was one of her more stupid decisions at the end of a long series of bad calls that finally brought to light just how stupid she had been. Staying close to where the fight happened, while putting her in immense danger of being discovered, had allowed her to overhear a revealing conversation. Specifically, one about the role of the grip and swing.

Lucy had been so, so happy when Gracia had approached her, asking if she wanted to hang out. It had been an easy question to answer, of course she wanted to hang out. She might have said it awkwardly, but it was what Lucy had said. They’d gone and bought coffee at a cafe near school and just talked about stuff.

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Gracia liked her coffee with milk and two sugars. Lucy was the opposite, preferring coffee black and as bitter as possible. That way she’d only ever have it when she needed it, that’s what her dad had taught her. The two girls had talked about that and other pointless things for what felt like an hour of bliss. They had another coffee date, and then Gracia had sprung the question.

How do you feel about committing crime?

Like it was something wrong, was what Lucy had almost said. Then she’d seen the way Gracia was looking at her and figured out it was a test. She wasn’t good at talking to people, but she looked and listened to them all the time. That was just about the first time the latter skill had helped the former, and Lucy had lied, saying she didn’t care one way or the other.

She’d thought the other girl’s smile was a bit wide at the time. Now she knew why.

A sob escaped Lucy. She’d been used. She was the one that was supposed to get caught first, but that hadn’t happened. Now she didn’t know what to feel.

But she knew that she couldn’t trust Gracia anymore. That, more than anything, hurt. More than even the aching in her hands.

And she was supposed to go to school tomorrow. Gracia would be there, most likely. Would she still be friendly? Would she accost Lucy demanding to know what happened? Worse, would Lucy go back to being ignored?

Slowly, Lucy climbed to her feet and staggered upstairs to her bathroom. It was smaller than the downstairs one, but it was where Lucy showered and did her makeup. It felt safe up there. She had no doubt the daring mascara she’d worn tonight was ruined. Running down her cheeks from the tears she cried earlier, and now had seemed to run dry.

Even though there was nobody else in the house, Lucy closed the bathroom door behind her before looking herself in the mirror. All she saw was a confirmation of her fears and worse. Her skin was unhealthily pale under the light of the bathroom, and her eyes were messier than Lucy had thought possible. All that was fixable, either with time or makeup remover.

What struck despair into her was the yellow bruise peeking out from under the collar and creeping up her neck. Still moving slowly, Lucy pulled her slightly burned shirt up over her head and dropped it to the floor. She beheld her own state through the mirror.

Marking out the approximation of a handprint on her shoulder were purple markings that reminded Lucy of branching trees or ferns. Already blotched around them was widespread and ugly bruising, making it all the way from Lucy’s shoulder to part way down her arm. Even encroaching on her breast.

Lucy’s breath caught in her throat. This was what Jumpspark had done to her? She’d thought he used power equivalent to a taser, and tasers didn’t leave more than a bloody mark where the bits dug in. Lucy had looked that up online. This looked like ten tiny lightning strikes on her shoulder, which she knew because lightning strikes had been about two searches after the taser.

She’d need to cover it. Lucy didn’t know if she had enough makeup to do that. Definitely enough to cover whatever might peek through the collar, but from there it got tricky. There was so much to conceal.

Listlessly and much like a zombie, Lucy continued undressing and turned the shower on. She moved to stand in the steaming water and leaned forward until her head thudded against a wall. There she stayed, standing in the stream as much as possible. She’d heard that cold water was good for bruises like this, but she didn’t move to change the temperature.

The hot water was comforting, and Lucy needed that.

That night Lucy did her best to erase any evidence that anything bad had happened from her house before going to sleep. Mostly she just hid the crowbar and the shirt that had spent an hour tied around her face. Then she fell asleep in comfortable pyjamas under heavy sheets. Sleep came much sooner than Lucy thought it would.

It ended too soon, as good things tended to.

