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Raelle always hated nights like this. Slow nights spent sitting on the rooftop of her dorm and waiting for anything to happen.
She knew she should probably patrol in the city if she wanted to find some real action, but she had heard talk of someone on campus assaulting girls late at night.
As the campus vigilante, Raelle felt she was responsible for bringing this piece of shit to justice personally.
Although that didn’t make this night any more entertaining.
She shivered a bit as a particularly strong breeze crossed the roof. The hoodie she wore did little to protect her from the frigid weather of the December night, but she had always run a little hotter than most.
She reached in the pocket of her cargo pants, retrieving her phone to check the time. She groaned when she saw the glowing screen read 1:13 a.m.
She should really be getting some rest. She had an english test tomorrow at 11, and she was already running on fumes from her last patrol.
Raelle grabbed her binoculars once again, peering down to the sidewalks below her and praying that someone would show up soon. The worst part of being a vigilante was the waiting, in Raelle’s opinion. Although, to be fair, she wasn’t the most patient person.
Thankfully, a few minutes later, Raelle’s prayers were answered.
A girl was walking towards the dorms alone, Raelle saw, hugging her jacket closer and glancing nervously over her shoulder.
Peering behind the girl, Raelle scowled when she saw a tall figure tailing her, his hood pulled over his face and his steps loud and threatening.
It was time.
Raelle felt a familiar jolt of adrenaline as she stood, walking over towards the edge of the roof. She closed her eyes briefly, letting her instincts take hold before stepping off the side.
The frigid wind barely affected her as she fell. She let a small grin split her face, her heart thundering, before opening her eyes and summoning a powerful jet of flames from both hands to cushion her fall.
She landed with a thump against the concrete, stumbling a bit as the funnel of flames receded and the night was once again dark.
She peered across the courtyard, her eyes locking onto the figure trailing behind the girl. She was close to the dorm buildings by now, but the man was walking faster, and he was closer than he was before.
Raelle grit her teeth, not hesitating before breaking out into a sprint towards the man. She reached her hands towards either side of her hips, gripping the cold steel of her bo staff. She’d split it in two, each half resting in holsters on her waist.
Her dark clothes helped her blend with the shadows, and she made sure her steps were near soundless as she followed her target.
The man was none the wiser, too focused on following the girl, who had broken into a near sprint by now.
Before the man could pursue in any significant way, he was releasing a cry of pain as the metal of Raelle’s bo staff struck between his shoulder blades, sending him careening towards the ground.
Groaning, he turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of Raelle standing before him. She held both sides of her bo staff in either hand, and the hood of her black hoodie covered her face.
He narrowed his eyes as he stumbled to his feet, glancing around to see if the girl he was following was still around. He frowned, however, noticing that she was nowhere to be found. He turned back towards Raelle, his face set into a scowl. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” he spat, his hands curling into fists.
Raelle didn’t respond, smirking.
Before the man could even react, she was moving, launching herself towards him, both sides of her staff raised. She dodged his clumsy punch, striking out with her right hand and slamming the man’s jaw.
The man stumbled, clutching his face and growling. He clumsily threw himself towards Raelle, and Raelle narrowly dodged his barreling form, jerking to the right. He stumbled past, and Raelle twirled and struck both halves of her staff against his back again.
He cried out, falling to the ground once again.
Raelle didn’t hesitate before promptly kicking him in the groin.
The man whimpered, curling in on himself as involuntary tears pricked his eyes.
Raelle stared at him for a moment before kneeling down next to him. She let him see her fiery eyes as she leaned in close. She rested a hand next to his face, and he began sweating as the skin of her hand began to heat up, the concrete beneath her skin steaming and spitting. Her hand was now smoldering, a bright red that contrasted against the dark of the night.
She gave the man a threatening look. “Next time you think of following a girl home,” she spat, smiling slightly at his horrified expression. “Remember this.”
She moved her hand closer to his face, letting him feel the heat. He began to sweat, stuttering incomprehensibly as Raelle stared down at him, her hand hovering inches from his face.
And without another word, Raelle was wrapping her fingers around the vulnerable skin of his wrist. He screamed, the skin beneath her palm burning and sizzling.
Raelle didn’t say another word, releasing her hand and standing from her kneeling position. The man was crying, now, clutching his burned wrist and whimpering on the concrete.
