West Tempest City:

A tall girl approached the counter at a local corner store, setting down a bottle of chocolate milk and several chocolate bars. The clerk scanned the items, taking his sweet time doing so, while the girl uncomfortably ran her fingers through her black hair. Her gaze shifted to the newspaper rack below the cash register.

Her face was on the front page.

As soon as the super-villain Ulric Garinator smashed her helmet to bits and knocked her into unconsciousness, her identity was quickly exposed to the media by quick-shooting paparazzi. Instead of talking about her heroic deeds, the news instead focused on discussing her complete humiliation in the battle against Ulric and her identity, making facts about her private life public.

She let out a heaving sigh as she felt her childhood fantasy-turned-reality being crushed. A costumed super-hero without a secret identity was not a symbol of hope or an icon for villains to fear. They weren’t much of a super-hero at all…

“Hey, aren’t you that girl on the paper?” the old man from behind the counter asked in a friendly tone. Justine could see him grinning behind his haphazard mustache. The way he asked that, it felt as if he were making fun of her.

“Just give me my stuff,” she muttered quietly, handing over her money. She took her items and left the store quickly, hoping to escape from this ridicule and head back to the sanctuary of her room, where she’d been wallowing over her defeat for days. As outgoing and energetic as Justine was, she didn’t handle losing well… especially not when she lost face because of it. She also felt like she let her brother down, since he was against letting her go into battle and she did anyway.

“Hey, look! It’s Justi-Girl!” she heard a voice in front of her call out excitedly. She felt a shiver run down her spine, not appreciating the public attention when her mask was off. Two obnoxious-looking teenagers came running along the sidewalk to her, obstructing her path. They way they gazed at her was not like she was a public figure…

… more like an attraction at a carnival or zoo.

“Can you show us your powers? That is so totally wicked!” one guy exclaimed, though, like in the store, she felt like she was being made fun of. “Can you explode things with your mind?!”

“You’re still in one piece, aren’t you?” she responded in a sarcastic tone, trying to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

“How did you get your powers?!”

“I was bitten by radioactive justice.”

“No way, she’s, like, one of those Anomalies or whatever. Those weird people with powers that the mayor was trying to lock up!” the other guy informed his less-educated friend. “Yeah, she’s not a hero… she’s one of those freaks that are ruining Colonia!”

Justine’s eyebrow twitched and she felt her nails digging a hole into the plastic bag she was carrying. She didn’t like the word ‘freak’.

“Whoa, for real? So you’re not special, there’s a whole bunch of you! Why were you running around acting like a superhero? You’re, like, in your twenties, why don’t you grow up?”

“That’s none of your--”

“So were you the one who blew up City Hall?!”

“Why would I do that?”

“What about that big vine dome over in Old Central?!” the same kid annoyingly asked in succession. “Did you do that?!”

Justine let out a frustrated growl before answering again. “No! I’m on the side of justice, not evil! I only fight the bad guys!”

“The way the mayor was talking, you’re all the bad guys! Who knows what to expect from you freaks with powers?!” the second kid yelled at her, taking a step away from her as he gave her an apprehensive glare. “He may have changed his mind, but no one likes you now that they know what you really are! You’re going to destroy us all!”

“I’ll show you what I’m gonna do!” Justine hissed furiously, dropping her bag and raising her right fist to slug the kid right in the face! Both kids flinched as Justine raised her fist to them, but someone snatched her by the forearm before she could go through with it. Justine’s eyes widened and she glanced to her right: Sophie was there and giving her a stern look.

“Geez, she’s crazy! Run away!” the second kid exclaimed.

“I’m already gone!!” the first boy shouted from the distance.

Once they were gone, Sophie released her firm grip on Justine’s arm, which then hung limp at the girl’s side. Justine looked away from Sophie, reaching down to pick up her stuff. Sophie crossed her arms and shook her head, not about to let Justine off the hook with just that.

“Could you act like any more of a child?” Sophie scolded her. “You lose one battle so you pout in your room for days… and then you’re about to hit some punk in the face!”

“I was just supposed to let them humiliate me?! They’re treating me like some kind of freak just because I’m an Anomaly! I can’t escape from it now because these idiot journalists have made me their topic of the week!”

“I thought you wanted attention. When you first started parading around as Justi-Girl half a year ago, you certainly seemed to love it. And every celebrity gets bad press.”

“Yeah but this is about me, not Justi-Girl. I consider us separate entities.”

“This is exactly what I told Leena was going to happen when we first got our powers,” Sophie muttered, quite vexed by the whole ordeal. “People are going to be scared of us and we’ll become outcasts. Our chance to grow up normal like everyone else is slipping away. This is why I hate the Anomaly factor that changed our lives.”

“I just hate stupid people,” Justine told her. Sophie chuckled, patting Justine on the back as they headed back to their house.

“You know I hate them more than you do. I have to live with them.”

“Hahaha. … wait… hey!”

