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duskrobin · 3 years ago

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Out of the Shadows

I was just kinda writing this for to practice writing. Namely writing action sequences because I haven’t done a lot of that. It was only supposed to be one quick scene but it didn’t really stay that way.

Quick warning: Guns, Fire, Burns

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The darkness of night had crept in on the streets, completely enveloping it in a blanket of black. The only running stores, chasing the darkest shadows away to the deepest parts of the alleyways just out of reach. It was well past the hour that any reasonable person would be out, leaving the streets eerily abandoned. A few stray breezes pushed at the loose litter that was scattered around a convenience store’s entrance.

All in all, it was a rather peaceful night.

Three silhouettes pause just outside of the flickering lights, staring into the store windows like moths. The clothing they were wearing was mostly dark colored, allowing them to almost melt into the darkness surrounding them. The nighttime lights glinted off the goggles each of them wore as their gaze locked onto the automatic doors. Identical black masks sat just under the goggles, completely covering the lower half of their faces. The wind pulled at the hood that had been drawn up well over two of their heads. The tallest member had long since given up on getting his hood to say, letting his windblown hair be lit up by the store’s lights and causing that silhouette to have a halo effect to it. The shortest fidgeted with her gloves running her fingers down the seams and pulling at the cuffs to make sure they were secure. The last silhouette carefully tucked a brown braid back into his hood and pulled the backpack back up onto his shoulder, before returning his hand into his pocket. His eyes shifted nervously as he looked at the people next to him. The smallest gave him a quick nudge and a mischievous smile.

“Everybody ready?” The tallest asked, his voice highly modified beyond recognition.

Two equally distorted voices respond.

“Yep.”

“So ready.”

The trio quickly crossed the street and through the store’s automatic doors. Now lit by the entirety of the lights, the shortest member’s outfit was now filled with splashes of yellow, from the stripes down the arms of her black jacket to the rim around the dark lenses of her goggles. She took a moment to readjust her goggles’ large round lenses before starting to make her way towards the cash register. She tilted her head to try and get a better look at the magazine that the cashier was reading. He didn’t seem to notice.

The anxious boy hesitated for a moment before crossing the threshold. His hoodie looked extremely well worn in the light. The dark blue color had been muted down and black patches had been roughly sewn onto the elbows. Some white emblem that had been printed on the front left which had been faded way beyond recognition. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets before drifting into the shelves around the room.

The tallest one slipped in quietly behind his partners, taking a second to linger in the doorway. A final breeze slipped in through the closing doors, causing his hair to flutter slightly revealing two small horns that barely escaped the pale blonde locks. He lazily walked next to his partner at the front of the store, taking a second to nudge her. She shot him a small glare before pushing back.

He took in a deep breath before pulling a gun out from his dark gray jacket. He pointed it towards the cashier and lifted his bag out towards. When nothing immediately happened, the horned criminal let out an annoyed sigh and cleared his throat loudly.

“What do you…” The cashier’s voice caught in his throat as he finally noticed the weapon being pointed at him.

The tall boy pushed the bag towards him. “I think you know how this works.”

The worker carefully took it with shaky hands. He kept glancing up at the gun nervously as he moved the money into the bag.

The girl in yellow watched in amusement for a moment before making a vaulting leap over the counter. She let out a little laugh at the cashier’s flinch before making her way over to the computer set up to the side.

The blue hooded member shook his head as he continued to wander down the aisles. “Everything good over there, BuzzKill?”

BuzzKill looked up from where she was messing with the computer. “Oh yeah. This is easy. It’ll be like we were never even here.”

“Awesome.” He quickly finished his sweep of the store, searching for any movement or any sound that could be someone sneaking between the shelves. He peered down the last aisle, barely taking note of the quick breeze that filled the store as the ventilation system groaned under a sudden increase. “Place seems clear.”

“Yep.” The horned boy at the front confirmed.

The shorter boy quickly pulled his own bag from off his back and swiped a box of ramen off the shelf. “Don’t mind if I do.”

He carefully moved through the shelves again, this time grabbing items seemingly at random. Boxes of cookies, various bags of chips, several cans of soups, practically anything easily transported was shoved into his bag with reckless abandon.

“Hey, Simon!” the boy in the front called back.

“What?” The boy in blue called back as he shoved a can into the bag.

“Can you see if they have any of those chips we got last time?”

