*Crash*
The sound of glass breaking could be heard in the eerie quiet of the night as a small, blue haired, figure exited the museum by it’s third floor window, spraypaint cans still in hand.
Landing on a suddenly appearing cushion, the small woman continued to run.
“Get back here you dirty rat!” The night-watch yelled, as distant sirens began to get closer and closer.
‘ HEHEHEHE- holy fuck did you see the look on his face when he saw that stupid statue? This is so going to be on the news! ‘ Sierra thought, struggling to keep her manic giggle fit internal, yet as her thoughts once again drifted to the marble bust she painted to look like a pirate, she couldn’t keep it in any longer. ‘ Mom and Dad are gonna lose it when they find out it was me! ‘
Yet as the night-time graffiti artist scampered through the winding streets, sirens drew closer and closer.
Throwing the spray cans into the air, Sierra conjured a small barrier around each, tethering it to the back of her hoodie, forcing the cans to be dragged behind her like two helium balloons. But that was merely part one of her ever so cleverly named ‘Operation Piggy Run’.
Finding the nearest highrise, Sierra clasped her hands together for a moment, channeling her power in a cube around herself. ‘ Encase. Stabilize. Repel Ground Concrete - 850 ft.‘ The specifics of the barrier surging through her mind.
Suddenly and without warning, the translucent cube was repelled from the ground, shooting itself up to the top of the skyscraper and hovering a few feet above the edge.
‘ Damn it! I thought these stupid buildings were supposed to have a standard height or something. ‘ Sierra thought to herself, leaping from the disappearing box and onto the roof, rolling slightly to break the fall.
Peering over the edge, she quickly located the large building that held her parents' condo, over two miles from her current vantage point. With a light hum, Sierra began the final leg of her escape, her brisk night walk over the city.
‘ Dance among the stars. ‘ Sierra thought to herself. Placing her left thumb between her index and middle finger and making a fist, small barrier foot-holds began to appear beneath Sierra’s feet, allowing her to simply walk off the edge of the building, yet stay at the same height. Every time she took a step, the previous foot-hold would disappear, and a new one would appear right at the end of step.
The walk home was a great way to calm down and clear her mind, yet as she looked down at the lonely city, now alight with red and blue lights, Sierra couldn’t help but smile wistfully. She truly pitied the nigh-watch and police. They were powerful. Powerful enough to keep villains relatively at bay. Powerful enough to catch even the strongest and keep the rest of society in line, but so drunk on power they couldn’t catch one bored little girl.
Although her small frame left much to be desired on the physical front, It’s not as if she slacked at all in the ability department. If Sierra truly had a desire for evil, there wasn’t much that could get in her way. She was born to two strong parents, a telekinetic and an absorber to be exact, and with her powers manifesting at a remarkably young age, she was without a doubt one of the hardest people to pin down in a fight. Especially given the dynamic nature of her abilities.
But there was no true evil in her heart, no bleeding sense of justice or injustice, just a growing sense of restless boredom.
Boredom is what drove her to the museum that night. The drive to experience and do something she had never done before. Sure, she’d broken into a building before, sure she had spray painted some stuff before, but never had she actually done something to such a degree. The small pebble of dread that has been sitting in her gut had formed the moment she blew the hole in the wall open.
But the raw desire to just let loose for once, to live a little, overtook the rational part of her brain. This wasn’t some park she flipped upside down. Nor some police building she painted all over, this was something much larger.
Now that kernel of dread began to rear it’s ugly head, as instead of dying down, the city began to come more and more alive, more sirens and more night-watch poured onto the streets.
Abandoning her normal pace, Sierra broke out into a panicked sprint, running the rest of the way home, creeping into her unlocked window while panting heavily. Not a moment too soon, since mere minutes after closing her window and pulling the blinds down, Sierra spotted two helicopters circling the museum.
Hoping to ignore the problem like she always did, Sierra dropped the cans off the edge from her window, peeled her sweaty clothes off and took a long hot shower, attempting to let the cold sense of dread wash away.
Slipping into her comfortable night clothes, a loose fitting t-shirt and nothing else, Sierra Wraith tucked herself into bed, her head filled with half-finished thoughts of worry.
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Morning came at last, with sunlight creeping through her thin blinds and striking Sierra directly in her eyes. With a swipe of her hand, Sierra conjured an opaque barrier over the blinds, turned on her lamp and began her morning routine.
Today was Sunday, meaning her parents still weren’t due home for the next two days. But the constant long business trips for the night-watch had led Sierra to be very self-sufficient.
Stepping out of her bedroom, she paused for a moment and swiped her hand across the whole of the condo, opaque barriers covering all of the windows.
Now free to walk around nearly naked without the worry of any would be creeps, her gentle footsteps carried her to the kitchen. ‘ Arms of the Eternally Avaricious ’ Sierra thought, focusing her ability slightly.