Anomaly- Stage Two

Vol. 8: Nemesis (Pt. 5)

Chapter Fifty-Six

Felicia’s House:

Justine speedily paced in a circle around in the well-kept kitchen, traveling in the loop that encompassed the kitchen table and the island. Vy and Sophie both sat at the table. Vy was getting dizzy watching Justine go round-and-round, while Sophie was looking through a magazine.

“God I want the next semester to start already,” Sophie muttered as she turned the page and rocked the chair on its hind legs. “I feel like my life goes nowhere during the breaks. I need homework.”

“No homework for me please,” Vy whined, flopping face-down on the table. “Now that I don’t live at home I never get it done…”

“That’s because you just fool around with Justine all day.”

“Fool around…?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Well at least she’s finally out of her room,” Vy stated, peeking her eyes up over her folded arms and watching as Justine paced by for the fifty-third time. Sophie shook her head and turned the page of her magazine again, responding with sarcasm.

“Yeah. That’s not annoying at all.”

“I’ve decided!” Justine finally declared loudly. She slammed her open palm down against the table, causing Vy to jolt up immediately in alarm and jostling Sophie, who was pressing her knees against it to balance her chair, to fall over backwards. Justine ignored their reactions as she shouted out, “I will only feel better if I have a rematch with that super-villain and put him in his place!”

“That’s your big revelation?!” Sophie seethed in annoyance, pulling herself up and then leaning down to pick up the chair. “I would’ve realized that five minutes after being defeated! Even if my brain ran at twenty percent the normal human capacity like yours.”

“I have to do it. I have to show Alex that justice can prevail over evil and that he doesn’t always have to try to steer me away from my duties!”

“I think Alex would prefer if his bouncing baby sister didn’t run headfirst into danger and end up in the hospital bi-monthly! I believe he said those exact words in that note he left on your door.”

Justine stared at Sophie for the better part of a minute, leaving Sophie absolutely baffled as to what could possibly be going on in her messed up head. Finally, Justine threw her arms up in the air, scoffing and continuing to pace.

“Bah! Who cares what Alex thinks?!”

“You were just saying…! Oh, never mind,” Sophie groaned, falling into her chair and slumping back in it, defeated for now. Vy started watching Justine pace again, deciding to voice her own concern about Justine’s sudden decision.

“But are you really going to go out as Justi-Girl again…? Your identity was revealed so hasn’t it kind of lost its meaning?”

“That’s what they’d like me to think! But I have to show everyone how strong my will is and make sure Justi-Girl lives on, at least until her foe is defeated! Yes, Justi-Girl will exist until she prevails over Ulric! Only then will she be able to rest in peace.”

“She will?”

“Yup,” Justine said slyly, leaning forward and putting her face right in front of the younger girl’s. “And you’re going to help her.”

“I am?” Vy asked, sounding needlessly confused.

“You are.”

Vy’s eyes brightened up when she realized what Justine meant by that. “I am! Do you still have my costume?!”

“Oh ho ho, I have all of them… including Justi-Girl Red,” Justine said in an inviting tone, covering her mouth with her right hand and slowly turning to look at Sophie. Sophie at first gave Justine a ‘what the hell is wrong with you’ look, but then she recalled that red was the color Justine forced upon her when they were in Marble Town.

“No.”

“WHY?!” Justine protested loudly and immediately, causing Sophie to cover her ears. She didn’t appear enticed by the idea one bit. She slid her chair back along the polished linoleum floor, trying to maintain her personal space.

“No means no and that’s that.”

“Give me three reasons!”

“Number one!” Sophie began a split-second after Justine’s demand, startling both of the other girls. “I hate getting dragged into other people’s fights. Number two: I refuse to wear that humiliating costume again. And number three: I ordered pizza and it’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

“I like pizza,” Justine said, suddenly spacing out when Sophie mentioned food. Sophie clenched her brow; somehow everything Justine did was extra irritating today,

“It has olives.”

“I hate your pizza.”

Sophie stood up, taking her magazine with her and left the room. Justine span around on her heel, calling after Sophie and shaking her right fist. “Coward! So that’s it? You’re just going to let us die?!”

“We’re going to die?!”

“No, no… well, at least I hope not. Come on, let’s hero up and go on patrol.”

Elsewhere:

“Hello Justine,” Felicia spoke into her phone after answering it. She held it between her shoulder and ear, using her hands to peel dress gloves that reached past her elbows off and set them down atop a fancy tablecloth. “What’s up? Did you finally leave your room?”

Felicia listened intently to Justine’s ranting on the other end of the phone, making a gesture with her right hand for a passing waiter to bring her some wine.

“No, I’m not available right now… sorry. But I can play next time if you still want,” she told the girl desperately seeking allies. She did feel bad about shooting Justine down, but she also had a life. The voice on the other end of the phone then got louder. “Yes, yes, okay… it’s not a game, I understand. Yes, I think it’s cool! I love my costume!”

At the other end of the table, Felicia’s orange-haired date squinted his eyes, baffled at the one-sided conversation he was listening in on.

“Costume…? What is she talking about…”

“Okay, just… don’t end up like you did the last two times, your track record is almost as bad as the amount of times I’ve caught Vy eating my hidden cookies. It’s like she always knows where I’m gonna hide them. Okay. Okay. See ya.”