“Those weird vinegar and salt ones?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure thing.”

Buzzkill groaned as she finished up with the computer. “Seriously, Cirrus?”

The taller boy didn’t even glance at her. “What?”

“How can you eat those things? Its flavor is literally pain.”

“Maybe I like the taste of pain.”

“You’re so fucking weird.” She jumped back over the counter.

“You know there’s a door thing right there.” Cirrus gestured his head towards the counter door on the other side.

“This is faster.”

The cashier carefully held the bag out towards the criminals in front of him. “That’s all the money.”

BuzzKill quickly swiped the bag and looped it over one shoulder. “Thank you for your patronage.”

Cirrus didn’t move an inch from where he stood, gun still trained on the worker. “Hey Simon. We’re done up here.”

“Ok.” The voice drifted from somewhere amongst the rows of food. “I’ll be over in a…”

They all froze as the automatic doors swung open suddenly.

“I thought you turned those off.” Cirrus hissed from his position with his back to the door.

“Didn’t think I needed to.” BuzzKill hissed back, carefully pulling out her gun from where it had been secured behind her back.

Simon quickly emerged from the shelves, frantically pulling the zipper on his bag closed. He paused as he took in the man now standing at the front of the store. The ashy gray uniform with black and orange accents. The gray and bright orange mask. The Hero Agency symbol carefully displayed where all could see. The giant gray and black wings that were being fluffed out dramatically in the breeze from the still open door.

“Oh fuck. That’s Phoenix.” Simon could feel his jaw going slack. He already knew that his two companions were almost certainly in the same shocked state as they took in the hero at the front of the store. It’s not like they had never seen him before. Like most heroes, he was always showing up on the news, sometimes answering questions about the latest villain or just doing epic hero things. They had just never expected to encounter a hero. They didn’t normally patrol this area and they typically kept to the more populated main streets during the few times they did make an appearance. The trio had never seen one in person before. And certainly not when they were on a raid.

The realization hit Simon like a slap in the face. “Oh fuck! That’s Phoenix!”

Phoenix smirked a bit at the mention of his name. He quickly glanced at the situation, taking note of the apparent criminals. His eyes narrowing slightly as he registered the one with his back still turned holding the civilian at gunpoint. “You three are under arrest.”

“How about no?” the horned criminal shouted, barely moving his head around.

The hero let out a soft chuckle at that. “That’s not how this works.”

“Yeah? Well, we have a hostage.” BuzzKill quickly exclaimed. She quickly raised her gun towards the hero. “And I have a gun.”

Phoenix nonchalantly raised a hand letting an orange glow flow through his eyes and ignite the wings behind him. An orange flame quickly spread over his hand’s outstretched palm. “And I have this.”

She lowered her gun an inch, her jaw instinctively dropping. “Oh. That’s so cool.”

“Why?” Cirrus asked. “What is he doing?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m worrying about it!”

A suddenly strong gust of wind blew in through the still open doors, causing the hero’s flames to flicker violently. The firelight dancing across his face made the look he shot at the criminals far more intimidating that it should have. “Are you going to come along quietly?”

“I don’t think we’ve done anything quietly.” Simon half mumbled to himself as his shoulders hunched upwards. He slowly shifted one hand into his pocket while the other clamped onto the bag strap nervously.

Phoenix waited for what felt like an eternity, eyes shifting between the three as he scanned for any sign of them surrendering. He let out an annoyed sigh. “Alright then.”

That was the only warning the group had before a small bit of flame hurled towards Cirrus. BuzzKill immediately tackled her partner to the ground, causing the fire to only graze his arm and continue until it hit a shelf just behind the cashier. The cashier yelped before ducking underneath the counter.

Cirrus sat up a bit, sucking in a breath as his arm registered the burn that covered it. “What the fuck…”

The girl was already climbing onto her feet in rage. “You seriously went for the guy who wasn’t even looking at you first? What kind of hero are you?”

Before Phoenix had a chance to respond, a single gunshot rang out causing him to duck behind a shelf. Simon fired two more shots from his previously concealed gun to make sure the man stayed there.

“Find cover and stay down, Cirrus.” BuzzKill stated.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” The boy mumbled, before cradling his arm and scrambling behind a shelf of candy in the opposite direction of the hero.

Her glare locked onto the aisle where the winged man had ducked and she began making a beeline towards it.

