Chapter Text
Somewhere in southern California, between its concrete highways and sandy deserts, whipped by the heatwaves and sundowner winds lay a city of Midwood Grove. It was no Sacramento or LA- though laying close to the latter - but by no means was it a small or quiet place.
Filled with clubs, cars, and shining neons, it never slept, but as the first rays of daylight started to emerge, all sorts of new noises, smells and activities would join the picture as the city began to wake up in earnest. Sun rose over the concrete, tile and metal rooftops of warehouses, halls, corner stores, and houses, all sorts of buildings low and tall, like those of a high school campus located next to a small park and with a view of hills in the distance.
Inside one of its classrooms an English period was taking place, the sound of chalk grinding against the blackboard and coughing filling out the room. However, most of the fifteen- and sixteen-year old teenagers gathered there would rather sketch in their notebooks, pass messages or stare out the window rather than pay attention to the meanders of literature that the teacher was explaining- the subject could hardly be called captivating.
The classroom's door suddenly flew open as if kicked, thrown open so fast and wide it reached the wall and bounced back a little. A young girl with shoulder-length black hair and wearing a light blue hoodie appeared in the doorway, a small backpack slung loosely over her shoulder. The teacher, an older woman with fair yet graying hair, turned towards the door.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Fletcher, I-" she gasped out, her blue eyes darting nervously all over the room as everyone's gaze suddenly focused on her.
"Good morning, miss Amelia Campbell," the teacher said in a kind tone. "Although it's a bit late to be saying that," she then added, pointing out the hour in a lighthearted tone.
"Yes, I know, but-" the girl struggled to catch her breath, moving the bangs of her messy and unbrushed hair out of her face.
"Please take your seat now," the teacher gently interrupted, then resumed writing with a chalk - sketching the diagram of characters from some book that looked vaguely familiar to Amelia… if she bothered to read it.
Amelia nodded, then slipped through and over to her seat. She pulled out her notebook to jot down anything of what was already written while at the same time trying to follow whatever was being said, but to no avail. Her notes ended up being a mess, and she understood nothing.
Not much of class remained when she came in, and the bell soon rang. Everybody in the class swiftly packed up, and then left even faster, as always. Amelia tried to do the same, wanting nothing more than to slip away after that embarrassing entry. But just as she was almost out the door, she heard her teacher behind her..
"Miss Campbell," her name was called in a firm tone, leaving no ambiguity. "We need to talk." the woman said, motioning the girl to come closer to her desk.
Amelia walked over, her stomach sinking into a pit. Mrs. Fletcher, for what she knew her so far, was a very reasonable teacher. She definitely could have landed worse in changing the schools, so it wasn't like she was going to get hauled over coals right now. The problem was that she was going to have to explain herself - and the real reason she was late was… well, very much an outside context problem.
"What is it with your tardiness record lately?" The question came in quickly and in a casual tone, making Amelia breathe out in small relief - at least the teacher wasn't going to hold her in suspense. "Have you had issues with it in your previous school too?"
"No, not at all!" she vigorously denied. "I mean, I don't really have an explanation for it, and I'm trying to work on it, it just happens sometimes," she added, fidgeting in place and gripping the strap of her backpack tighter. If "sometimes" meant "almost every other day," then she would be telling the truth. She wasn't good at lying, at all, and everyone could tell. Not only she never had to do that before, it was just never in her personality.
To her surprise, however, her teacher dropped the topic as soon as she said that, no rolling up one's brows, no questions asked. Clearly she saw she wasn't going to get much out of her regardless, and was nice enough not to pry.
"Fine. I'll take up the topic with your parents then." she said, taking the class register with her information and beginning to flip through the pages, obviously intent on making a call to them.
To that she could only nod begrudgingly. Perhaps with her parents she would stand a better chance of turning things around. Or maybe the teacher won't manage to reach them at all. The most important thing was the fact that she managed to leap through this flaming hoop and not get burned on the spot, what comes next… well, that will be something to worry about later, right?