Felicia hung up her phone and put it back in her purse, returning to her formal date with her father’s friend’s son. The waiter brought her a glass of wine and she picked it up, swishing it around a bit before taking a sip.

“Hmm… not strong enough. I’m gonna need a lot of these…” she mumbled to herself. Austin, who now felt incredibly awkward when he was finally alone with Felicia, cleared his throat… but his next words ended up coming out scratchy anyway.

“So, what would you like to order?”

“More wine, clearly.”

“Uhhh… right, I can arrange that! My father brings me here a lot, so the waiters will give us special treatment. Heh heh heh.

“How not interesting,” Felicia muttered to herself again, taking another sip of her wine and rolling her eyes. She was starting to wonder to herself why she was doing this, but somehow even she had a hard time remembering. Everything in her life was like a daze lately… things just happened.

“So uh… what did you do today?” Austin asked, starting to sweat as he became desperate to make conversation. Here he was, sitting across from a girl completely out of his league, fearing he’d lose her at any second. How did she and Ash have chemistry while he could barely get a sentence out without boring her to death?

“I went to the gym and then visited my father at his tower. Or was it the other way around? I don’t know… it was a boring day.”

“Was or is?!” Austin thought, starting to panic in response to her moot tone. He picked his fork up off the table and then set it down again, then picked it up and put it down again. Then he grabbed his knife with the other hand. Felicia raised an eyebrow as she rested her nose against her wine glass, leaning forward and watching his nervous reactions with quite some clarity.

“Every little movement he makes, no matter how quick… seems so slow to me,” she thought, sipping from her glass again. “Humans are becoming hard to put up with.”

“I… I went to the gym!” Austin exclaimed, starting off like he was going to impress her but quickly losing his focus, before squeaking something under his breath. “… once.”

“Just once?”

“Waagh! How did you hear that?!” he flinched backwards in his chair before stammering again. “But it’s not like Ash ever goes to the gym, so he’s not better than me or anything!”

“At least he’s an Anomaly…” Felicia thought, finding she preferred that. Then she voiced aloud something that irritated her about Austin, and also the reason both of them were on this farce of a date. “Ash, Ash, Ash… it’s like you obsess over him. What is your big problem with Ash, anyway?”

“He’s… he’s… a jerk and he gets everything he wants!” the scrawny boy expressed his frustrations with Ash. Felicia continued to watch his every twitch and movement, noticing that he seemed very insincere and confused after he said that. “Or is that why? Sometimes I’m not even sure why I hate him so much… it’s like the world feels dark when he’s around…”

Felicia finished her wine and ran her right index finger along her cheek and across her chin. She had a coy look on her face as she realized something, thinking to herself in an amused tone.

“Ah, now I think I finally understand why Ash has so many enemies…”

APS HQ:

Alex reclined in his computer chair in his office, his feet up on the desk as he rested his right hand on the mouse, moving it around and clicking frantically. The half Chinese/American APS Chief was clearly playing some type of video game on his computer instead of working, as he had a habit of doing when his subordinates weren’t around. His eyes were more squinted than usual, showing his frustration with the game.

“Why… why… why do I always die?! Do I just suck?!” he finally screamed at his computer monitor, flinging the mouse across the top of the desk and spinning around in his chair.

“Yes,” an intruding voice spoke as his office door was opened from the outside. A man his age sporting brown hair that was wavy in the front, and wearing a uniform with the same badges as him stepped in. Alex sneered at him, like a hated rival he hadn’t seen for years.

“Tom. You dare set foot in my domain?”

“When I have to drag my butt out here to deliver reports to the Colonel I do,” Tom, the Chief of East HQ, responded. He walked over and sat down in the chair facing Alex’s desk. “How come you guys have an espresso machine and we don’t?!”

Alex ignored his question. “Well I’m glad you’re here, I’m bored. I sent everyone else to go deal with an Eclipse facility and I’m the only one left to man the HQ. I haven’t heard a thing back from them since.”

“You guys also have brighter lights than us…” Tom mumbled spitefully, looking up to the ceiling as he ignored Alex in return. “Seriously, why do we get all the budget stuff?”

“Maybe because about 90 percent of all Anomaly activity occurs in Central.”

“Then why do we even have two bases?”

“Because you whined to Serph about wanting to be equal to me, remember?”

“Looking around, clearly I’m not!”

Alex’s phone suddenly rang and he reached across his desk to pick it up. He expected it to be one of the APS members he sent on a mission but instead he heard an older man’s voice on the other end. The voice belonged to the new Chief of Police: Joe Ausa, and he sounded rather panicked. Alex’s bored expression immediately turned concerned.

“Alex, we need APS right now!” he didn’t waste any time with greetings over the phone, leading Alex to believe the situation was quite urgent. If Chief Ausa was calling him, it must have had something to do with Anomalies. He subconsciously gripped the phone tighter; this was seriously bad timing.

“What’s happening?”

