Dusk Harbor 1999

The Fall

Grace walked out of the little coffee shop with a steaming hot, soymilk latte in her hand when she heard the ear-piercing scream for help.

She looked all around, and plummeting to the ground from Vandegarde Tower was a black form. A person. Falling slower than she would have thought, but at a rate that would kill him. What a bit of luck, being there at just the right time. She downed her latte as fast as she could.

The caffeine penetrated her cells and kicked them into high gear, making her eye twitch, her speed was awakened. She could feel it as a form of static running up and down her legs. She took off at blinding speed towards an alleyway and got her green mask and a dark green jacket on, not wanting to waste time with the rest of her suit. Sped back out of the alley with what looked like heat waves rippling behind her.

There was another screech.

Rhinestone Cowgirl in her usual white cowboy hat, button-down shirt, pink vest, and white boots was standing in the middle of the street, trying to flag down a truck. Waving at everyone going by like a crazed hitchhiker. Her long ginger ponytail fluttered in a strong gust of wind. She yelled at people, and cursed them for being so inconsiderate.

Grace zipped straight into traffic, a U-Haul slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting her.

Rhinestone Cowgirl slapped her hand against the hood of the truck and the whole thing vibrated for a moment. A mildly irritating ringing noise filled the air. There was a faint popping sound, and then it collapsed into a mountain of orange and white glitter. The driver thumped to the ground in the middle of the glitter and yelled profanities that made her cheeks and ears go hot.

The glitter all lifted in a massive shimmering blanket and rushed up to the falling man. Wrapped around his arms and back and then billowed open behind him like a parachute. This slowed his descent to a mere drift, and he landed on the ground with both feet and a grateful look on his paled face. Grace recognized him as Total Chaos. His dark brown hair was an even wilder mess than usual.

"Zanks for zat," he huffed.

He brushed clouds of glitter off of himself and sighed with relief.

"Total Chaos! You could have died! What happened?" Rhinestone Cowgirl demanded as she stomped one of her white cowgirl boots, sending up a plume of glimmering dust around her leg.

"Never mind zat. You and I have been invited to a meeting at Cat's Haunt," he glanced in Grace's direction, "you should come too, Jitters, I have a feeling a lot of heroes vill be zere."

The driver of the truck got up off the ground and shook to get all the glitter off. No matter how he patted or swiped, most of it was stuck to him still, he looked like a kindergarten art project threw up all over him.

"You destroyed my truck! I can't even repair it! It's all glitter!" He spat, "wasn't there a better way to save him?"

"Not really!" Rhinestone Cowgirl replied, "just think of it this way, your truck has killed dozens. But today it saved."

"How has my truck killed?!"

"Duh," Grace cut in, "all the animals? Roadkill? Not to mention your carbon footprint!"

The truck guy rolled his eyes and drew out his phone, walked away to the nearest sidewalk.

"I think that guy's gonna call the cops," Grace warned. 

She couldn't blame him. But the cops could never catch her. They didn't want to catch her. She was too well respected to be seen as a villain. Once she had been arrested, and then they released her a few blocks away just to make the guy who'd called the police on her chill out. They simply opened the door, waved her off, and told her to go back to doing what she did best. She was often praised by them in the newspapers, as kind, heroic, and compliant.