Hoping for the best, she left the classroom. Walking along the corridor to reach her locker, she saw a lot of people around, all going somewhere like a shifting sea - some of them alone, others in small groups. Unfamiliar faces everywhere. All her friends were left a state away when her family moved recently, and didn't make any since. Nobody talked to her, and she didn't really feel like trying to do so herself yet, still settling in. She looked just like almost every other fifteen-year old girl, maybe even a bit shorter and thinner than that, so she didn't stand out. She didn't dress stylish or in brands, wearing somewhat baggy hoodies as a preference, she didn't have a pretty face or silky, shiny hair. She just always sort of flowed together with a crowd, headphones covering her ears and playing her favorite pop songs. Sure, not having any bullies or enemies was great- but it was still lonely.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully - apart from the fact she struggled to keep her eyes open, trying not to fall asleep. Eventually the classes ended, and the school began to empty. Crowds of people filtered out the classrooms and into the hallways, toward the exit. Amelia went with it at first, but then unexpectedly broke away, heading toward one of the side corridors, and onto the second floor.
She entered the bathroom there - the girl's one, of course, as she already found there was a high likelihood of running into after-hours smokers in the boy's one last time she tried. This one would be empty, but just to be sure she walked through all the cabins, creaking each door open just to make sure, finding nobody at all.
Coast clear, the whole school was even starting to grow quiet. She took off her backpack, setting it against the door to have at least a second to react just in case, before walking in front of one of the mirrors and taking a deep breath.
There was a ring on her index finger, an easily overlooked piece of jewelry that looked just like any other - a typical silver ring with purple lining in the middle. She grabbed it firmly.
"Ancient stars, banish eternal night!"
Her vision grew violet for a moment, as a purple flash erupted within her eyes, lighting up the small room for a second. A warm aura enveloped her body, covering it in a brand new outfit like a second skin.
Amelia looked at her reflection in the mirror - awesome as always! Her baggy and unremarkable clothes were now replaced by a white and purple outfit, with skintight corset and thigh-length purple skirt with a lightning pattern on it, together with high boots and white stockings. Her hair turned dark purple, tied up into a waist-length ponytail with long bangs and her eyes midnight blue, sparkling with a pattern of a starry galaxy in them.
She fixed her purple gloves, made sure her detached sleeves were alright, and adjusted the star-shaped trinkets in her hair before picking up her backpack and opening the window. Fresh, warm air blew inside, moving her hair dramatically. It was time to stop being a boring teenager, her second life was out there waiting!
The girl grabbed onto the wall outside- a flat wall, her hands and feet sticking to it as if covered by a strong adhesive. The electrons in her body attracted with those in the wall, letting her climb up onto the flat roof like a cat does up a tree, making what should be impossible look so easy. She pulled herself up onto the roof, the view of concrete jungle and skyline stretching to her like a new horizon.
Taking a deep breath, she broke into a run and jumped off the edge without looking down, flying over the street below and onto the neighboring building, her purple boots banging against the steel roof as she landed. From there, she leapt onto another one, and then another. In a built up city like this one, rooftops and tall buildings were a road net of their own, but with nobody other than her using it. If jumping from one to another wasn't possible, then there were always ladders, fire escapes, or even gutters that she could grab onto. She wasn't efficient with this parkour yet, and she picked her routes on the fly, but as she came to know the city, she could start picking out the landmarks- a store's neon here, a laundry place there.
Hot wind blew in her hair as she ran, jumped and climbed through the city. She used to dislike any sort of physical activity - but now that those powers let her be good at it like she spent her whole life training, there was nothing more exciting than feeling so weightless and limber like she was now, being able to just go wherever her eyes looked, and seeing everything become so small below. At least when she didn't look too long…
Oh, and power lines were straight up like ziplines now - under this other form of hers the electricity seemed not to shock her at all, and even propelled her forward! Amelia spotted one, linking two buildings as it descended, so without stopping her run she headed towards it. She leapt up and grabbed onto the black line- only for her to feel a whole other type of weightlessness. A white flash erupted above her head and sparks flew as the cable snapped clean off!
"Woaaaah!" she screamed as the line swung down, with her becoming the pendulum at its end. The street level grew close fast - as did the wall of the building in front of her, with a wide glass display window about to filet the girl if she flew through it.
