Flytrap (NSO #1)

- intro -

"You have only your thoughts and dreams ahead of you. You are someone. You mean something."
- Bruce Wayne (Batman)

    What a beautiful day to get kidnapped.

    You see, this doesn't usually happen.
    Oh, who am I kidding. It always happens.
    My name is Mercury Clarke. You may have heard of me. The "poor, dear" reporter who's always getting "taken" by that "retched" villain. Seriously, people?
    I was officially kidnapped by this kid like one time. It was the first time, opposed to the other nineteen times. I was off my guard. He started his kidnapping career decently.
    His kidnapping career was me.
    Guess I should explain. That hero who's always saving me? That's my best friend, Aiden Soyway. Pretty boy of Lincoln High. Aiden's alter ego was dubbed "Affect" by the public. Probably because his ego left the affect that he was actually saving me because I was in danger. As if!
    I could take care of myself, thanks.
    The villain - Shadow - was actually a pretty decent guy. He just kidnapped me because he knew Affect would come after me. They always fought, and I always just kind of left, so Affect always looked for me and Shadow always booked it.
    I would always walk to the ice cream store, mainly because I'd pickpocket Shadow.
    Anyways. Back into reality.
    I was dangling over a pit of probably toxic waste, tied up with flimsy knots and such. He was not much of a Boy Scout.
    "Hey, Shaaaad. What's up?"
    "I told you to stop calling me that, madam." Shadow huffed, snapping his head over to look at me. I soaked in his appearance, for the twentieth time.
    Some sort of black masquerade mask perched on the bridge of his nose, the outsides carefully decorated with a silver glitter pen (probably). It completely covered his eyes and upper face. His spiky black hair jutted out to the right.
    He had tight fitting black spandex covering basically the rest of his body aside from his neck, with black gloves over his hands and knee-high black button-studded combat boots that jutted out in a point. He had some sort of silvery belt on, and attached to it was a baseball bat thing that was glowing silver. The fog in the night air seemed to cling to it, and the shadows leaned towards him and particularly the bat.
    He called it his "Weapon Of Chaos"/"Shadow Stick".
    (I called it his "Boo Bat".)
    I shivered slightly in the cold and rolled my eyes. "So, how was your day?"
    "It was actually pretty dec- wait. No. Shut up."
    "Shads, puh-lease. Wait, is that Affect?" I gasped dramatically.
    "Where-?!" He immediately shifted into a defensive position, his weapon now in his hands.
    I took this time to wiggle furiously, the most furiously I have ever wiggled. I succeeded in loosening my bonds slightly, and I wrapped my legs around the thicker piece of rope that was going down the expanse of my body.
Meanwhile, Shadow was looking out over the horizon for Affect.
    "Merc!" Shadow turned to me and whined, sounding like a kid who you had just stolen candy from. "You're a liar!"
    I smiled apologetically. "Sorry, it must've been a shooting star."
    Shadow snorted slightly. "I could compare. His outfit is blinding."
    "Yeah..." I nodded enthusiastically as Shadow turned back to the skyline. I inhaled and started pumping my legs, straining against the bonds as the rope started to swing dangerously back and fourth. I continued the momentum, bringing the bonds that tied my wrists together to my mouth and starting to chew through them.
    Hey, escaping isn't always pretty.
    I continued to swing, wincing every time I heard a creak and covering it up with a cough, or a sneeze, or some quick talking. I held my eyes on his back and I rose my hands up as far as I dare, gripping the rope around my knees and holding on with all my might as I managed to make myself upright.
    I had seriously no idea how Shadow hadn't caught me by now. He's kind of. . . thick headed.
    I swung faster, and bit my lip with the effort. God, I needed to work out more, didn't I?
    My feet were easily above and over the pit by now. A simple countdown to five would do it.
    One...
    Two...
    Shadow turned.
    "Five!" I yelped out, and let go of the rope, swinging forwards and also managing to slam my feet into Shadow's chest.
    He sputtered out in protest as he fell, and I fell with him, knees first on his muscled chest. Okay. Sure.
    I rolled off of him, panting slightly, and managed to stumble to my feet. Shadow was still down, probably because he didn't think I would attempt escape.
    His ego was probably wounded, too.
    (Yippee.)
    I held my hand to my heart. It was racing, fast. Very fast. I panted quickly, and closed my eyes, squeezing them shut so tightly my ears popped.
    Shadow groaned and my eyes flew open. I raced for the fire escape, looked over my shoulder, and yelled "Sorry Shads!" as I ran down the steps.
    Later that day, I would've found out that Affect turned up around a minute after I left. Shadow was already gone when he arrived.
    Who says a lady can't take care of herself?