As she walked over to the fridge, she snapped her left hand, conjuring four translucent arms from the tops of her shoulder blades and mid-back. Two of the arms grabbed eggs, one turned on the stove and the final brought out two pans, as Sierra’s real arms grabbed onto the thick-cut bacon located in the bottom drawer of her fridge. Her small fingers nimbly tore apart the package, as the rest of her arms began to cook the eggs for her.
Snapping her right hand conjured a crude, yet sharp knife made of her barriers, which she used to cut the bacon in half, wrapping one half in tin-foil and dropping the other half into the pan her arms prepared for her.
After cooking and devouring breakfast, Sierra finished the rest of her ten minute morning routine and donned her fit for the day. The fit consisted of her comfiest pair of underwear, a pair of comfortable sweatpants, a hoodie two sizes too large and her favorite pair of slippers. Truly the blissful experience that all eighteen-year old serial criminals desired.
Yet her relaxing Sunday was brought to an abrupt halt by the sound of her front door opening.
“SIERRA ALEXANDRIA VINCENT WRAITH” Her mother yelled, the use of her full government name scaring the lackadaisical Empowered to her bones.
“Yes?” She replied meekly as she walked over to the door to greet her parents, only to realize they were being flanked by two very large men in suits.
Based on the golden pins on their collars, high powered members of the night-watch. Given the night-watch was a force made entirely out of Empowered, hired by the government as peacekeepers, this was going to be bad.
“Unlicensed use of powers at home too? Interesting.” One of the men said, his piercing green eyes darting to each and every barrier Sierra had conjured to block the light of the outside. Sierra quickly dismissed them, but the damage had already been done.
“I was ju-” As Sierra began to talk, her mother cut her off with a fierce glare.
“Not. Another. Word.” She said.
“No it’s alright Misses Wraith. We have a lot of questions for Miss Wraith here, a little more evidence on the pile wouldn’t hurt.” The other of the suited men said, his deep brown eyes locking onto Sierra. “Please, have a seat at the table. This is going to be a long talk.”
Quietly accepting her fate, Sierra slowly stalked to the large round dinner table. “Am I going to jail?” She asked meekly.
“That’s a possibility, but not the only one.” The green-eyed man said, moving his wiry-frame into one of the seats, soon followed by his partner, and then her parents. All eyes intently trained on Sierra, as well as a few spared glances to the briefcase that the men had set on the table.
“Miss Sierra Wraith. Let’s start with proper introductions.” The green eyed snake in a suit began to speak. “My name is Mr. Evergreen and this is my partner, Mr. Sledit. We know it was you in that museum.” He says, pulling multiple photographs from his briefcase, placing them on the table for Sierra to see.
“We also know it was you who reversed West Point Park. You painted a mural of a hog on the side of Runlack Police Department. You’re the reason the silver statue of the mayor was reshaped into that of a goldfish.” The green eyed devil continued, pulling photo after photo out of the briefcase. “Need I say more?”
“No sir.” Sierra said, looking down at the picture evidence of all of her crimes laid bare. “What happens now?”
“Now, young lady you have two choices.” The brown-eyed man of dubious origin said, opening a briefcase of his own.
“The first choice is paying for your crimes. Thankfully, your parents are high end members of the night-watch, and no one was truly hurt by any of your various crimes. With the right judge, a good lawyer, and our robust legal system, you’d be facing at most a mere twenty years in a power-deprived cell for destruction of historical art and artifacts, disruption of justice, defacing government property, damaging government property, and a lot of other minor crimes all added together.” Mr Sledit said in his calm voice, taking a small pause before continuing. Yet in that minor break, Sierra felt as if her entire world had shattered. “The second, is an option open to you only due to your extreme level of power, yet remarkable self control when it comes to lethality. As previously stated, not a single person has ever been harmed by your years of antics.”
Suddenly, hope began to once again dance in the mind of the blue-haired criminal.
“What option is that?” She asked, looking up at the imposing figures before her.
“There exists a special program for people such as yourself. Loose cannons, those with abilities that wildly outclass their temperament or station. The academy is paid for by the night-watch, and while technically only used as an option for people whose powers are out of control, it’s an open secret that it’s little more than a pen to keep you lot until you mature into functioning adults. “ The brown-eyed savior continued. “You’d go there as a freshman and leave after four years with a degree in Ability Management. Your time spent in the academy as a reminder of your actions, and a way to remind you that next time you decide to go on a spree, you’ve already used up your second chance.”
A war was waging inside of Sierra. One part of her desperately wanted to take the free lead out into a better life, but another part couldn’t help but focus on the parts left unsaid.
‘If I take this deal and graduate, then sure I don’t get in trouble now, but the moment I slip up again? They’ll have twice the ammo and I’ll have burned four years for nothing!’ Sierra internally stirred.
“You’ll also receive a monthly stipend to pay for your lifestyle, clothes, and other necessities. It’s roughly $3500 a month, consider it a bonus for becoming a good person.” The green eyed snake-oil dealer added.
“DEAL!” Sierra said, not able to hold back the dollar signs from nearly forming in her eyes.