"Not a good idea!" she thought, as she dropped her legs lower to try and stop herself, but with that kind of speed this was easier said than done, her violet boots struggling to find a foothold and instead just gliding over the gray asphalt like wearing roller skates. With the glass panel fast approaching, she had no choice but to let go of the cord, falling down and tumbling a good distance.
"Ouch…" she groaned as she came to a stop meters away. "I really need to learn to roll…"
Thankfully, she ended up with just a few scratches and a lot of bruises, but nothing she couldn't just walk off. She looked around, realizing the building she landed in front of was what seemed like an abandoned car dealership, with a big parking lot and glass panels in the structure. From what Amelia could see, as she was checking herself in the reflection, it must have been a long time since it was last in business, seeing how dilapidated the building was inside.
Her eyes soon noticed a vending machine near her. Weird how it was still active given that the place it was near was dead, but she wasn't going to question her luck- she was in a mood for a drink anyway. After a while of deciding, she chose an orange-flavored one, and pressed the button. The coin slot opened with a click, but she wasn't going to pay for it.
She still didn't know a lot about her powers, but what she discovered early on was that she could make her body emit electricity, and together with it, one neat use for that trick. She put up her purple glove against the side of the machine, and concentrated. A little arc lightning shot from her fingertips, the machine conducting it. But nothing happened. This wasn't it.
So she tried again, closing her eyes and letting out a breath. She didn't actually know how those powers worked - magic wasn't something that had a guide sold for just 9,99$ at a corner store. They would manifest when she needed them - most of the time at least. But controlling their intensity, direction or any other attributes was a mystery to her. No longer trying to focus so hard like she tried to wish something into existence, she tried to think of it like of something natural. A gentle grasp instead of a crushing grip. This time, somehow, just give it a nudge. Her hand glowed again, this time without the shooting arcs.
The machine beeped a familiar sound, she got it! Emitting just the right amount of voltage, machines like those would enter a sort of admin mode, then start spitting cans like they were ordered to empty their pockets! Same worked for many other systems as she already discovered - ticket machines, ice cream, chewing gum, sweets, anything which sold that way could be hers!
The machine spit one, then second, then third and then so many more cans they filled the dispenser space and started tumbling onto the pavement outside. But she just took only one - she wasn't greedy. Opening it up, she took a sip of the sweet drink, ideal for a hot weather like this.
Where was she, anyway?
As she looked around more, it appeared that she took a wrong "turn" somewhere while parkouring, since this wasn't her usual way home at all. It was some completely other part of the city, with fewer buildings next to each other and what few there were being abandoned or due to demolition. That would explain the lack of people around, as nobody witnessed her stunt.
She started walking back towards the main street so she could re-orient herself, and closer to the clumps of buildings, to find a way to get back onto the roofs. Somewhere not very visible preferably, as climbing straight up a street-side wall wasn't the brightest of ideas- no need to become a city-wide sensation yet.
Luckily, nobody passed her as she walked back, and soon she was already back in the concrete jungle, looking for a way to get behind the buildings, into some back alley. She saw one such entrance, but as she went up to check it, there was a locked gate, a chain and padlock keeping it shut.
"Nope, not going to wreck public stuff for a shortcut," she thought. Climbing over it wasn't an option either, because of the barbed wire on top. Someone really wanted to keep this one locked down for whatever reason.
Amelia took another sip from the can and resumed walking.
"No, let me go!"
"I said give me your wallet you little bitch!"
Two distinct voices, no mistaking that one belonged to a girl, and another one to a man. No ambiguity about who was who either. A mugging in progress.
Okay, that statement about wrecking stuff just went out of fashion.
She turned back, flinging the still half-full can over her shoulder and walking back to the locked gate, then kicked with all her anger, the chains shattering on impact, and ringing against the pavement as they fell.
Amelia wasn't in a situation like this before. But oddly enough, she didn't feel any fear nor hesitation to react, walk inside the dark, long alley formed by two buildings the moment she heard it. Just anger, a burning wrath in her chest at the injustice and the overwhelming resolve to stop it. It was an old, familiar feeling. The teenager felt it many times before, somewhere in her heart, in some small capacity. Tempered by the reasoning that there wasn't much she could do about it. But now this limitation has ceased its existence.
