It was one of the times she found time for dinner when it became clear how much time truly passed before her eyes, Lily’s voice breaking through the air. “You’re mumbling, are you going to leave right after dinner again?” Her gaze paused on the document she was deciphering, eyes looking over her barely touched food. Oh right, Camille made dinner again, spaghetti left untouched on her plate. 

“Yeah.” The blue hair girl was fast in her clear discomfort of the answer, “dude. You haven’t seen me in nearly 2 months, it's like you don’t even live here.” Celeste let her eyes swim up and down the blue haired girl, her outfit simple and laidback. Unlike the clothes that Celeste had on since she did a small patrol after work. 

“Unlike you, I have a day job, can’t afford to play Barbie all day like you.” Jack stopped mid bite, Camille’s eyes shifted from the kitchen and blue suddenly shot up in her vision. “I don’t play Barbie! God, I just wanted to see you cause you’ve been on patrol every single day!” 

“I get important shit done on my patrols.” A plate was shoved slightly in front of the blue haired girl, its contents also full and furrowed eyebrows glared at her, “I know. But everyday?” There was a slight pause, before the words left her lips, “Yeah.” 

“You’re insufferable.” Celeste couldn’t stop herself. “At least I’m not annoying.” The frowned face of the other barely discouraged the next words, “Not to mention I spent half my patrols cleaning up your stupid messes.” 

“Woah! Celeste, what are you going on about?” Jack's comment was drowned out as Lily stood suddenly, her chair skidding across the floor behind her. Celeste couldn’t stop the words spilling from her lips, each word imprinting into her own mind as they slipped past. “Shut it Jack,” she was pointing a finger towards the fuming girl, “you’re too much of a brat to see your own failings, especially when you leave it to other people to deal with the consequences. How many times have you gotten in the way when I’ve deliberately told you to be on the lookout, you still don’t have your powers in check.”

A clatter was heard from the kitchen, its sound cracking the small silence, Lily stood, mouth agape. The fire user continued, “All you do is complain, you must understand why I’m never here,” Celeste could hear what she was saying, but the words kept pouring, its meaning fermenting as they entered the air, “so I don't have to deal with your stupidity when I’m trying to relax.” She wasn’t even hungry anymore, a slight warm hue emitting all around her body, the side of the table cloth sizzling after her sentence. 

She was up and grabbing her bag, her mask a death grip through inflamed fingers. The door was slamming behind her, footsteps all around echoing as she jumped from her starwell, her mask situating itself on her face. 

“Stupid girl doesn’t know anything,” all she could do was listen to her own voice as she continued through different alleyways, her shoes stomping a little too loudly for her liking. “Quiet down.” With ease her steps got lost in the background. At the end of the alley way she pulled herself up towards her starting rooftop, the metal ladder against her hands growing red from her touch, a slight bend in them from the pressure. 

“Allan Zephano, face unknown, abilities consist of stretching to any length without harm to the main body.” She was already in a jog, her feet knowing the path as she looked in every cranny of the city, starting at known meeting points and areas. It didn’t take long for her red eyes to narrow on a group, they spoke in hushed tones while they guarded a door, the slight laughter echoed as one pushed another slightly before resuming their conversation. A smile flew up her face, “this shouldn’t be too hard.” 

She found the muttering greatly improved her speed, her quick comments faster than her movements. Fighting criminals became easy work and soon enough their battered bruised bodies lay on the ground, several ones groaning in pain as she waltzed her way in. 

It was simple enough, the man in question was not too far in and she made quick work of his bodyguards— if you’d even call them that, Celeste didn’t. His frightened face was the last thing she could recall of the slippery man and made quick work of completely obliterating him, every emotion from before pouring into her punches and flames. 

His scorched body plummeted towards the ground as she let herself ingest the information, “Head guy: Maxwell Danise, funding through hospital on left side, sponsor still unknown.” She was breathing heavily, and let herself take a deep breath as she ingested the information. 

“Is he breathing?” 

Celeste swung around, flames forming all around her, as she lay her eyes on her masked friend and a thump following next to her. Jack made his way towards the body and her thoughts fell silent as she watched him check for a pulse, softly mummering, “yeah he is.” 

Lily walked forward, dirty vans stepping around the blood splatters that painted the ground, “Now I’m no judge of character, but I don’t think he needed all that.” Flames licked at Celeste’s fingers as let her gaze fall back on the Cat mask, its unmoving glare piercing through her own. 

Chuckles erupted from Celeste, “You’re not. It doesn’t matter anyway, I got what I needed.” Jack was the one to jump in after her comment, “You’re joking, right?” He was standing up, walking into her field of vision. “This is too much, surely you can see that.” The words already slipped from her mouth, right through the mask, “You surely can’t.” 