“Uh… Buzzkill?” Simon called out to her. “Shouldn’t we just…”

He groaned as she disappeared into the aisles before retreating into a row of shelves next to him.

BuzzKill fired three shots the moment she caught sight of the hero’s stupid face. She felt a swell of revenge when a bullet found its way into his wing. The hero snarled and shot a small bolt of fire towards her. It hit her gun and she yelped as it immediately melted in her gloved hand.

“That was my favorite gun!” She exclaimed.

Phoenix just smirked. “Maybe you should take better care of your things.”

“Oh, you motherfucker.” She quickly tossed her gun to the side and rolled her wrist to hide the fact that she just pushed a button on the cuff of her gloves. She smirked as they sparked to life, lines of light beginning to glow around the knuckles in a careful design and a few small sparks of lightning bouncing off them. Admittedly, she hadn’t really field tested them. Never really had a chance to. But it would be fine as long as she got the wiring done correctly.

She did get the wiring correct, right?

The gloves suddenly sputtered, the light becoming too bright for a second and then going completely dark. Her nose was immediately met with the smell of ozone as the whole thing powered down. Good news, at least the emergency shut down worked. Bad news, even if that helped save her hands, it didn’t help her deal with the fiery fist that was now swinging towards her face.

She instinctively dodged to the left, immediately noting the heat that rolled off it in waves. Turns out, the fire dancing up his arms wasn’t just to look cool. Good to know. She took a few steps back trying to get some distance between the Flaming Fists of Fury and her face. Phoenix had just pulled his arm back to throw another punch when the air system groaned again. A strong gust of air caused a nearby magazine to fly off a nearby shelf and into the hero’s face.

She let out a quick laugh as she scrambled to get some space in between them. The edges of the magazine were already beginning to burn long before he tore it off his face. By that time, she was already at the end of the aisle. She rounded the corner just in time to have a flaming magazine ball shoot past her and hurtle toward the shelves of candy. It impacted into with a fiery burst, causing the shelf to topple backwards towards Cirrus. He barely had time to dive out of the way before it crashed into the ground. He froze there for a few seconds in shock. His breathing was heavy, almost keeping in time with the air circling around the room. She wanted to check up on him, but another fireball impacted near her head and Cirrus was already busy finding another shelf to hide behind.

BuzzKill quickly retreated to the back aisle, where she hoped to find her other partner. She found Simon across from the cold storage, where he was leaning against a shelf for cover. She quickly copied him. They both froze there, silently listening for any sound that their adversary might make. A slight breeze drifted past them, winding down to the other end of the aisle. Simon’s gaze immediately flicked down the empty space. He held up a hand towards BuzzKill to signal her to stay as he carefully made his way down towards the frosted over freezer doors.

The winged man suddenly jumped around the corner, flames dancing up his arms as he immediately launched a small blast of fire. Simon quickly dived to the floor, knocking his chin harshly against the tiles.

BuzzKill grabbed one of the glass doors open just in time to block the oncoming flame. “Simon! What the fuck!”

“Sorry!” Simon called back as he crawled up onto his knees. He took a moment to rub his newly bruised chin before his brain finally registered the flaming man now towering over him. “A little help?”

“Oh for...” She snagged a glass bottle from one of the open shelves. She raised it over her shoulder by its neck and took a second to aim before closing the door. “I so got you.”

The glass bottle sailed out of her hand and homed in on the hero’s head. It impacted with an audible thunk before it shattered on the ground. Simon instinctively raised an arm to let his thick hoodie protect him from the shards that scattered around him. Phoenix recoiled immediately, clamping his hands to his head. His wings folded in closer to his back on instinct.

The teen in blue took this moment to crawl away. “How is he still standing?”

She moved a bit closer, arms raised defensively. “I don’t know?”

They barely had time to register the blur that was their horned partner as he bolted out of his hiding spot. Wind fluffed his hair out as he sped forward and slammed into the opposite side of the full shelf next to the hero. It wobbled from the impact before falling onto the stunned man. The trio froze, gasping for breath around their masks. The hero didn’t move to get up. He didn’t even groan.

“Did we kill him?” Simon asked.

“No.” Cirrus replied. “He’s still breathing.”

“That’s good.”

“Simon…” BuzzKill harshly whispered.

“What?”

