The (Fake-ish) Death of Marinette Dupain-Cheng

(Chapter 5)Khepri

I was born Catherine Marie Johnson on Friday, July 13th to Linda and Jim Johnson in Metropolis. They were accountants who didn’t really have time for a child. That worked out well for me though, they would get me whatever I wanted that would keep me quiet. If that happened to be gymnastics, dance, martial arts, and coding, well… It all would’ve come in handy in my previous life. I always found it funny though, I’m a True Cat, and my new name literally is Cat.

On the subject of my previous life, I had no intention of stopping either designing or superheroing. At the age of five, I annoyed my parents into getting me a sewing machine and used my coding knowledge to make myself a website. It was slow going at first, but I do have Tikki’s luck. Despite all the bad luck that would come my way, it did have some benefits. Soon Balanced Designs was taking off, with the mysterious designer Khepri in charge.

At the age of eight, once my fashion empire had suitably taken off, I started to build my vigilante persona. Starting with a pure black suit and boots, like my Sekhmet costume, I added a lot of strategic padding, as the powers granted to me by Tikki and Plagg did not make me bullet proof. The padding also allowed me to arrange my suit, so instead of looking like a child, I appeared to be a short young woman; young enough a sudden growth spurt isn’t out of the question, but old enough I am not treated as a child and sent home.

On that front, I also added inserts to the boots to give me a little extra height. The costume also had a hood, like my previous one, but from there the costume differs. Instead of a lower face mask and opera gloves, I have a full face mask and gloves with claws. For weapons, I have a rope dart at my waist, several knives hidden on my person, and a katana strapped to my back, as well as a utility belt with many useful tools. The electric green on the rope dart’s flag and katana’s hilt and sheath are the only colors in the whole ensemble. The whole outfit is lead lined; as one can never be too careful, there are supes around.

Surprisingly, going unnoticed as a vigilante in a city where the main hero can hear a mosquito buzz on the other side of the city was fairly easy. I focused on crime that didn’t have to do with big villains, such as busting more covert and wide spread operations. Trafficking, drugs, and organized crime were my forte. Anything to do with the big villains, I plant evidence and suspicion so the justice league finds it interesting and ‘stumbles’ on their plots. In honor of my old world and defeated friends, I continued to call myself Sekhmet; becoming the kind of legend the Batman used to be.

It helped my anonymity that some reporter, Clark Kent, who looked like Superman with some glasses and his hair slicked back was vehemently against my existence. It seemed as if he felt he knew everything about the super scene in Metropolis and would know if there was a vigilante running amok. Well, I live to stir things up, and well I may not be as destructive as amok, I had my fair share of mischief.

Notes:
Khepri is the Egyptian god of creation, the rising sun, and by extension renewal of life. He is said to be reborn each morning and is represented by a scarab. Scarabs and ladybugs are very similar looking. If you want to know more, Google or I can try to answer any questions.