Emerging into an open space midway through the passage, full of bloated dumpsters and buzzing flies she quickly made out the two silhouettes against the wall - or rather, one pinning the other against the wall, with his hand around her throat. A man larger than her dressed how she always imagined a scum like that to dress, covered up with loose pants and hoodie, his face hidden by a cap and face cloth. The alley had another exit visible in the distance, leading to the light of the street and without any gating. That's how the girl was dragged here.
"How about you try someone who hits back?" Her voice got his attention as she emerged from the shadows. A cheesy line, but one that summed up her thoughts perfectly.
Hearing someone else clearly took the thug by surprise, as he seemed to pause for a second, before glancing behind himself.
"Where the fuck did you come from?" the man growled, relaxing the hold on his victim.
As he did, the other girl slumped to the ground, now sitting up against the brick wall as her knees were turned into jelly. Her teary eyes kept dashing between her newfound savior and the criminal.
"Turn around and go back to that con you came from," he then chuckled as he got a good look at her. Indeed, her unusual outfit made confusing her for a cosplayer was only far too easy.
But the girl in purple didn't budge an inch.
"I said turn around and forget it." his voice now got serious as she continued standing her ground.
"Run and call the police. I'll get the asshole ready for the pickup." ignoring the man, the costumed hero now turned to the girl sitting on the ground, using a firm tone trying to snap her out of it. "Go!"
Using the wall as a support, the girl finally scrambled to her feet, before running towards Amelia. The girl standing in the alleyway managed to get a glimpse as she passed her - a highschooler her age. Seeing as this was his choice of a target made her blood boil even harder. As all this happened, the criminal strangely didn't interfere at all, perhaps finding the newcomer a more profitable or... attractive option. The girl's stomach turned, thinking of the possibility of the latter.
"I guess you'll have to do…" he then declared in a creepy tone, as he started getting closer.
"I'm not afraid of you," despite the man being a good head taller than her, this was true, her voice proving as much.
The man lunged at her, closing the distance in a blink of an eye as his hand tried to grab onto her- but the girl stepped out of the way at the last second.
He wasn't slow, so this must have been her luck. he thought. So he tried again, only for her to move away by inches. He threw a punch, but she just… ducked under it, emerging behind him.
It wasn't any less puzzling for Amelia, she didn't even know how she did that! It was as if she simply thought, and her body moved the exact way she wanted, although in the current situation she wasn't even thinking properly. The sole, subconscious desire of wanting to be out of the way as she saw him grab and swing was enough for her to dodge, no matter how late the thought came.
"You little shit!" he swore before launching himself at her yet again. This time he swung fast and tight, like a proper boxing flow, but the form of the girl before him was like a blur- shifting to his sides from left to right as his haymakers, jabs and uppercuts just kept cutting air. He punched and punched in one long combination until his breath ran out and he gasped in fury. But seeing her stand completely unharmed before him was like a shock straight to the brain, making him freeze up on the spot, his fists raised, but his eyes wide.
Amelia guessed this was the part where she punched back, She stepped forward for momentum and threw a haymaker, her punch hit him in the cheek. It was sloppy, but it sufficed, as the thug spun around and fell to the ground, like everything inside him was just rattled with the force of a jackhammer. The girl looked at her arm, flexing her hurting fist in disbelief of just how strong she was. It hurt like hell, but she was sure she nailed him harder.
Capitalizing on her lapse in concentration the thug lifted himself back onto his knees and quickly reached for his pocket. With a soft click, a knife's blade popped out.
"Playtime's over." He grunted, spitting blood and what looked like a chipped tooth.
"Oh, you really think a knife scares me?" she took a step back, but otherwise didn't skip a beat. Endorphins and surging confidence flooded her system, making the sight of a brandished weapon not faze her one bit.
The criminal didn't answer, instead standing up like his legs were made of springs, closing the distance again with a wild slash. Amelia instinctively raised her forearm, the swipe opening up a deep cut across as she protected herself with it.
"Shit!" she cursed, feeling her skin tear open, then the heat of a bleeding wound.