Raelle scoffed at the man, joining the halves of her bo staff. She held the entire length of the metal staff in her hands, scowling before slamming one end into the man’s face.
He was out cold. Raelle gave him one last glare before turning away, intent on heading back towards her dorm.
Raelle was only about halfway back before the sound of a melodic voice had her stopping in her tracks.
“He was mine,” a sing-song voice called from somewhere close, and Raelle jerked her head around, brandishing her staff.
“What?” she asked hesitantly, eyes searching wildly for the source of the voice.
And then a figure was emerging from beneath one of the trees, dressed in black like her. Squinting, Raelle could tell that she was a woman, her brunette hair peeking out of the hood she had draped over her head. Raelle tensed when she noticed the knives the woman had strapped to her thighs and holstered at her waist.
The woman chuckled at her alarmed look, moving closer. “He was mine,” she repeated, and Raelle squinted, trying to make out any distinct features. Like Raelle, however, it seemed she had used face paint to further disguise her face under the hood.
“I’m sorry,” Raelle replied, her hands still gripping her staff tightly. “Wasn’t aware anyone else was...patrolling.”
The woman chuckled, her arms crossing as she looked Raelle up and down. “You’re not the only vigilante in town, fire lady.”
Raelle bristled, her grip staff loosening a little. “Fire lady?” she asked incredulously.
The woman shrugged. “What else are we supposed to call you?” she asked. “You’ve got fire powers.”
Raelle scowled. “I was hoping people would call me Fixer,” she replied.
The woman quirked her head, and Raelle could tell she was raising her eyebrow skeptically. “Really?”
“Yes, really!” Raelle answered defensively. “And what am I supposed to call you, huh? Ice woman?”
The woman squinted at her. “You know me?” she asked.
Raelle didn’t answer for a moment. “Yeah,” she finally replied. “Heard about you a few weeks ago. They said you left a man completely encased in ice after he tried attacking someone outside a bar.”
The woman snorted. “ Almost encased,” she emphasized. “I left his head free to breathe. He just had a cold night.”
“Right,” Raelle replied, finally lowering her bo staff completely, letting it come to rest at her side.
“You certainly did a number on that guy,” the woman commented.
Raelle shrugged. “He deserved it,” she said matter-of-factly. “He’s been assaulting girls for almost a month straight now. Tonight was the only night I caught him.”
The woman nodded her agreement. “I was trying to get him, too.”
There was a tense silence.
“Well,” Raelle said after a moment. “Guess I’ll see you around, Ice Woman.”
She turned away, raising her hand in a departing wave.
“It’s Siren,” the woman called after her, and Raelle hesitated, turning her head to face the woman. “Call me Siren.” she repeated, and Raelle could hear the smile in her voice.
Raelle stared at her for a moment before nodding, turning away and resuming her walk back towards her dorm.
Siren, she thought. Fitting. The woman’s voice was certainly hypnotizing enough.
Even when Raelle had taken a shower and hidden her gear under her dorm room bed, she still found herself consumed with thoughts of Siren. She glanced over to the neighboring twin bed across the room, sighing in relief that it was empty.
She got lucky at the beginning of the year, getting a roommate that was often out until the early hours of the morning. That left plenty of time for Raelle to get away with her vigilante shit without too many questions.
She sighed, staring up at the ceiling of the room.
Raelle hoped she saw Siren again. Something about her was...captivating.
Over the next few weeks, Raelle ran into Siren a few more times.
They held casual conversation sometimes, between fights with rogue criminals. Raelle was even surprised to run into the woman in the city while she patrolled.
They eventually took to working together. Raelle would meet her on the rooftop of her favorite coffee shop on campus, and they would either patrol campus or head up to the city.
As time passed, Raelle found herself increasingly curious about her pseudo-partner.
They refused to reveal their identities, referring to each other only as Siren and Fixer, but somehow the partnership worked. Their fighting styles seamlessly blended, and despite their relatively new partnership, Raelle found herself readily trusting the woman with her life.
They communicated well during fights, and they were able to properly defend each other when the other was in trouble. Raelle, to put it simply, had found the ideal partner.
It seemed Siren felt the same, because she continued to meet Raelle every night, joining her for patrol.
They talked about nothing and everything while they moved around campus or around the city. Raelle was obviously cagey about personal things, but she talked about her day, and she talked about the stuff she liked.