“That Super-Viking-Whatever Anomaly is on the attack again! And he’s used all the funds from his last heist to hire himself a pretty little army! They’ve got heavy-duty firearms and I think even one or two Anomalies with them!”

Alex wanted to throw his phone. Right at Tom’s face. For reasons he couldn’t describe. He spoke back through gritted teeth, having trouble forcing the words out.

“I’ve… got… no one. They’re all on another mission.”

“What?! You’re joking!” Chief Ausa’s panic-stricken voice shouted from the other end. “My force can’t do anything against these guys! We’ve got the Central Bank and Trust surrounded in a perimeter but they have rocket launchers!”

“Cool!” Tom exclaimed, earning a piercing glare from Alex that threatened to split his skull in two. Tom quickly reorganized his thoughts. “I mean, we can call in my East HQ guys! They don’t get to see as much action as your hot-shots anyway.”

“No good…” Alex grumbled, leaning forward on his desk and starting to feel the pressure getting to him. “… it’s rush-hour, it would take them two hours at best to get here from East Tempest City.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?!” Tom demanded to know. The villains would be long-gone two hours from now. Alex bit his thumb before reluctantly suggesting the only plausible solution that came to mind. If he had any of his other men available he’d send them instead… but this must have been some devious trick of fate.

“… well… I do have one Anomaly not on that Eclipse mission…”

Central Tempest City:

“Incoming!!”

A police officer’s cry echoed before the explosion of a rocket shook the entire city block. A cop car was blown from its parked spot on the street and flew into the side of a nearby building, creating a chain explosion that hurled debris in every direction. The group of cops that had taken cover behind that squad car ran for their lives, and Chief Ausa, who was standing at a bit more of a distance, grimaced at the mess. This was beyond anything they were equipped to handle.

“Make sure the area is evac’d! Right now all we can do is clear the civilians away from harm!” he shouted to his fleeing troops. Make sure we can hold this line until APS or the army arrives… we cannot let this Viking maniac continue his crime spree!”

“Hold the line?!” Ray exclaimed to their blue-haired Chief, sounding absolutely at his wit’s end. “What do you want me to do, bounce back their rockets with my riot shield?!”

Chief Ausa gave the scarred boy a stern look.

“Would you just listen to orders, Cameron!? Be more like Anderson!”

As Chief Auria spoke those words, Harold came running in their direction from the scene of the crime, moving as fast as his legs would carry him. He was part of a group that was trying to get through the front doors of the bank, but it was too well-guarded by Ulric’s new goons. He nearly collapsed next to Ray, complaining to them in his drawn-out surfer style of talking.

“Dude… not cool. They’ve turned the place into, like, a total fortress! I don’t wanna go kaboom!”

Ray glared at Chief Ausa.

“Tell me to be like him again and I’ll quit.”

Suddenly, some members on the force and few onlookers began to gasp and exclaim with either hope or bewilderment. The Chief and his men looked to see two figures dart down from atop a building across the street from the bank; two caped figures. Ray blinked twice, hardly expecting to see her show up after what he’d read in the reports.

“Is that Justine? Oh boy, now we’re gonna lose for sure.”

“Alex sent her?” Chief Ausa wondered, questioning the APS Chief’s judgment after the complete freak-out Alex had after Justine was wounded the last time battling Ulric. Clearly that last public defeat had spoiled her image in just about everyone’s eyes. “Was she really all they had…?”

Harold glanced back and forth between Ray and Chief Ausa, figuring he had to be the one to point out the obvious. “Am I the only one wondering why there’s two of her?”

Justine and Vy, cloaked in their green and yellow Justi-Girl uniforms respectively, gave each other an acknowledging nod before rushing the front doors of the bank at full speed! There were three hired goons wearing green and black padded armor situated behind the door, and one of them looked through the glass to see what the situation outside was. He withdrew back a few inches, surprised by what he saw rushing at them.

“Claude! Load another rocket, it’s Justi-Girl… two of her!”

“Two? You must be… gah! There is two!”

“Maybe she multiplied when she lost to Ulric! Nyahahaha!”

“Aw man, she kicked my butt when I was in Eclipse!” the goon in possession of the powerful weapon, identified as Claude, whined. He hefted the heavy piece of equipment up and moved to aim it out the doors. “But this time I’ll have my revenge. I didn’t have this sweet weapon back--”

Justine burst through the glass at top speed before he could fire, kicking him right in the face with both feet! She stomped his head into the floor before bounding off and landing in the middle of the spacious first floor of the bank. The other two goons looked at her, dumbstruck, before their weapons were suddenly yanked away from their grasp.

They turned to look at the yellow-glad Justi-Girl, who magnetically snatched their guns away and flung them harmlessly across the room. She wagged her finger as the men with their jaws dropped.

“You won’t be needing those while you’re unconscious. Night night!”

Vy quickly dispatched the other two with some well-placed tae-kwon-do moves, accelerated by her enhanced speed. She cast out her cape behind her, following Justine to the stairwell leading up the thirty floor bank. Justine issued some words of caution to her loyal follower, “Careful, I hear Ulric’s managed to get more than just human goons into his armada.”

