The Undoing Of Villains | ✓

twenty two

(a/n: tysmSMSMSMSMSM for reaching the goal! love you! enjoy this 3000 word chapter ;) fixed some continuity errors throughout the book. ... x's name is XANDRA not ZARA as i wrote in one chapter because my brain is, well, doing not brainy stuff sometimes. we stan. either way , ENJOY! )

twenty two 

THE SUIT came two days later. It seemed my words had done more than jog Xandra's efficiency, they'd tripled it, and with its arrival came a long note of improvements she'd made to the new, nearly identical suit. It appeared in my mailbox one day, the suit folded and packed in a matte, black box - neatly wrapped with a red ribbon.

Us girls love a durable rubber. Or latex. Either works. Kisses, X. 

The attached note made me roll my eyes, barely skimming over it. Xandra was an enigma, to say the least, but at least she'd delivered - and judging by her apparent disdain for Tetra, I could safely say she seemed to be more inclined to help me rather than Xandra. Score!

I shrugged it on shortly after breakfast, checking to make sure it fit properly. My hair was slung up in a bun, as I just didn't want it getting into my eyes as I twirled in front of the mirror like the semi-princess I was. Vigilante, princess .. same thing, right? 

I have a hard time visualizing Cinderella scaling skyscrapers, but fine, my subconscious shot back, and I stopped twisting and turning to see my reflection and instead, looked myself right in the eyes. I'd had a proper amount of rest, and the lingering presence of my power slithered right beneath my skin - as if a silken snake lay coiled within me, occasionally brushing against the surface to remind me it was there. 

Tugging on that sense of my power, it unravelled, offering its control to me. Instead of the enormous amounts of focus I'd had to wield to use my power as I was learning its twists and turns, I could now imagine it as a steady well within me, always filled. At first I'd had to imagine a glass ball, moving it into the right position to access my metaphysical abilities, but now - 

A bright, red sheen pulsated around my arms, my hands - it moved, continuously, like smoke from a cigarette tainted red by light. I clenched my fists - it intensified, centering around my hands. Glancing up, I met the red, glowing eyes of reflection me. A smile settled on my mouth, and I cocked my head, studying the shade of red. It was bright - demanding your attention in an ominous way, almost as if you didn't yield to it you would be punished. 

Turning my hand, I watched the red light dance across the back of my hand to my palm, settling in a neat flame. It didn't hurt - it was no real flame, but merely moving as if it was one. Pure energy. My powers were hard to define, but I knew I could somehow control the nerve endings of others, willing their synapses to answer to me. I suspected I'd found the key to how my power really worked - through manipulating energy. The energy steering one's limbs, sent from the brain to every last nerve cell in one's body. The physical energy - I had had no luck with steering my coffee machine, or charging phone batteries. 

Manipulating electrical energy was something I couldn't do - unlike that one villain who'd created headlines awhile back in Dynamo. Her name lay on the edge of my mind, but I couldn't find it - buried somewhere in my mind, it remained stuck. 

Sighing in frustration, I let the thought drift off - her name didn't matter right now, anyway. Only one did - Tetra. I hadn't heard anything from Sawyer, which probably was a good thing. I wondered what he was thinking - was the obligation to his job stronger than that to protect his family? His job obviously had something to do with the superhero activity around here, so if he betrayed me would that meant he'd sell me out? I had no idea, and that was what grated the most on my mind.