Ravensdagger_Headpats

Chapter Seven

“Leave me alone,” Crochet said. She was leaning forwards, attention on the needle that was slipping in and out of the beige cloth she had cut out from an old blouse. Each dip and pull of the needle left behind a tiny stitch that she could feel with her power. It was coming along nicely.“But I’m bored,” Cheshire said. She was on the couch in the living room, head and shoulders over the edge and legs kicking out in protest. “I wanna do stuff.”“No. Big Sis told us to stay at home. So we will listen to what she said and obey. That’s what we’re supposed to do, and that’s what we will do. Big Sis is going to be very proud of us when she gets back home.” She didn’t add ‘but especially me’ at the end, but she certainly thought it.“You’re lame,” Cheshire said.“I am not lame,” Crochet shot back. She wished her response wasn’t so weak, but she couldn’t think of anything better. So she stuck her nose up and pretended that she couldn’t hear her immature slightly bigger sister.Cheshire grumbled something and rolled off the couch. A moment later the TV came on and filled the house with the noise of people talking, then the weather being announced, and eventually cartoonish sounds of violence. Cheshire had found something to do, finally.Smiling to herself, Crochet inspected all of her work. One of Danny’s pants had had its holes sewn back together. The cut wasn’t even visible anymore, one of Taylor’s shirts that had a big juice stain down the back was clean now, thanks to a creative use of her power, and her pet project was nearly complete.She raised it, turning it this way and that before reaching out with her power and bringing a few pieces of cotton closer. A few passes with the scissors and some quick stitches and she had a tiny hand-sized hoodie which she slid over her new plush. It was perfect.“What’s ‘at?”Crochet jumped in her seat and quickly squeezed her plush to her chest. “It’s none of your business, that’s what it is.”“Don’t be an idiot. Show me,” Cheshire demanded.“No,” Crochet said. She shook her head and tucked it closer. “No way will I let a ruffian like you touch her.”“Her?” Cheshire said. Her eyes narrowed into little slits. “Lemme see.”“No.” Crochet turned her back to her sister and hopped off her chair. She started to stomp away, only to feel a wash of cold pass through her. Cheshire appeared in front of her out of a cloud of dark smoke. She had her arms crossed, clawed paws over each bicep.“Show me,” Cheshire said. She glared a little harder, then sighed. “I promise I won’t touch it.”“Promise?” Crochet asked.“Yeah, yeah.”Nodding slowly, she pulled the plushie away from her chest and turned it over so Cheshire could see it. It was maybe a foot tall, humanoid and wearing jeans under a beige hoodie. Long black hair made from scraps of black fabric hung down it its hips and it had a wide, wide smile on its face. “It’s a little big sis,” Crochet added unnecessarily. “I couldn’t find anything to make it some glasses, but I’ll...” she let her voice trail off at seeing the look on Cheshire’s face. “You promised!” she warned.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.“Gimme!” Cheshire pounced at her with hands outstretched.“No!” Crochet screamed. She ducked under the grab and ran back towards the kitchen table.Every needle on the table rose and took off like missles, trailing little bits of string after them as they shot towards Cheshire. She laughed and phased out of their path, letting them plant harmlessly into the walls.“Give her to me!” Cheshire screamed.“Never, you-you ruffian!” Crochet jumped over the arm of the couch, picked up a folded blanket on the end, and tossed it back. It unfurled in the air like a net to catch Cheshire.Grinning like a cat after a mouse, the girl jumped to the side, phased out of reality, and returned with both feet planted above the television. She shot off after Crochet like a rocket. “I’m older, she should be mine!”“You’ll just hurt her!” Crochet said as she ducked under the lunge.“Mine!”Their crash turned into a roll across the carpeted living room, Cheshire on top, then Crochet, in a whirling mess of at least twenty elbows and twice that many knees. They rammed into a table.Both girls stopped when they heard a wobble, then a shake, then nothing for a whole, horrible second. The clatter and crack of glass on the floor had them both wincing.A picture frame had fallen, edge first. Glass spread out everywhere and the frame bent out of shape on impact. “Oh no,” Crochet said.“It’s y’er fault,” Cheshire said.“No, it’s yours!” Crochet screamed right back. “Now big sis is never going to love us.”“Nah, she’ll still like us.” Cheshire’s face went pale. “Right? She, she’ll still give us headpats?”Crochet felt the first tears threatening to come out and saw the same on Cheshire’s face. “We’re in so much trouble,” she squeaked.They got to their feet and looked around. There were needles in the walls, the tossed blanket had flung magazines from off a side table and two neat little pawprints stained the wall above the television. Worse, there was now a cracked and broken picture of a smiling Annette Hebert on the floor in the middle of a sea of glass.Crochet got her tears under control and took a deep breath. “Here,” she said. She extended the hand holding little big sis towards Cheshire who took it without thinking. “I’ll... I’ll take care of all of this. You, you do whatever.”Cheshire looked down at the plushie in her hand, She squeezed it a little, thumb rubbing over the plush hoodie, then carefully, she placed it sitting on the couch. “Nah, I’ll help,” she said.

