Invisible (Jason Todd; Titans)

one

People usually view being invisible as a horrible thing. They're so desperate to be seen and heard and noticed. They crave the attention of the world and recognition. None of them ever realize just how much of an advantage invisibility can be. The ability to float around unnoticed like a ghost.

Someone like Ambrose Carpenter knew exactly how great invisibility could be. Figuratively and literally. She enjoyed the way people would look at her, but never see her. The way they would talk at her, but never to her. She loved the solitude in the same way that they loved the limelight. She loved the way that they would never know her. They would never know what she did in the dark. They would never suspect a girl like herself of playing with fire.

Ambrose was cut from the same cloth as the heroes that walked the streets. Not like Batman, who thrived on money and gadgets, but like Superman or the Flash. The ones who seemed completely ordinary until they put on their masks. Her mother and father had been genetic scientists. They played too hard with their experiments and got someone like her. It sounds cruel to experiment on an unborn baby, but Ambrose had never found herself able to be bitter about it. Not when she was the way that she was.

Ambrose Carpenter could do incredible things. She could walk through walls. Intangibility is what they called such a thing. To be able to phase through solid matter. And, for her, she could seemingly phase herself out of the existence of what people could see too. Invisibility. Those powers made her feel invincible.

Ambrose reveled in the possibilities of what she could do. She would turn invisible just to dance in the streets. She would walk through walls just to prove she could, though only ever in front of her ailing father who would applaud her spectacular tricks. It made her feel so free in a way, to walk the earth unseen. It made her feel safe, or as safe as one could feel living in Gotham City. But safety was never what Ambrose yearned for. She yearned for chaos.

~

The scent of coffee hit Ambrose like a tidal wave, it invaded every sense and made her feel a sense of peace and tranquility that she could never get outside of the little cafe she worked at. Lips reddened from the cold of the blasting air conditioner opened to call out the next name for the order as she slid a paper cup onto the countertop. If she could choose to work as a barista for the rest of her life, she would in a heartbeat, but according to everyone else, that wasn't practical.

"Hey, what the hell is this? This is definitely not what I asked for."

Ambrose glanced up at the male that had approached the counter with a scowl. He was looking at the paper cup in disgust and annoyance. She wasn't surprised by his attitude. She got customers like him in handfuls every day she worked.

Ambrose leaned forward on the counter, pointing at the side of the cup that faced her, "Well, sweetheart, that would be because it isn't yours. Unless your name is Tina."

His annoyance fell as he turned the cup to look at the neat cursive writing that spelled out 'Tina' on the side of the cup, "Ah shit. My bad."

Ambrose grinned as she scanned his figure. She loved observing people. She loved all the stories she could make up in her head, all the things she could deduce from the simplest of actions. It was a game to her, and she loved games.

The boy was around her age, barely pushing past 18 into what most would consider adulthood. He had dark hair that curled messily at the top of his head, and an angled face that made way for a set of beautiful features. He was, subjectively, a very attractive person to look at.

Ambrose took the cup back from him, tossing it in the trash can under the counter, "Don't worry about it. It happens at least once a day."

"Sorry," he apologized awkwardly.