Short Stories

No Identity, No Hero

Coiny walked through town to where Lollipop asked him to meet up with her. He looked through a crack between two buildings. The sun was almost completely gone. All that was left were beautiful colors, painted together. It looked heavenly.

As he had walked, he had been given a few strange stares and glares from passerbys. After all, he was The Puppeteer.

The Puppeteer.

Media always asked him about his powers -able to use enemies do his bidding against their will- and how he inherited them. He just said he was born with it.

But the real reason as to why he had a strange power, was because when he was a kid, at 6 years, he got a plush marionette for his birthday. He loved it with all of his heart.. maybe a bit too much. He bring it everywhere. He played with it all the time. He started to wear the makeup that the fluffy plush had. White face, Rosy red cheeks, black lips. And when the plush broke at 9 years, he cried and wailed. He begged his parents to sew it back together, and they didn't. He got so emraged that he grabbed his parents' hips, and suddenly they did his bidding. The orange strings on their joints represented that. And that's how he got his powers.

But fortunately, he learned how to properly use the powers and used then for good, not evil. His team always told him he had a creepy laugh, which -if you are a marionette- is what he was kinda going for.

Most dolls scared children. He didnt want to scare them to death, but a little bit of a frightening appearance may help to intimidate his foes.

He arrived at the place. Just outside of headquarters. Lollipop had wanted to talk to him, and get a blood sample. For an 'experiment'. A confidential one. But bah, whatever. Not like it'll affect him at all.

Lollipop was outside the headquarters, leaned against a wall, staring at her phone. She was also a prodigy. She could summon any type of candy she wanted. Which may sound useless, but these weren't the tiny average ones. They were huge, sharp, and.. tasty.

She could sprout them from the ground. Fall from the sky. Or just create them in her palm. Etc.

She was also good medically. So she could take care of other prodigies, and fight at the same time. He was a little jealous of her at times.

Lollipop didn't even wink an eye at Coiny, until he was standing almsot next to her. She looked up, shut off her phone, and shoved it into her jacket pocket. She picked up a briefcase on the ground, and silently motioned him to follow her.

He did so, and there was an awkward silence for a minute or so. Although, Lollipop didn't seem to care about the deafening silence. She was just there to do her job.

She finally spoke. "How has your day been?" She asked nonchalantly, turning her head slightly, but not enough to see her face.

Coiny was a bit startled, but replied, "Fine. No criminal activity today."

Lollipop hummed. "That's good to hear." Then it went back to silence.

"May I ask you a question, Mr. Pratt?" Lollipop formally asked.

He shuddered a bit at his last name. He didn't like it. "Call me Coiny, and yes, of course."

Lollipop hummed and nodded. "Coiny."

"Yes?" Coiny anticipated the question.

"Is that makeup permanent?" She asked, pointing to his face.

Oh yeah. His makeup. The one that looked like his childhood marionette. He actually had no idea if it was permanent. He shrugged, and truthfully told. "I don't know."