∞

Sweat dripped to the tip of Elsie’s nose and Tam’s panted breaths were about to blow it off onto the crash mats. Another drop to their hard-earned splatter.

“I don’t think it’s a concentration thing,” Tam groaned, forehead to forehead. “I just don’t think my camouflage can penetrate anything beyond my own skin barrier and, like, one layer of clothes.”

Elsie stumbled back a step groaning, “I didn’t feel anything at all that time.” Her invulnerability couldn’t be shared, they’d worked out that much, and her telekinesis couldn’t carry them in mock flight. Tam’s own flight didn’t have the upward thrust to get them both off the ground even if Tam herself had the strength to lift Elsie. As it was they were exhausting themselves in the charge up, the run up, and the collision that sent out their power surges without any return.

She shoved Tam and let herself fall back to the mat, landing in time with her bedazzled friend. Their weary laughs filled their corner of the room. Across the training zones there were less heroes than Elsie had toes working out or perfecting their powers. She pushed up to her elbows to watch them.  A couple on the climbing wall getting pulverised by another’s wind illusion (as long as you knew it wasn’t real, he couldn’t off-balance you) while a lone sprinter ran back and forth between the dummies and the free weights in bursts that got longer and longer.

“Did you feel that?” Tam’s words were raspy and thin. Still from bob to boot, hopeful that maybe Elsie hadn’t felt the shift in the atmosphere. 

The sprinter slowed to gazelle-like leaps. G-Force quit messing with the cadets hanging from the rocky handholds. There hadn’t been much ruckus in the room to begin with (aside from Elsie and Tam occasionally crashing into each other, of course) and yet it managed to grow even quieter. In the distance, sirens began to sing. The metallic squealing layered in approach. Nailed to the wall of the training room, a seismic reader let loose a piercing REEEEEEEEEEK.

∞

“It’s her.”

Tam didn’t argue, and she didn’t even try to tell Elsie it was okay if it was her. Her glimmery personality was dimmed to a constant crinkled concern. She let Elsie mumble to herself, repeating herself, soothing herself or riling herself up. The only thing she wouldn’t let her do was check the news or stop moving. Lockdown procedures didn’t hinder training access to those that weren’t drawn into whatever super-conflict had put the centre in that state. And so, they trained. They fought dummies. They dragged sandbags. They ran sprints.

“What if they call on us as back-up to the back-up to the back-up heroes?”

Tam didn’t answer. She tucked her fist into her chest and swung a sharp elbow into the face of a dummy with struggling seams. All they knew for sure was that someone or something had brought an influx of power to the area that could be catastrophic. It still tingled over their skin. And they were foe, not friend, or those outside of the summoned heroes would not be ordered to hunker down at their respective HQs.

“She knows who I am.”

It was a redundant thing to say, but Elsie needed to voice it. She needed to ramble to herself in their secluded section of the training room until her brain could jump start again. Of course she knew who Elsie was, her hero alias was tattooed to her body just as her villain alias was to Elsie’s. The word burned beside her breast bone now.

“Why now?” she gasped, finishing a sprint and staggering back to the start line where Tam was hopping and kicking out cramps. “I haven’t drawn that much attention to myself. I’m not ready.” She never could be ready. But as a Grade 4 she was so far off prepared that it was laughable. She didn’t laugh. It wasn’t funny.

Finally, Tam broke her silent therapist act. “When exactly would you be ready for her?”

A reality check Elsie had already come to. She sighed.

Tam wasn’t finished. “She’s the biggest and the baddest there’s ever been. No offence, girl, but I doubt she is even looking for you.”

“Why else would she come back?” Elsie whined, hushed as best she could despite being winded.

Tam raced back and coughed out, “Why do any villains fuck shit up?”

“Money. Attention. Power.”

“Coming out of retirement for a cheque? Doubt it.” Tams hands braced on her wobbly knees. “Got to be the attention. She misses people pissing their pants in her presence.”