“I- Celeste. Would you take a minute to listen to what I’m saying before you talk back? We’re just trying to understand.” Hand movements followed his words, and he made sure to talk loudly through his metal covering. 

“Understand?” She was stepping forward, “I’m figuring this out, by any means necessary, I’ve been doing this too long to get told off by you.” 

Pipes creaked around the room, his fingers flaring besides his hips, “by me? I’ve been doing this a long time too.” 

“Clearly not enough, you still struggle taking down goons.” His pole arched towards himself, edges curving over his shoulder, his hands moved in an ecstatic way, “When did you get this rude? I thought we were in this together, I’m not perfect.” Celeste continued her small steps, footsteps echoing around the room. “You can’t mess up here, I get stuff done better alone.” 

“But you don’t have to!” Lily’s presence made itself known in front of Jack, her steps silent in their exchange. “Celeste, what's going on? This isn’t like you.”

Her mouth was curling down at the statement, she spoke through gritted teeth, “Maybe you don’t know me.” 

A beat passed, pipes stopping their movement.

“He’s swinging.”

Her feet shifted, moving out of the way as she felt the air break next to her, Jack’s pole slamming on the ground next to her. A loud crack rippled through the room, and her eyes landed on the offensive object. 

“Grab it.” 

Fingers were wrapping around the weapon, her stance broadening as she swung it backwards, lifting the metal user at the end. She slammed him across the room and flames danced their way to his end, the sudden heat loosening his grip on the pole. A nice roundhouse kick had him flying across the room, his body rolled until he slammed against a wall, green blood dragged in the wake. Her feet were already walking towards his prone body, his pole clattering as she threw it behind her. 

He was struggling to get up, tiny moans escaping his pathetic display as he heaved for air. Her fingers were already curling into his front shirt, lifting him from the ground, a loud groan slipping behind the mask. 

She held him against the wall, concrete digging into his back as she pushed from where she held. His converse dangled from the ground and she was speaking again, “Let's get one thing straight. Attack me and you get burned. Know your place cause you don’t match up to me, you can’t handle what I’m getting done.”

He was shaking slightly, but brought his hand towards her wrist, tightening enough to leave marks. “Don’t underestimate me.” He was kicking his feet slightly, and the creaking of metal rang behind her, in a split second she was willing flames towards the metal that hid his face, rising from where she held him up. Her other fist followed after as it slammed against his metal cover, a sudden boom flooded all other noise and was accompanied by a huge explosion of flames, its light shining the whole room as she let every ounce of strength she dared on the green haired boy. She was throwing his unmoving body on the ground as smoke covered the full damage when he plummeted towards the ground, “that shut you up didn’t it.” 

She was turning towards an empty room, the blue girl hidden in plain sight but Celeste could care less. No sound was heard all around, even as the seconds ticked by and Celeste took that as a surrender. Her boots clacked as she made her way to the exit, “Follow and you’ll get the same fate.” The words strung in the air, and silence met her back. 

“At least you aren’t that stupid.” She was outside again. 

After walking in the mostly silent night, everything came crumbling down as she was aware of the true extent of her actions. A sour taste filled her mouth, “why did I do that?” Why did she do that?

“Oh god, I burned him— shit, I didn’t, why did I. Okay, woah that did not just happen— but it did happen. I can’t head home, yeah, head home, get my stuff, they won’t want me back, I wouldn’t even want me back.” Laughter spilled from her mouth, the slight welling of tears built up at her eyes, “This is bad, I can’t believe I did that— he should’ve known his place. Yeah, they’re fucking me over, he made the first move, not my problem he can’t take the heat.” The words spilling from her mouth settled deep in her brain, she always found herself calm after talking it out. Her feet made their way towards the apartment, her thoughts silent again as she pushed her body over every rooftop. 

She was sneaking into her window easily enough and a small sense of panic filling her blood as she heard Camille rumble in the kitchen, her small chattering muffled through the walls. With ease she packed her bag, bringing only essentials she deemed useful before making her way to the window stills. Warm fingers slid across her desk, her unfinished book at the edge as she contemplated bringing it. The bang of a door had her scrambling out the window, Lily’s panicked voice faded as she ran across different rooftops. 

After stopping at a certain covered top, she made herself comfy again at the rooftop door. “I deserve to work alone, I’ll figure it all out and they’ll see, see how they were wrong.” Fingers dug into her bag, slight sparks lighting the night air, “I didn’t even kill him, he shouldn’t have attacked me.” She nodded alongside her words, and made quick work pulling out different documents enlisting deliveries and addresses. A wicked smile curled at her lips, “Yeah, I’ll prove them all wrong.” Chuckles filled the night air, echoing into the quiet night.