Superhero Effects

2. THE OLD FASHION WAY

I sped down a darkened back road. I didn't know where I was going, but I was driving fast.

The sequins along the collar of my royal purple dress glinted, even in the moonlight, and my hair was coming loose of its eloquent high bun, thick tendrils falling around my face.

I stole a glance backward and scowled; the motion, coupled with the smoky black eyeshadow someone had worked hard to create, turned me into someone I didn't recognize.

The reason for the scowl?

Well, there were like two black SUVs in hot pursuit, one on either side of whatever kind of vehicle I drove. To the right, the sight was a row of tall trees that were never ending and to the left was a construction site with orange cones and reflective equipment passing swiftly by as I increased my speed. Both SUVs had their brights on, making it difficult to see what was before me, but that didn't stop me slow me.

The large black walkie-talkie sitting in the passenger seat next to a small black wristlet sounded static, and then a guy's voice boomed from it, "Luce? Luce, what's happening? Where did you go?"

My eyes flickered to the seat with a guilty frown, and without breaking my concentration on the road, I reached over and shut the walkie-talkie off.

Someone appeared yards away, only a silhouette against the car's headlights.

The SUVs slowed on either side of me, falling back.

Thunderclouds rolled in, shutting out the moon, and I did something supa bad, the scowl deepening with hate. I sunk lower in the seat with bared teeth and gunned the accelerator. The person didn't move, despite the rapidly shrinking space between the car and them. They lifted their arms, and without warning, the vehicle jerked violently.

I cried out as I slammed against the steering wheel and then back against the seat as the car stopped abruptly, completely losing power. I shook it off and went for the door handle when wind—there wasn't any wind before—howled, blowing so hard I couldn't get the car door open.

The SUVs were poised at least a mile away, out of dodge.

With a grunt of effort, I shoved, and the door flew from the car, detaching from it before being swept away by the wind, disappearing into the dark. I pushed against the wind as I put a step outside the car. The ends of my dress whipped about ferociously.

The silhouette was right in front of the car now, only illuminated by the headlights of the waiting SUVs as it moved forward.

The wind cut off abruptly, and I fell forward with an angry shriek. I pushed myself up, cradling my right wrist, the color draining from my face as the man stopped before me.

"You're mine now, Lucinda."
***
I woke with a throbbing headache to shouting.

It didn't help that the wide-backed chair where I had been deposited wasn't sitting on a regular floor but on a glass floor. The city of Conquer spread out at my feet, the lights twinkling like stars from below (or at least I assumed it was the city of Conquer.)

At first, I thought maybe it was just an exquisite painting with installed lights, but when I bent over and saw a streak of clouds way closer than they should have been, I knew it was real. I had a good imagination but not that good.

The room was round with dark gray steel walls and was empty save for the two people feet away from me. One stormed around the glass floor in a way that made me highly uncomfortable.

The tiny girl with a pixie cut jabbed her finger into the guy's chest. She was brave, had to be—the guy towered over her. His pectoral muscles and trapezoid muscles and abdominal muscles, and all the muscles an upper body had bulged through his black shirt.