Siren did the same, and Raelle found herself eager to listen almost every night. Siren talked to her about her shitty days and the movies she had gone to recently and the series she had begun watching on Netflix, and Raelle hung on to every word.
And just like that, Raelle was falling.
Which was stupid, considering she didn’t really know the woman under the mask. Hell, she didn’t even know Siren’s real name.
And yet, the more nights they spent beating the shit out of lowlifes together, the more Raelle found herself desperately wanting to spend time with Siren. Any time. As long as they were together.
Which was stupid, she berated herself.
But she knew there was something there. The way they fought together, the way they worked and communicated. There was a connection.
Their powers also connected, in a way. The way they combined when the two fought was seamless. While Raelle thought that her fire would end up melting Siren’s ice and Siren’s ice would smother Raelle’s fire, they worked together instead.
Their powers were even more efficient together than they were when they were separate, and Raelle suddenly had a new appreciation for ice.
It all came to a head one night they were patrolling the city. It had been roughly two months since they had met, and Raelle was falling hard.
They had been following a drug ring that had spread across the city, leading to gang wars and firefights that often involved innocents.
They had finally tracked down the main distribution warehouse after a month of searching. Once they took the warehouse and alerted the authorities, it was only a matter of taking care of a few stragglers still selling the drugs around the city. But that was the easy part.
Now, they had to deal with the massive warehouse full of armed goons and various gang members.
It had gone relatively well, up until the last few thugs still milling around the warehouse. While Siren was distracted with searching the various suspicious-looking wooden crates piled high around the warehouse, Raelle took it upon herself to walk the perimeter and make sure the coast was clear.
Apparently, it was not clear, which Raelle only realized after the knife had been embedded into her right shoulder.
Raelle cried out and she couldn’t help the explosion of fire that erupted as soon as the knife had wedged itself into her shoulder. The man who had stabbed her yelled in pain as the fire made contact and he was thrown back.
Raelle’s vision was starting to become spotty, only worsening as she looked over and noticed the hilt of the knife protruding from her skin. Siren was sprinting over, but Raelle was already falling, stumbling over her own feet and blinking furiously as she tried to gain any semblance of focus.
She felt warm hands wrapping around her middle, catching her and easing her to the ground. “Oh, god,” Siren said, a worried look in her eyes. Raelle could just make out the piercing blue of her irises underneath her hood. “We need to get you somewhere safe.”
And before she knew it, they were moving, and blinding pain was shooting through her as Siren forced her to her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist and helping her retreat from the warehouse.
Raelle’s vision was only getting blurrier and blurrier as they walked, and the pain in her shoulder was just getting more and more intense. In the distance, Raelle could see that there was a lone motorcycle parked in an abandoned parking lot nearby.
Siren’s motorcycle.
And that’s when she collapsed, her form crumpling as she lost consciousness.
She woke up in her dorm.
Which was a little weird.
She groaned, forcing herself to sit up, leaning heavily against the headboard of her small twin bed. She glanced around the room, noticing that nothing was out of place. Her roommate’s bed was empty, as usual.
She narrowed her eyes as she noticed that the blankets on top of the mattress seemed disturbed, as if the bed had been used or sat on recently. Had her roommate seen her in this condition? Where was she?
Raelle stole a glance at the mirror across from her bed, noting that she was still dressed in her vigilante get-up. However, the sleeve of her shirt had been cut off to make room for bandages that stretched across the skin of her shoulder. Her hood and face paint was still applied, though.
She withheld a smile. Siren hadn't removed her hood the whole time. She respected her secret identity.
But how did she know where Raelle’s dorm was?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Raelle whipped her head towards the corner, noting that a black-clad figure was making her way into the room, various snacks and drinks cradled carefully in her arm.
It was Siren, still costumed and the hood still pulled over her face.
She stiffened when she noticed Raelle’s eyes trained on her. “Hey,” she forced out, closing the dorm door behind her and making her way over to the opposite bed. “You’re awake. I brought snacks.”
Raelle swallowed, her eyes still carefully following Siren as she moved across the room. “Hey,” she said, her voice raspy from disuse.
Siren wasted no time before throwing her a water bottle. “You must be thirsty.” she said. Raelle might be imagining it, but it seemed that Siren was almost...nervous?