“More Anomalies to deal with? Great,” Vy muttered, hoping they were just going to beat up inept minions until they finally encountered the big boss. The hostages on the first floor of the bank rushed outside, most of them surprised that Justi-Girl actually showed up to save them. Justine did her best to ignore their murmurs and focused on her mission: paying Ulric back.

“This Ulric guy is over the top,” Justine said as they began to ascend the stairs. “Every word that came out of his mouth was so crazy that I’m not even sure he actually meant it. But he is doing what he said… he’s funding an army for himself. Does he really intend to take over Colonia?”

“What’s the point of that?” Vy wondered curiously.

“Oh apparently it would make one heck of a flagship,” Justine informed her ally, though her tone of voice was making light of Ulric’s desires to turn Colonia into his own base from which he would conquer the entire world. “Let’s put this psycho out of action once and for all.”

“Aye aye!”

Justine and Vy made their way up the stairs, ascending with their enhanced speed up the many floors of the tall and famous downtown bank. This bank’s vault was located on the 21st floor, which would make it incredibly difficult and time-consuming for any regular robbers to rob it. Unfortunately, the sheer power of an Anomaly wasn’t taken into account when they constructed it.

The heroines continued their dash up to the 17th floor, taking out goons along the way. At this point, they could see the final floor as the stairwell was open at the top with railings on all sides blocking off the vault area. They kept running around the central support pillar whilst making their way to their now-visible destination.

“There’s the top!” Justine called out to Vy, who was about a dozen steps slower than her. She began to accelerate her speed and rush ahead, hoping to stop Ulric in time. Suddenly, she collided with a barrier that was invisible to the naked eye, propelling backward and tumbling down the stairs in the opposite direction. Vy instinctively leapt over Justine as she fell, stopping as she landed and then realizing what she did.

“Oh no!” she gasped worriedly, turning to glance at where Justine finally tumbled into a heap dozens of steps further down the stairwell. “Are you alright?! What happened?!”

“Aaagh… I’m glad I have a helmet. They do save lives,” Justine grumbled from further down the stairs, reaching up and resetting her cape as it’d ended up draping over her head. “I hit some kind of wall of psychic energy!”

“Incorrect,” a voice spoke to them from above, with accompanying footsteps approaching them. “It is a wall of Light, created from my wondrous Affinity. Now I’ll use it to subjugate you silly superheroes that dare defy King Ulric.”

A guy in his mid-twenties wearing a purple suit and slacks, completed with a black tie, approached Vy and Justine from above. He had slicked-back black hair and looked more like he’d be working at this very bank than one of Ulric’s Anomalies-for-hire. He waved the barrier of the light away, which Vy noticed because the stairwell before her seemed to become darker. “But you’d break through this barrier quite easily, it was just meant to slow you down. I’ll dispatch you myself so that the King doesn’t need to waste his time fighting a couple of girls.”

“This Ulric guy really disapproves of girls fighting, huh…” Vy murmured, to which she was answered by a female’s hearty laugh. A slender girl suddenly landed next to the composed boy in the purple suit, crouching down and crossing her arms. She materialized her Affinity Arms in both hands: a pair of tri-pronged sais! Vy was startled by the sudden appearance of the Anomaly with short blonde hair, whose clear, white teeth were visible in a playful grin.

“Hah! He disapproves of weak girls playing superhero! Some of us aren’t pathetic… like me!” she cried out, leaping forward and spinning through the air toward Vy! Vy backed down a step and quickly materialized her own malleable Affinity Arms. She didn’t have time to think up a fancy shape to morph them into, so they appeared as a rather generic knife-like weapons. She held them up in time to block both of the blonde’s weapons, though it was clearly a weak strike simply to test Vy’s reflexes.

“Hmm, not bad… but your choice in wardrobe is appalling,” she told Vy, forcing her strength down on the Vietnamese girl and trying to push her back another step so that she’d lose her balance. “Aren’t you embarrassed? Well, I suppose that explains the mask.”

“You talk a lot…!” Vy grunted, straining to hold this new Anomaly back. She clearly had enhanced strength, so Vy figured her Affinity had to be Magma or Solid. The boy standing behind her began to berate her.

“You’re too impetuous, Kimberly.”

“And you stand around too much, Oliver,” she snapped back at him. “You aren’t going to win a battle by simply talking to the enemies. King Ulric is paying us for our skills, not our linguistic abilities! And for the last time, call me Kim.”

Kim drew back her right arm and made a stab right at Vy’s stomach! Vy leapt away before she could be struck, using her magnetic abilities to stand perfectly atop the railing running alongside the steep stairwell. Kim glanced over, a bit surprised at how well Vy was able to balance herself, but wasn’t fazed for long. She stomped her foot down, creating a shockwave that sent Vy plummeting over the edge!

Vy gasped and was about to let out a scream, but Justine leapt up from further below where she’d fallen, catching Vy in her arms and saving her fellow Justi-Girl. Vy let out a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around Justine.

