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Kara was pinned against a wall and the harsh grip of an explosive hero, the palms of his hands glowing with a neon green that she knew was definitely gonna hurt. Her mask was partly smashed, the chunks of its electric screen crunching against their feet.
This was bad.
Usually she had the scraps to help her with close combat, but right now they were snarling with that monster , so he was on his own.
This was very bad.
The strands of the hero’s hair covered their face, but Kara could partly make out the black of their pupil.
It vaguely reminded him of the burning gaze of that damn Eye.
He could feel his nails crack into the gloves of the hero as they snarled against their grasp. Reason and order was no longer an option for her. She shook against the opened cracks in his mask and kicked against one of their legs, the shattering
crunch
of something he didn’t want to know. He bit his tongue till she could taste the iron dripping down her cheek. A pained growl escaped her lips as he kept trying to smash and kick at their legs. They just kept staring down at him, unfeeling. Cold. This was a losing battle, she fully aware.
A rustling from beside the hero is what forced her to stop, and turn her gaze to him . He stared smugly back at her and 7 wanted nothing more than to rip out that fucker’s tongue.
“I see you’ve got a handle on this, so I think I’ll just head on out while you clean up.” Just hearing her voice made 7 claw against the hero’s grip just for the slim chance to scratch at her.
“They recognize you.” Their voice was deep, monotone but not attractive. The scratchy vocals reminded 7 of having a cold. She snarled while Ender paused.
“Well, I mean I do have adoring fans, unlike you ~Hero~.” Her eyes crinkled into something like delight while the hero only sighed.
“Do all your “fans” try to kill you???” They turned their head to stare at her. Their frown somehow dug further into their skin.
“You would be surprised.” His laugh was graining on 7’s ears.
“Fuck you.” she spat.
“Thanks but I’m good.” The hero had to focus back on her so she wouldn’t kill their partner right then and there. Ender just kept grinning back at her, and 7 could see the canines poking out of her throat.
“This doesn’t concern you hero , if you leave now you won’t have to see what I’ll do to this monster.”
“Even though I would love to see Ender brought down a peg, I kind of need him, so this does actually concern me.” 7 tried to kick again but the hero simply shuffled to the side.
“Awwwww, do you really feel that way, Atom?” Ender cooed, her claws going up to cradle her face.
“Do you know anything about them, Ender?” Atom dodged the question, their gaze flitted over every open crack of exposed skin, trying to piece together a person. They wouldn’t find one.
“That is certainly a question. You know a better one would be why don’t I just teleport them to your little hero HQ, and we can finally have that pizza date?” 7 could see the slight shake in their tail. Even she wasn’t stupid enough to reveal everything. “I mean it’s practically their job to investigate little criminals, why can’t we just drop them off for someone else to deal with them?” Ender moved her claws to poke at Atom, gently, 7 noted, with great distaste.
“I want a few minutes to talk to them.” Atom didn’t even flinch against his touch. “Alone.” they added. Ender sighed, but she had no qualms with it, winking to them before the glow of their portal snuffed out.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Now that she was gone the anger in Kara deflated into a stinging irritation.
“You wouldn’t have answered my questions with him here.”
“What makes you think I will now?” She flashed his canines at them, a snarl curved her lips.
“You don’t have much of a choice right now.” The neon from his hands grew slightly brighter, and Kara could smell the burning of her suit.
“I’m not much of an informant for you heroes. I work alone.”
“You had those things with you though right? The uh-
“The scraps.”
“That’s what they’re called? Where did you get them?”
“That’s classified.”
“I thought you said you worked alone.”
“I do . The scraps are my family, that’s all you need to fucking know.” She glared hard at Atom, flipping through different files with her good eye, making the hero sigh before switching topics.
“How do you know Ender?”
“She’s a monster. Simple as that.”
“Why????” They were digging, trying to claw at something, but Kara was trained, she knew when to keep his mouth shut.
He could tell the hero was losing patience.
“Can you at least tell me if you know anything about the missing people? Your “scraps” ate one of them so that makes you my biggest lead.”
This made Kara pause.
“.....I thought you heroes were done chasing ghosts?”
“Most are, but I’m not. I’m….. I’m looking for someone.”
She could feel the grief radiating as the hero spoke. It felt eerily familiar, like a faraway mirror that made her heart tug painfully. His own yearning clashed against Atom’s.
“I’m…. I’m sorry. That uh….. I can sympathize with that.”
It was a minute before either of them spoke.
“I’m not involved with any of that stuff, my scraps probably just found a corpse, but I could try to keep an eye out, if you let me go.”
“You’re still a crimminal, I can’t just let you go.”
“We didn’t do anything, we’re not murderers, we were just walking around before one of my scraps caught a scent and went attacking.”
“You had a gun.”
“Plenty of people have weapons, owning a gun doesn’t mean shit.”
The hero sighed, “That’s not helping your case.”
“Alright, fine, fine I’m an anti-hero. I only hurt those who deserve it, that’s what the gun is for.”
“That’s still illegal.”
“It’s better than working with a literal monster.”
That made Atom pause. They tilted their head back and groaned.
…..
A minute ticked by….
“Fine.”
Slowly, they started to lift their fingers from the wrinkled red of his uniform. Kara noted the still glowing hands as he stretched out his stiff arms.
“My sister. She’s the one I’m looking for.”
“Do you have a name, or general description of what she looks like?”
“I was little when she disappeared but she had dark curly hair and dark brown eyes. I doubt she’s still wearing that dress but she had a really big smile.”
“Should I tell her ‘Atom is looking for you’?” She reached for the broken pieces of her mask. She would have to get that fixed before returning.
“No she wouldn’t recognize that, just….. Just tell her brother is looking for her.”
“Understood. If I run into you I’ll tell you what I find.”
“Thank you, and I’m sorry about the company, he’s just like that.”
7 Growled out a frustrated sigh while she slung her gun over her shoulder. “You should find better company, people like her only end up hurting you.”
Atom didn’t bother to say anything else, just nodded his head while Kara walked back to her original post. Knowing Ender she probably sent her scraps a few blocks away, where the Eye usually popped up during work. He acknowledged the hero’s description of his sister, overall it was slightly vague, but coming from a hero working with a villain that caution actually made sense. Plus she couldn’t really find anything on the guy so he was definitely trying to hide himself. The way he had described her, made something in Kara’s throat harden. His memory was fleeting and dying over and over again only gave Kara more holes. But he remembered having dark curly hair, and bright white teeth that would sparke when he smiled. But it wasn’t really her, not anymore.
She was just a copy of a forgotten ghost.