“Do your thing.”

The shorter boy winced. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t!”

“He’s kinda knocked out?”

“Oh.” The other two could practically see her eyes widening behind her goggles. “Oh…”

“Yeah.” Simon sighed.

“He might be out…” The other two could hear the smirk in Cirrus’s voice. He pointed towards the counter. “But that guy isn’t.”

The two exchanged a confused glance before BuzzKill moseyed her way up to get a better view behind the counter. Simon took a moment to wave a cautious hand in front of the unconscious hero’s face before following. The last member hung back to grab the full money bag that had been discarded on the floor before making his way to the front doors.

She placed a gloved hand on the counter as she leaned over. “Oh my god. He fucking stayed?”

“No way.” Simon picked up the pace. He leaned forward and was immediately met with the wide frightened eyes of the poor cashier still cowering under the counter.

“Told you.” Cirrus called from the front doors.

The cashier tried to push himself further away from them, digging his back further against the back wall.

Simon’s eyes softened a bit behind his goggles. “Hey. Don’t worry.”

He was relieved as he noted the tension in the cashier’s shoulders lessened, if only a little bit.

“This will all be over soon.”

Peter snapped into focus as he heard the tea kettle go off. His gold eyes quickly scanned around the room as he got his bearings. It was a fairly large living room with a decently sized kitchen sectioned off by a countertop island. A dining table was shoved against one wall with only three chairs around it. He couldn’t remember what happened to the fourth, or if there ever was a fourth one. The living room was mainly a couch, a recliner and a coffee table all arranged around the tv that hung from the wall so that you could easily see it if you were working in the kitchen. About nine fans in various sizes were strategically placed around the room for optimal air flow. A small hallway branched away from the front door, leading to three more closed rooms.

He blinked again and finally, it clicked. He was in their apartment. How could he forget? He’s been here for almost two years now. Ever since he met his friends and they invited him to stay.

What had he been doing though? He gave the box of cookies in his hands a weird look before setting it down on the table.

He rubbed his eyes a bit as he stumbled into the kitchen, trying to push the last bit of mental static out of his thoughts. He shut off the stove and carefully moved the screaming kettle off the burner. He poured the hot water into a mug that sat on the counter with a tea bag already in it. He didn’t remember setting it up. He didn’t remember getting back to the apartment either, but he must have.

There was evidence of their earlier raid scattered around, so it must’ve not been that long ago. The bags were just sitting where they had been dumped on the table, the one filled with food had its contents scattered to their proper places around the kitchen. The masks had been thrown in different directions. The surviving guns had been placed in an end table drawer which hadn’t been closed all the way.

The others had clearly made it back as well. Judging by a trail of discarded tech, Regina had retreated into her room for the time being. He remembered she always did that when they got back from a raid, wanting to be alone to assess the damage. She’d probably be in there for a few minutes. She normally was.

Finn was lounging on the couch. He had his one good arm tucked under his head, being careful of his small horns. His injured arm was just lying on his stomach. Peter hazily recalled smearing it with burn cream, bandaging it and sternly asking the other to not move it too much. The tv in front of the couch was set to some news channel, though Finn was really only listening to it. His pale silver eyes stayed unfocused towards the ceiling.

Peter carefully carried his mug over to the dining table, slightly rubbing at his sore chin. He didn’t need a mirror to know that it had to be a terrible bluish-purple color. The dull stab of pain gave him all the information he needed. He gave a deep sigh as he slumped into one of the chairs.

“You back with the land of the living?” The horned boy hadn’t moved but there was nobody else he could be talking to.

Peter let out a small sigh. “Yeah. What happened?”

“You were putting stuff away and suddenly zoned right out.”

“Oh…”

“Any idea what caused it?”

The brunet pursed his lips, one hand going instinctively to twirl his braid around his fingers. “Don’t know.”

Finn made an acknowledging hum before leaving the other boy alone. Peter refocused on carefully unzipping the bag of money on the dining table in front of him and organizing it into neat stacks. A few minutes later, he had pretty much taken over the entire surface of the table.

His focus was interrupted when he heard someone thump into a wall and mumble a few swears. Regina wandered down the hallway rubbing an elbow. She had taken the time to pull her black hair into two little ponytail puffs at the back of her neck. The pill bottle in her hand rattled with each step.

“Hey Reggie.” Peter called out to her.