Lucy’s dad hadn’t come home last night, which wasn’t new. Her mom hadn’t made a surprise visit either, which was the painfully normal truth she had come to accept. As for the girl herself, Lucy woke to an early alarm and stumbled through her morning routine until she was sitting in front of the mirror with her blouse off, doing her best to apply concealer to the massive bruise.

Last night she had gone to sleep hopeful that things couldn’t possibly get worse and now she was dealing with reality. The bruises had spread and become even further discoloured. Not by much, thankfully, and there was solace in how the rest of her skin had stopped being so pale. She applied the concealer slowly, letting herself use more than she normally would with her face. By the time Lucy was satisfied with the appearance of her neck and allowed herself to check the time, enough of it had passed that she’d already be out the door on any other day.

She sighed and closed the makeup case, pulled her blouse back on, and winced at the pain that simple movement brought her. Her bag was worn over one shoulder that day as she went to school. Lucy dreaded the very notion, but the first bell drew closer one second at a time. It felt like she had blinked going to sleep the night before, and now she was standing in front of her desk for english.

Lucy sat down. Gracia wasn’t in this class. The only class they shared was physics, which was the second to last period that day.

Their paths crossed earlier than that, though. Lucy had a spot she liked in the middle of the school courtyard. It was a bench, and there was always space on the left and right of her. She was always able to eat her lunch in peace.

Unbearable, isolated peace.

She sat there because it put her in clear sight of anyone wanting to find her. In her experience that included teachers that wanted to speak to her for whatever reason, usually homework, and other kids wondering if it was okay for their group to move closer. She never said no, but they also barely included her when said yes.

When Gracia walked by she was part of a group with five other girls. Lucy stared, and when the other girl glanced her way they made eye contact. Before last night, Gracia would’ve smiled, perhaps waved. Now, her eyes narrowed by the slightest amount. Then the moment passed and she was talking to another excited girl.

The moving clique kept walking and vanished in the direction of the canteen.

Lucy dropped her eyes to the homemade lunch in her lap. She never ate particularly fast but today she didn’t have an appetite. This feeling, coupled with the pain in her shoulder, it felt like genuine torture.

The period that Lucy and Gracia shared didn’t go any differently to lunch. The next period passed, and something finally happened two minutes after the school day ended. Lucy’s phone buzzed and played a jingle. It was a message from Gracia.

Need to talk. Coffee.

Lucy hesitated, thoughts from the night before repeating in her head. She pushed them away. If this was really just to talk, then she’d give Gracia a chance. With a steeled resolve, Lucy changed directions and went to the spot where she’d first agreed to do crime.

Lesa’s was a cafe that Lucy had always liked, if only because it and her name both started with L and had four letters. Since it was near school and that had recently finished there were some other teens there shopping for their afternoon fix. These were the better dressed of that crowd, and unfortunately less common than their gang tied counterparts.

Gracia was sitting in the same spot she sat for that first coffee date. She waved Lucy over almost absentmindedly, spending most of her attention on her phone rapidly typing away on the touch keyboard. The other girl sat, curious as to what that was, but she withheld her questions. For now at least.

There were two steaming mugs in front of Gracia, one of which was pushed towards Lucy. It looked like the long black she normally ordered, but when Lucy took a sip she had to hide a grimace. The taste wasn’t bad, it was actually less bitter than normal. She just hadn’t been expecting the difference.

“Sorry hun, put the sugar in the wrong one earlier.” Gracia locked her phone and put it down next to her teeth dissolving concoction. “I’m a touch tired, same as you.”

“Y-yeah.” Lucy decided to not take another sip of her drink. Her appetite still hadn’t returned anyway.

“And you looked like such a frightened doll. But I knew you’d come through.” Gracia’s calculating stare turned colder. “Did you tell anyone?”

Lucy shook her head, and Gracia’s coldness went away.

“Do you know what happened to the others, at least?”