“That was close! That girl with the blonde hair definitely has the Solid Affinity. And I’m pretty sure I saw B-Cups…” Vy murmured with intrigue. Justine looked down at her, a bit thrown-off by her comment.

“Say what-now?”

“Never mind!” Vy exclaimed in a flustered tone, realizing she’d mused aloud a bit too much. Justine made a smooth landing in-between Oliver and Kimberly, setting Vy down on her feet. They stood back-to-back facing the villains: Vy facing Kim and Justine against Oliver. Kim retained a condescending grin on her face while Oliver had his arms folded behind his back, watching with a moot expression.

“So Ulric just got you guys from rent-an-Anomaly dot com or something and now you call him your king?” Justine asked in a sarcastic tone. “I’d say you’re the pathetic ones. Why don’t you do something with your abilities in the interest of justice?!”

“Where’s the profit to be found in that?” Oliver asked, to which Justine made a disgusted grunt. “We Anomalies may not have chosen to receive these powers but we can choose what to do with them. There is a group of us that gathered together and began to sell our services, even Eclipse and the Veranda Family have bought Anomalies from us.”

“Bought…?”

“Yes, you can pay a large sum to hire us for up to an entire year,” Kim spoke from the other side, sounding quite pleased with the whole operation they had going. “Eclipse bought an Anomaly named Amelie Webbs and the Veranda purchased Tristan Gallagher. They were going to buy us too, but Ulric outbid them.”

“That girl we met in the underground prison was only a rental Anomaly…?” Vy thought, recalling Amelie from an earlier encounter. “That explains why she didn’t seem as intent on achieving her goal as Gabby did: she had nothing personal at stake like a hostage… she was paid to be there!”

“Of course, he’s only paying us for a few jobs,” Oliver added on. “But right now we’re playing by his rules. He wants to conquer Colonia? So be it. We shall consider him our future king.”

“You’re both idiots!” Justine exclaimed at the top of her lungs. “You’re the worst kind of criminals! You’re not even in this for yourselves and you’re giving Anomalies a terrible name! It’s not going to be long before the public starts rioting about us abusing our powers, I saw some of it today!”

“Or if Ulric has his way, the Anomalies will rule this country,” Oliver retorted. “It’s you two who are the foolish ones. What gratification do you get by leaping around in tights and putting your life in danger for no good reason? You’d be better off joining us and making a profit off your powers.”

“I’ll show you the gratification I get! Kicking your face in!” Justine let loose a battle cry, leaping forward at Oliver. A slight wry smile crept across his face as the image of him before Justine suddenly seemed to flicker like a TV turning on and off… followed by his disappearance. She let out a surprised gasp as she fell forward against the steps, short one target. She stared at her shadow cast forward on the ground thanks to the bright lights above, noticing another object sticking out above her. She rolled to the side and dodged a deadly cleave from Oliver’s Affinity Arm: a lengthy halberd!

“Hmm…” Oliver mused, lifting and holding onto the polearm of his halberd with both hands. “You have good reflexes, if nothing else. But getting overzealous will get you killed quickly.”

“How in the name of Nash did he teleport like that…?” Justine muttered softly to herself, before her mouth twisted in frustration from beneath her helmet, the only part of her face that was visible to her opponent. “I don’t have time to be fighting this lackey, I need to stop Ulric…!”

Kim raised her sais to Vy which caused the girl to raise her own bladed weapons in response, to which Kim made an amused chuckle. She stomped her foot again, causing another shockwave that knocked Vy off-balance! Kim laughed as she vaulted over the stumbling Vy, grabbing her jet-black hair that draped down from the back of her helmet and slamming the Justi-Girl down onto her back. Vy shrieked and cringed as Kim tugged her up a few steps by her hair, brandishing one of her sais menacingly in her free hand.

“Such nice, shiny hair you have there…” Kim complimented Vy in a sinister tone. Vy’s eyes widened as she looked up at Kim from a worm’s-eye-view behind her tinted visor. Kim opened her mouth and spoke in a maniacal tone. “How about a haircut?!”

“How about a lightning bolt in the face?!” Vy yelled aggressively, casting both of her palms up and pegging Kim directly in the forehead with a static blast! Kim screamed in pain and recoiled away while Vy stretched her arms behind her head and pushed herself into a handstand, springing up and booting Kimberly once again in the face! Kim collapsed backward and Vy, back on her feet, turning and called out to Justine.

“I’ll handle both of them! You go stop their leader!”

“What?! You can’t--”

“I can and I will!” Vy reassured her immediately, snapping Justine out of being too concerned for her younger friend. “You came here to settle your score and stop this crime, so forget about the minions and do it! Show Sophie, Alex, and whoever else that doesn’t believe in you the awesome Justi-Girl who taught me what I know!”

“R-right!” Justine agreed, putting a big grin on her face as she turned and began to dash up the stairwell at super-speed, once again in pursuit of Ulric! However, despite her amazing running speed, Oliver still managed to catch up and materialize in front of her! He swept his halberd horizontally in front of himself, narrowly missing Justine who managed to be alert enough not to run straight into an enemy trap this time.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he told her in a serious tone. “My ability allows me to transport myself anywhere within eyesight that has a high enough concentration of light. Say, directly beneath any of these vibrant spotlights spread about the stairwell!”