“Hi.” She spared him a quick glance as she darted into the kitchen. She pulled a glass from one of the cupboards and started filling it with water. “How’s the head?”

Peter shrugged. “I’m ok.”

“He’s lying.” Finn called from his spot. “He zoned out for like a minute straight.”

“Tattletail,” Peter mumbled, harshly at him.

Regina stopped filling the glass and shot the brown-haired boy a glare. “Dude! You could have a concussion.”

“I don’t have a concussion.”

“You did hit your head earlier.”

“I hit my chin.”

“Close enough.”

“Come on. I’m fine.”

She rubbed at her temples with a slight grimace. “So you didn’t zone out?”

“I… Uh…” His eyes shifted. “I mean I did. But I’m always zoning out.”

“Do you remember how we got back?”

“…No.”

“That’s what I thought.”

A loud commercial playing on the tv suddenly cut through the room. She instinctively winced and took in a quick sharp breath. She picked up the pill bottle from where she left it on the counter. Peter watched as she poured out a few aspirins out of the bottle. It had been hard to notice with her dark brown skin, but from this distance the shadows under her eyes made her gaze look tired. He also hadn’t noticed the slight shake in her hands or how she seemed to sway a bit as she moved. All things that never lead to anything good. He couldn’t remember when she went to bed last night, or if she had at all. She had been too busy working on her tech. Not a great mixture with all the extra stress she must have gotten during the raid.

“You gonna crash?” Peter asked.

“I might now that you’ve asked.” Her voice had more bite than she had intended.

The boy winced. “Right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s just a little headache for now.” Regina sighed. A part of him wanted to call her out, but he decided to let it go this time. She paused a moment before swallowing the pills in her hand and taking a long sip of water. “I’ve just gotta ride it out. Now about this concussion…”

“I don’t have a concussion.”

“Just let me check it out.”

Peter groaned before planting his head into the table. “Can’t I just work in peace?”

“No.” She planted herself in the chair next to him and gently stared at him.

He didn’t bother looking up. He was very familiar with the look she was giving him. “I feel fine.”

“Then it’ll…”

“Hey guys.” Finn’s voice suddenly cut through the argument. “We’re on the news.”

Regina’s attention quickly snapped to the horned teen.

Peter’s head picked itself up off the table. “What?!”

“We’re on tv.” Finn frantically repeated.

She gave one final glare, making sure to point an authoritative finger at Peter. “We’re not done with this.”

She then proceeded to launch herself in the direction of the tv. Finn barely flinched as she vaulted over the back of the couch and planted herself in the seat at his feet.

“Can you be careful? You’re gonna tip it over.” Peter grumbled as he made his way to sit on the couch like a normal person. He paused for only a second to cough loudly at Finn who lifted his legs so the other could sit down. He barely had time to move his mug out of the way as legs draped over his lap. “Hey. Can you watch the tea?”

Any response was quickly cut off by Reggie loudly shushing the boys. Her eyes completely fixed on the well-dressed woman on the tv addressing the camera.

“… from the site of the break in earlier this evening. This is believed to be the first confirmed sighting of the Phantom since the thefts started a little over a year ago.” The news reporter continued. “Surveillance footage was found to be completely erased, but the hero’s report reveals that The Phantom is actually believed to be a group of at least three individuals as there were three thieves that took part in the robbery. They referred to each other by the names of ‘BuzzKill’, ‘Cirrus’, and ‘Simon’. It is uncertain at this time what abilities they have and how much of a threat they pose. The hero Phoenix had been patrolling when…”

“Why was I listed last?” Peter huffed.

“Because you’re clearly the lamest one.” Finn smirked.

“I am not.”

“Your name is literally…”

“Shut up!” Reggie threw the nearest pillow in their direction, just barely missing the tea and almost hitting the injured arm. “I’m trying to listen.”

Finn took a moment to stick his tongue out in other boy’s general direction, earning a light slap, before turning back into the news lady’s voice.

“Some experts suspect that this robbery is not connected to the Phantom and is instead a copycat due to the fact that only one of two witnesses at the scene had the iconic memory loss which the Phantom is so infamous for. The local hero agency, PALADIN, has stated that it will be investigating this incident and any possible connections it might have to the Phantom case.”

Peter let out a small groan. “So much for staying out of sight.”

#My writing #superheroes #writing practice

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