Lucy glanced at the still bustling cafe and all the people in it before leaning forward. “Shouldn’t-”

“Boys’ll only eavesdrop if we’re dressed sexy or clearly talking about something we shouldn’t.” Gracia cut in, still not sounding like she had before asking about crime. Lucy had to do a double take. She for one, hadn’t dressed sexy at all. Her blouse and pants were warm colours today, but hardly sexy. Gracia on the other hand was wearing a low cut top and skirt. Both daring and enticing.

The arguably better dressed girl rolled her eyes. “Just don’t go shouting it to the world and we’ll be fine.”

“Um.” Lucy leaned back and sat on her hands to stop herself fidgeting. “If… I heard what happened to them.”

“Then what?”

“I heard what happened to them.” Lucy corrected, wincing inside.

“And?”

“Everyone except the bossman, wasn’t he called Lucas?” Gracia did not answer the question when Lucy paused, so she continued in a hurried pace. “He was the only one that got away. Apart from us, I mean. Jumpspark got all the rest.”

Gracia leaned back and let out a slow breath. “Fuck.”

Lucy looked down and away. She didn’t really like this side of Gracia. Manipulative and calculating were bad traits. She hadn’t figured it out at first, but Gracia was part of a bad crowd. It hurt that she still wanted the other girl to think well of her.

The sound of Gracia’s fingernails tapping on the screen of her phone brought Lucy’s eyes back up. She was being watched, judged. Thankfully, the tapping soon stopped.

“How did you get away, doll?”

Lucy fidgeted, then quashed the urge again.

“The other two ran in your direction. That’s where he went first. Makes no sense that he’d come after the rest of us without taking down the three of you first. So tell me darling, because I do want to know, how you got away when the other three didn’t.”

“Didn’t run…” Lucy mumbled, then glanced away when Gracia’s gaze sharpened.

“I mean I-I didn’t run.” Lucy stammered quickly. “He didn’t take me seriously because I didn’t run, I mean. So when he did his,” Lucy mimed grabbing something in front of her, still not looking, “he didn’t give me the full shock. It let me move enough to hide, so I did. Then I went home when everyone else was gone.”

Gracia steepled her fingers and gave Lucy a long look before eventually sighing. “See darling, that’s a funny story. You were just… let go, by a hero? One that actually takes publicity seriously? I’m not buying it.”

Lucy flinched. But it’s what happened.

“Now that makes me think you’ve got some kind of hidden agenda-”

“And you don’t?” Lucy asked sharply, suddenly making eye contact. Gracia’s eyes hardened, but Lucy wasn’t done. “I know why you picked me out, it’s because I’m gullible. I don’t have friends. But however true that is, I’m not stupid. I’m not going to cross any… gangs you might be a part of, I just wanted friends, and you wanted someone disposable. So I let myself hope, and that turned out for nothing. So thanks, Gracia, you taught me real good. I won’t trust you again.”

A pregnant pause passed before Gracia’s phone buzzed. She answered that instead of continuing the talk with Lucy, pointedly ignoring the girl as she tapped out a response to the latest text she’d received.

As for Lucy, she was keeping her eyes down, distracted by her rapidly beating heart. She hadn’t thought she had something like that in her. It had just come out, like it had been growing ever since last night.

Gracia’s phone was set back down on the table and Lucy looked back up.

“What I should have said,” Gracia’s voice had a cheerful lilt to it, “was if I could see proof that you took that… less serious attack from him.”

That made sense. Lucy looked away again as she reached up and undid the first two buttons on her blouse. She took a breath to calm herself before closing her eyes and pushing the material aside to reveal the discoloured skin beneath. The quick intake of breath that Gracia took almost made her open her eyes again, but then someone was handling her blouse.

When she opened her eyes, Lucy saw that Gracia had leaned over the table and was tidying her blouse for her. One button was done back up, then two, and Gracia leaned back, leaving Lucy a little red in the face.

“Thanks Lucy.” Gracia said. There was a calculating look back in her eye, but this one was different. “I’ll text you later.”

Lucy took the dismissal for what it was and slung her bag over her good shoulder. She almost ran from the cafe in her hurry to leave. The only thing that kept her walking was the weight of Gracia’s gaze on her back.