"Distance" was now the only tangible thought inside her head as the man was upon her again. Backing up she dodged another slash trying to open her up, but then came a stab. Fast like a bullet and right at her neck, light dancing along the edge of the blade. She leaned back- way back, trying to bend under the knife. Ground approached, but within a second hands caught her and her feet followed, kicking the man across the face as she backflipped.
"Woah, I knew I was flexible, but-" she thought out loud as she stood back up.
"You little, fucking..." the man repeated the same insult at her, struggling to stay on his feet and clutching his face with his free hand, as blood started gushing out of his broken nose.
This time the girl didn't waste a single second. Her whole body rotated on her foot as she delivered a spinning kick in the chest like she saw in that TV show with that Texas Ranger, sending him flying across the length of the alley and into one of the green dumpsters, the steel bending on impact with a loud groan.
The girl held her leg in the air for a couple of seconds before she set it down again, her eyes wide. She thought making someone soar like that happened only in the movies, but there, it just happened!
His screaming and whining brought her back to reality, as he laid twisting himself on the ground, clutching at his chest. Did she break his ribs with that? Serves him right!
She walked up to him, looking at the huge thrash container that he laid under, before grabbing onto it and pulling it straight down at him, some of the garbage falling out onto the ground before he caught it just above himself.
"Hold it for me now, will you?" she told him as it stabilized. After all, she had to keep him here somehow until the police arrived.
"No, I'll suffocate with this!" he protested briefly, now just as afraid as the girl he held against the wall only moments before.
"Better hope they'll find you soon, then." she said with an indifferent tone, then tapped the steel a few times and walked away.
She leapt onto the wall, sticking to it then climbing onto the roof and disappearing out of his view, probably giving him another lifelong scare when she looked like a human spider. She should have waited around, which would be the responsible thing to do… but she was getting hungry.
************
Once the buildings thinned down, and she reached the suburbs, she transformed back to her normal form and jogged the last mile or so through the neighborhood. Normally she would drop to the ground and probably die a sweaty mess before she ran so much, but now she could do three times that while completely zoning out.
Finally, she reached her house, going up the wooden stairs and getting inside.
"Amelia, what took you so long?" her mother's voice reached her ears as soon as she closed the door behind herself and stepped into the foyer. Her parents were sitting at the kitchen table, and her mom stood up, walking up to her. She looked a lot like her, being a short and thin woman with black hair.
"Ah, it's nothing, just took longer today I guess?" Amelia replied, trying to play it off. But that wasn't going to cut it, as her mother got herself in front of her.
"Your teacher called us," she just dropped the topic on her, concern written across her face. "Said you're always late. Is there something happening?"
"Oh, that," Amelia chuckled. "Yeah, that's a… thing, yeah, and I'm going to tell you all about it, but I'm really tired right now, can we talk about it later?" The girl made up something on the spot, not having any idea yet how she would explain it, but trying to buy herself any time she could.
She then tried to sidestep, get to the stairs to the second floor where her room was.
"Wait, do you want to eat something?" her mother asked her, catching onto her forearm.
Amelia hissed in pain, as her wound was inadvertently squeezed that way, making her mother quickly roll up her sleeve and see the bloody gash in its entirety.
"My God, what happened to you?" she immediately asked with a panicked voice.
"Oh, that's just, I just got clipped by a biker on the street when I was going home," she made up the first explanation that came to her head. "But it's fine,"
"No, that's not fine!" her mother quickly shut her down, before letting go and going to one of the cabinets in the living room to get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for wound cleaning.
She looked at her father, still calmly seated by the table and drinking coffee. He was a tall, thin man in early 30s with blonde hair and a few days' stubble on his face which seemed to be the only thing indicating he was no longer that young. He just gave her that "try talking her out of it," look, before getting back to some papers he was going through.
After a good bit of whining as her wound was cleaned up and down with that stinging liquid then wiped with a paper towel, Amelia once again deflected the school topic with promises she was going to talk about it later.
"Give her a break, she's barely standing," her father threw in his two cents in her favor too.
"Yeah, I'll just go and rest a bit," Amelia said. "Although…" she then did a double take as the fridge came into her line of sight.
The girl took a whole plate, before opening up a fridge and grabbing whatever was in reach- meat loaf, still frozen mac and cheese, yogurts and some cookies- stuffing her mouth with the first one in the meantime.