Raelle took a few swallows of the water, almost crying with relief.
“Um,” she said after a moment of silence. “How’d you know to come here?”
Siren shrugged. “I didn’t really have anywhere else to go,” she replied. “Needed somewhere to treat your injuries, and my dorm was the safest place I could think of.”
Raelle furrowed her brows. “What?” she asked, thoroughly confused.
Siren seemed to be equally confused. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is my dorm not okay?”
Raelle shook her head. “No,” she insisted. “It’s fine, but this isn’t your dorm, it’s mine.”
Siren furrowed her brows. “What?”
“This is my dorm,” Raelle repeated. “This is my bed.”
There was a moment of silence as they both stared at each other.
And then,
“Raelle?” Siren asked hesitantly.
“Scylla?” Raelle asked at the same time.
Both of their hoods came flying off.
“No fucking way.” Raelle chuckled, hissing as the motion jostled her shoulder injury.
“Hey, be careful!” Scylla scolded, walking over with a couple more bandages. “I did the best I could under the circumstances, but you still need to go to a doctor.”
Raelle found her eyes drawn to Scylla’s–they were a startling blue, glinting in the pale dorm lights. She’d met her roommate, of course, but they rarely saw each other. Raelle couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed just how beautiful she was.
“Ok, I have a question,” Scylla said, reaching over to unwrap Raelle’s bandages. Raelle winced as she pulled the cloth away, wiping away excess blood and placing fresh gauze over the wound. “Where do you keep all your supplies?”
Raelle smirked, looking up to meet Scylla’s eyes. “You first, Siren.”
Scylla met her gaze for only a moment standing from the bed and walking towards their shared walk-in closet. Without another word, she pushed in one of the back panels, revealing a small compartment filled with weapons, face-paint, elements of her costume, and first aid supplies (there weren’t many left after Raelle’s injury).
Raelle whistled, impressed. “Clever,” she commented.
“Now you, Fixer.”
Raelle laughed, managing to stand from the bed without too much difficulty. “Get ready for this,” Raelle said, reaching for the edge of her bed.
With a bit of effort, Raelle was lifting the bed frame, revealing a large compartment she’d installed beneath her mastress. While her staff had been propped up against the door following their wayward mission, it would normally be laying in pieces beneath her mattress, effectively hidden from her roommate. In her compartment, she’d hidden first aid supplies, alternate weapons, and a police radio she’d managed to snatch from a parked cop car.
“Wow,” Scylla said, nodding her respect as she walked over to survey Raelle’s supplies. “Is that a fire extinguisher?”
Raelle’s face turned a bright red at the question. “Hey,” she tried to say as Scylla began cracking up. “Sometimes it's easier than trying to put it out myself.”
The laughter gradually faded and Scylla turned to face her, a knowing smile on her face. “This is quite a coincidence, you know.” she said, amusement clear on her face.
“You’re telling me,” Raelle replied, reaching up to scratch the back of her neck. “Here I thought you were just a crazy partier.”
“I just thought you hated me.” Scylla laughed. “I mean, you avoided me like the plague.”
“That’s not fair!” Raelle protested, but she couldn’t hold back her smile. “I was trying to hide my secret double life!”
“Well,” Scylla breathed, stepping closer. “Guess that’s over.”
Raelle’s heart felt as though it might beat out of her chest, but she refused to look away. “Yep, guess so,” she said, her voice becoming quieter as they began to lean in. “Besides, I could never hate you.”
Their lips met, and it was better than Raelle could’ve ever imagined. Whatever connection they had when they fought, it paled in comparison to this. Scylla Ramshorn would be the death of her, but Raelle couldn’t even bring herself to care, deepening the kiss and reaching up to cradle the side of Scylla’s face.
Scylla pulled back, her face suddenly serious. “Okay, but you really do need a doctor, stupid.” she said, already moving to grab her car keys. “You and I both need to wash off this face paint, and we need to come up with a story–”
Even with the pain ebbing from her shoulder and the ache in her muscles after hours of fighting, Raelle felt as though she was flying. Watching Scylla stumble around the room, grabbing her wallet and keys and stumbling out of her costume and into normal clothes, Raelle smiled. Maybe the vigilante thing didn’t have to be so isolating.
It couldn’t hurt to have a more…permanent partner, after all.