Suddenly, Oliver’s weapon was pulled from his grasp by Vy’s magnetic powers! He reached forward for it, startled by the sudden phenomenon, and Justine took his moment of distraction as an opportunity to dive in and slug him in the face! He fell and she laughed triumphantly, leaping over him and continuing forward! Vy had her left hand cast out from below, using it to manipulate where she maneuvered Oliver’s halberd. She ended up dropping it down the central pit, though she knew full well he’d be able to re-materialize when he wanted to.

“You bitch…” she heard Kim growl from behind her, turning to see the blonde girl get back onto her feet. Kim wiped her mouth with her left sleeve and gripped both sais tightly as she prepared to battle once more. “I’ll make you pay for damaging my prize-winning face.”

“Bring it,” Vy said with confidence, casting her right arm aside and stabbing her Affinity Arm into the railing beside them. She absorbed the metal from the railing and mixed it with her Affinity Arm, forging herself a lengthy spear with a wide, curved blade at the tip. She twirled it around before her, figuring a mid-range weapon would be best for taking on Kim’s close-range sais. “I’ll show you that my powers are beyond sidekick-level.”

As Vy held off the goons below, Justine clambered all the way up to the 21st floor. She arrived just in time to see Ulric, clad head to toe in his bulky and iconic Viking getup, plunge his gargantuan axe into the door of the safe. He was surrounded by many of his hired goons, who all took a step back as he let out a manly roar. Ulric pulled back on his axe, which was embedded into the safe door, with all of his might. To everyone, including Justine’s, surprise, he was eventually able to rip the safe door right off! He threw it aside and directed his minions to head inside.

“Pillage everything. All is for the goal of making this continent our warship! You will all share in the wealth we acquire today!”

“Yes, King Ulric!!” an resounding cry echoed from his subordinates.

“Now then…” he began, turning around and facing Justine, apparently already aware of her presence. “… it seems the defunct super-heroine has actually made it here. Tell me, Justice-Girl, what’s the point of hiring people to do my dirty work if I’m the one who ends up having to strike you down anyway?”

“Because this time I brought backup and your misguided Anomalies are being dealt with!”

“But you’re all alone now, my dear. Did you really think bringing backup would help you against the indestructible Ulric Garinator?! How futile your struggles are! Throwing your miniscule concept of justice before mine is like a fawn trying to butt heads with a speeding train! You cannot win against me, you puny, weak female!!”

Justine furrowed her brow from behind her visor and grinded her teeth together, enraged by his choice of vocabulary. “Justice?! How dare you use that word before me… you’re nothing but a criminal!”

“I have learned more of justice than you have in your short lifetime. It is you who shouldn’t bother to preach to me!” Ulric shouted fiercely at her, holding his gigantic axe outward between the two of them. “Enough chatter, you didn’t come here to talk and I don’t have the time. I will beat you down as many times as you foolishly attempt to hinder my plans, my determined warrior maiden!”

Justine suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine, this time she had to be a lot more cautious when engaging Ulric. His strength was unbelievable and he was no fool in battle; he was actually more intelligent than he acted. Justine had hoped to have Vy to back her up when she faced him again but it couldn’t be helped. Vy was doing her part and she had to as well.

“Alright then…” she muttered under her breath, letting out a deep breath as she psyched herself up. At the moment, there was nothing else in the world aside from her, her opponent, and her desire to redeem her pride and her image. She materialized her plethora of needles and held them clenched between her fingers, bracing herself for the fight of her life.

“Round two… fight!!”

TO BE CONTINUED

Bonus: Character Profile

Leena (Ch 38) - Brick (Ch 39) - Leon (Ch 40) - Roy (Ch 41) - Miles (Ch 42) - Sergeant (Ch 43) - Axel (Ch 46) - Desiree (Ch 47) - Allen (Ch 49) - Nash (Ch 50) - Ray (Ch 52) - Serena (Ch 53) - Austin (Ch 54) - Michael (Ch 55)

#15- Alexis

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Hair: Dark Red

Eyes: Green

Date of Birth: November 7th

Nationality: British

Known Relatives: Mother, Stepfather

Occupation: Student, APS Member

Affinity Arm: Trident

Primary Affinity: Vapor

Secondary Affinity: Flora

Stats:

Affinity Control- 8

Combat Skills- 7

Strength- 6

Endurance- 5

Intelligence- 7

Speed- 4

Aura- 7

Total- 44 / 70

- - -

Character Biography:

Alexis Lynn-Carlyle moved to Colonia with her mother and step-father around two years ago. Her father passed away when she was just five years old and her and her mother moved around a lot when she was young, trying to find a stable life. Her mother remarried eventually, but to a man who was both physically and mentally abusive to both women. Alexis got a part-time job while still in high-school to keep her away from the house and became a bit of a trouble-maker, indulging in the party scene and hanging with the wrong kinds of people.