“And I’m going to be one of those people!” Elsie hissed. “What the fuck do I do?”

“Nothing!” Tam whispered, peering about for any other trainees throwing themselves about too close. “I love you and think you’re awesome so please don’t be offended but you are not the big fish she would want to fry.” She took Elsie’s forearms in her hands and squeezed. “I’m so sure that this has nothing to do with you.”

“Eventually,” Elsie murmured, “she’ll want to rid herself of that mark.”

“Do you want yours gone?”

“Of course. But I’d rather keep my head down the rest of my life than attempt to challenge her for it.”

Tam checked their surroundings again and slipped her phone from under her jacket. They were avoiding any notifications. If it didn’t come from the training centre speakers, it was best not to torture themselves with what was going on outside. A few taps and Tam let out a relieved chuckle.

“It’s not her?”

“It is.” 

Elsie swallowed. Dread was a painful prickle up each vertebrae, buzzing in the back of her skull.

“But she’s nowhere near here.” She read from the screen. “Her path of destruction is literally being tracked as heading towards the financial district.” A thumb scroll through the live-updating article and she found another bit of assurance to offer. “No motive that anyone can tell. Totally senseless. The internet is going nuts over her return, though. Conspiracy theories galore.”

“But they don’t know she has a nemesis mark. That must have some kind of-”

Tam clicked her screen back to black and tossed the phone aside. “Back to sprints before you start spiralling.”

As Elsie took off the starting line she decided not to admit she already was. If she weren’t forcing herself to move, the fear would have petrified her. Her worst fear rung in with the screech of seismic readers announcing the return of the country’s toughest villain. No, you couldn’t call her a villain. She was a supervillain. Grade 1. Terror with tendrils and a tendency to take the light from even the night. Blackout.

Elsie choked on her ragged breaths, spinning on her toe to run the return stretch. She refused to say the name aloud, and Tam was banned from speaking it either. The day she’d revealed her mark to her best friend she’d simply showed it to her. Not another soul knew and it had to remain that way. She was a danger to herself and others by existing. Every day she walked with Blackout’s name branded to her chest was a day she was at risk of being squashed under the woman’s boot.

She’d never seen Blackout in action, only the sparse media footage from before Elsie had even entered the cadet program. There was still so much that wasn’t understood about her powers. Those that came into contact with her remembered little. Security cameras were mysteriously wiped. Blackout was a swirl of smoke that could not be caught in the grasp of any hero to enter the arena so far.

A crackling voice over the speakers declared the lockdown lifted. Elsie and Tam rushed to their phones, fingers slipping sweatily and shakily. There was no way-

‘As quick as Blackout appeared on the scene, she’s removed herself from it. Sources say both Crossbeam and Jules Jump have lost sighting of the supervillain and no further damage has been reported. Overflow of her power continues to linger in the atmosphere around the financial district and central high-rises.’

The other trainees were all chattering over their screens, nervous excitement bubbling through the room. Of course, the return of the most devastating villain was a concern for the public. For heroes of their rank, it was like having a celebrity of their industry come out of retirement. Perhaps they could be just a tiny bit impressed with Blackout’s display of pure power.

“Breathe, Elsie,” Tam grunted. “And let’s go back to the dorm. We need showers and naps.”

Elsie nodded, forcing breath and tapping on all the links that were offered to her by any reputable news site covering Blackout’s sudden return. Tam took her by the elbow and walked her out of the training room.

As they passed the TV that kept constant stream, Elsie allowed herself to catch some of the news coverage.

“-amid speculation that the villain’s return coincides with the rise of organised crime. Is she co-signing their actions or putting them back in their place? Our special correspondent-”

Her involvement with interrupting mob activities came flooding to mind. Tam had to be right, she hadn’t done enough in her career to catch Blackout’s attention. Not yet. She was forced into the shower, then forced to bed. Forced to reckon with the knowledge that her nemesis was out there and willing to flex her power simply for the fun of it.