"I'm sorry, I'm just really hungry, but I'll eat upstairs," she quickly explained with her mouth half full, before taking the stacked tray with her, to her both parents' surprise, then disappearing upstairs.
"You think she's drinking?" her mother asked her husband.
"No, definitely not," he shook his head.
"Drugs?"
"More like weed if anything," he said, before sighing. "Look, it's probably nothing. Girl's growing, it's normal that she cleans the whole fridge," he then explained. "When I was in high school and played football I almost ate my parents out of the house," he laughed.
"Right, that does happen," the woman eventually conceded. "By the way, I'm having that violin tutoring coming up tonight, can you drop me off for it?"
"Sure, just let me know,"
Amelia didn't hear any of it though, having long reached her room, placing the tray down at the first free spot she could see, before dropping her backpack next to her bed on which she then sat down.
"I should clean up here," was her thought as she looked around her four walls while unzipping her hoodie. Her desk had books on physics and other science subjects stacked high on it, her laptop's keyboard was buried under all sorts of papers, including State maps, and somewhere else still laid wires and batteries from her impromptu conductivity experiments. Elsewhere lay her spare headphones and cables for her music player, along with CDs of her favorite playlists burned onto them, on top of pop magazines.
"Maybe later," she mumbled as she took off her outer clothes and threw them on the floor before kicking off her shoes and dropping onto the bed. For now, all she wanted was to just sleep.
One last thing she did was to take off her magic ring, placing it on the desk.
She heard drops of rain thumping against her window as she awoke, her eyes still closed. The room felt colder, as did her body since she didn't fall asleep under anything. She sat up, looking outside, and sure enough, it rained quite badly outside, the sky gray with clouds.
"Your kind always wakes up when someone looks at them. Is this an evolutionary feature?"
She almost jumped out of her skin as she heard that voice, instantly crawling against the wall and looking at her desk. It was just a black cat sitting on top of the mess.
Yes, a black cat talking in a deep male voice felt quite normal by now.
"Why are you here? Aren't you meant to be out and about somewhere like always?" she responded groggily, rubbing her tired face.
"Why did you take your ring off?" the cat asked in a stern tone, before shoving it with its paw, so hard it flew towards the girl, who caught it into her fist.
"I asked first!" she responded as she slipped it back on.
"The window was creaked open," he responded in a flat tone, stating a simple fact.
"Right," she nodded with a sigh. "But why did you come here? I mean at all," she clarified, remembering how exact she had to be with her words whenever speaking with him.
"When are you going to start your training?"
Amelia sighed. Not this topic again.
"I'm already training. I'm doing… stuff, getting better at it," she said weakly. "Like, today I parkoured and beat up a mugger!"
But the cat didn't seem to be having any of it.
"Over the last two months since you gained your powers all you did with them was hack those coin machines to take free trips over the entire State, and gorged yourself on ice cream each day when I told you that your cavities will heal on their own," he laid out patiently to her. His voice didn't sound like it, but it sure did feel like a dressing-down for a mess up. "Is there anything you are going to say to justify that?"
"Summer Break," she sighed, not in the mood for discussion.
"What I said before is not a joke," he began another lecture. "I want you to start training now, you are already deeply behind schedule and you definitely won't make it in time even if you start now, but you will at least have the skills you need if you-"
"It's raining," she interrupted him.
"What does that have to do with anything?" the cat asked, clearly puzzled.
"It's raining," she repeated, pointing out the window. "I'm not going to go out when it's raining, and I'm pretty sure those aliens won't either. Seriously, nobody likes getting wet," she explained.
"Is your species somehow damaged by the rain? I saw plenty of you being outside when it rained, and the Galactic Princess never had any issues with it either," the cat resumed his lecturing tone.
"Well, no," she shrugged her shoulders. "Rain just sucks," she then added, before grabbing the blankets laying on the bed and covering herself up with them like she was about to hibernate.
"Amelia," the cat said, leaping from the desk and on top of her. His paws started to press down on her with force, trying to get her to budge. "Amelia, wake up, this is of highest importance right now, and you need to take this seriously, otherwise-"
But the girl wouldn't hear any more of it as she soon fell asleep again, buried under the blankets.