Once her mother decided to have her take the Colonia Application Test, she passed and the family moved there. Her mother hoped it would help her daughter rehabilitate and distance herself from her old rebellious habits. Unfortunately Alexis fell in with an even worse crowd in Colonia: Eclipse. Alexis’s Affinity of Vapor manifested one day when she was home alone and she unwillingly froze everything in her living room. Fearful of how her step-father would react, she accepted Seth’s invitation to join up with Eclipse and learn about her powers. She continued to study fashion at CIU, but no longer went home.

After being trained in combat and how to use her Affinity by Seth, Alexis realized Eclipse’s methods of using crime and murder to achieve their goals didn’t exactly fit her tastes, Seth decided to keep her obedient by kidnapping her mother and poisoning her. Forced to do Seth’s bidding under the pretense that her mother would eventually be cured, Alexis became a powerful soldier in Eclipse and was promoted to Eclipse IV. She rarely saw failure until the night she first encountered Leena Booker and Sophie Briante, who witnessed her and Seth robbing a bank. Despite Leena and Sophie being reborn as Anomalies in the middle of their confrontation, Alexis was able to easily best them but couldn’t bring herself to murder them as ordered.

And it only went downhill from there. She lost miserably when she tried to force Yoshino Baker to join Eclipse, then again and again to Leena’s group, which included Leena, Sophie, Ash Harvelle, and her former friend Felicia Addams. Alexis attempted to explain why she was in Eclipse to Felicia, who she had bonded with during her time at CIU, but Felicia wouldn’t listen and declared Alexis a traitor and her enemy. Seth became increasingly frustrated with Alexis’s inability to provide results and demoted her to Eclipse V, replacing her with Nathan Knight. Alexis showed a gentle side when she tried to convince Leena to leave the country to avoid Seth’s machinations but an already-distraught Leena pushed her away, which led to Alexis making the choice to become colder.

In a desperate attempt to regain her credibility to save her mother’s life, she made a serious attempt on Leena’s life aided by Eclipse III: Gerad Gafgarion, who wanted to see her succeed in her mission. Seth knew she would never go through with it and was only giving Alexis the task to kill Leena to break her spirit and make her easier to mold into his slave and lover. However, even with Gaff setting an even field for Alexis and Leena to battle on, Leena revealed herself to be the superior Anomaly and bested Alexis time after time.

Eventually, Alexis grew tired of struggling against fate and tried to take her own life following a defeat by Leena, but was stopped by Ash. He revealed to her that he and Felicia worked together to save her mother’s life and get her out of the country, effectively freeing her from Seth’s control. She immediately proved her loyalty and saved Leena’s life by running Eclipse VII, Dom Azcona, through with her trident. She was then taken into APS custody and recruited as a member there in exchange for excusing her past crimes, which she had no control over.

Alexis and Leena have become good friends since her side-switch, which has irked her former friend Felicia. Felicia, who has become more territorial and irrational after being affected by her growing Affinity, ordered Alexis to stay away from Leena and Ash or else. However, Alexis doesn’t plan to let Felicia get away with acting so selfish and is now plotting to undermine one of Felicia’s scheme’s to make Ash jealous by dating him in her place. Stubborn and haughty Alexis is determined to put the unforgiving Felicia in her place and teach her a lesson she won’t forget.

- - -

Personality:

Alexis is smart and sophisticated, retaining her composure and elegance in all but the kinds of intense situations generated when she was in Eclipse. She can be friendly if she likes the person she’s around (like Leena), but displays a sharp sense of sarcasm and wit to those she doesn’t feel like dealing with (like Quinton). She is fashionable and popular at parties and, like Felicia, isn’t afraid to show off to get what she wants. She dresses provocatively not for attention, but because she has quite an affinity for corsets and finds them fashionable. She does have quite a bit of self-respect and retains her modesty even when she’s drunk, which she is quite a bit. The only real gap in her judgment is that she feels quite indebted to anyone who goes out of their way to help her, which explains her current infatuation with Ash.

- - -

Powers and Abilities:

Alexis uses the Vapor Affinity and can manipulate ice with quite a high level of skill. She can create pillars, slide across the ground, produce icicles and other pointed weapons of doom all by using the moisture in the air. Her powers are quite a bit more versatile when she’s around bodies of water. She can detect people in the vicinity by sensing the large cluster of water within their bodies, though Ash was able to sneak past this technique by cloaking his presence using the same ability. The special pearl mounted on her Affinity Arm, her trident, actually accelerates the speed with which she can manipulate moisture.

Her Dual Affinity of Flora recently manifested and she used it to rapidly accelerate the growth of flowers in a field while she battled Leena. She froze the flowers from the inside-out using their own moisture, effectively creating hundreds of bladed ice shuriken at once. She can also heal surface wounds using her Secondary Affinity, though it must be noted that her powers will never be as great as someone who had Flora as a Primary Affinity.

- - -

First Appearance: Chapter 1

Appears in chapters: 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14.5, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 27, 29, 36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 45, 46, 49, 51, 53, 54, 55

Original Concept By: Carrie