* * *

When Danny had finished supper and put his plate in the sink, he stretched a little and moved over to the living room. It was quiet in the house. Surprisingly quiet for a home with three young ladies in it. Then he heard Crochet scream at Cheshire and smiled. That was better.Sitting down with an oomph, he searched for the remote in the cracks of the sofa and was about to turn on the TV when something caught his eye.How in the world did footprints end up above the television, he wondered.

Chapter Eight

She figured that she wouldn’t get in trouble, not if big sis never caught her.Laughing so loud that her voice carried across the entire street, Cheshire ran across a rooftop and then jumped off the edge. She turned into dark smoke, weightless but still moving. The next building over was a bit taller, so she phased back into reality and dug into the side of the wall with her onesie’s claws, then shot upwards with a ‘hup.’She landed on the very edge of the roof, arms cartwheeling for balance before she righted herself and started running again. Her grin was so wide it hurt.“I am the night!” she screamed as she jumped to the next roof and rolled to bleed off momentum.She was about to start speeding up again when she saw something off to her side and came to a skidding halt.Two girls were moving on the rooftops just down the block. One of them turning to shadows with every jump, just like her, but, in Cheshire’s professional opinion, with none of the grace and coolness. The other girl stepped from a second floor roof to a third, everything around her bending out of shape in a way that made Cheshire go cross eyed.Pausing, she considered what to do for a moment. Big sis, she reasoned, would probably roll into a fetal position and cry. Crochet would probably walk off the side of the building, but she’d do it real prim-like.Humming to herself, Cheshire decided to investigate.She landed on the street, knees bending almost in two to take her weight. The few people in the street stared at her for the half second she spent there before running across to the other side.A horn honked, brakes squealed and a few people screamed.Cheshire turned to smoke and let the nondescript truck pass through her before she landed on the other side of the street and reformed. She glared at the white truck, taking note of the big sign on its side that read ‘Truck-Kun’s Disposal Services.’ She flipped it the bird then jumped straight up and made it to the next roof.It took her a second to figure out where the other two had gone. As soon as she saw them a few roofs over, she ran off after them, feet pat-patting quietly on the rough gravel of the rooftop. She used an air conditioning unit as a stepping stool, then flew spread-eagle from one roof to the next, the tail of her onesie whipping out behind her.“Parkour!” she whispered, because she was being sneaky.The two capes stopped by the next rooftop, both of them looking down onto an alleyway where Cheshire could hear the sounds of a scuffle.“I’m calling it in,” the shorter of the two said. She reached into her green armoured breastplate and pulled out a phone, but the cooler of the two put a hand on hers.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.“Don’t. They’ll just tell us to piss off or interfere.”“Of course they’ll tell us to interfere, they’re fighting. It’s our job to stop them,” shorty said. Cheshire had the impression that she was none too happy about the whole thing.“Let’s wait a bit. See who’ll come out on top first. Let them fuck each other up a bit too. They’ll spend less time on the streets if they’re full of holes.”Shorty scoffed then took a step back while pressing on the screen of her phone with a thumb. She replaced it while reaching to her ear with her other hand. “Console, this is Vista, reporting a fight in the alleyway between 6th and Main, the one near the old drug store.” The girl nodded twice before turning to her partner. “They want us to back off unless there’s a cape or civilian involved.”“Tch,” the cool shadow-y cape said. “Bunch of cowards.”“I know, right?” Cheshire said as she walked to the edge of the roof about two meters away from the other capes.Both girls jumped a few feet into the air and spun around towards her in time to see her shit-eatingest grin appear.“The fuck are you?”“Shadow!” Vista said. She poked her partner in the ribs before turning her visored head towards Cheshire who was busy stretching her arms behind her head. “I’m sorry about her. You surprised us.”“S’all good,” Cheshire said. “So, you two gonna do anything ‘bout that?” she gestured down into the alleyway. Eight guys were standing around, though a couple were using the walls to keep on their feet. Half of them were asian, the other half white and bald, all of them were armed, though mostly with bats and the occasional knife. “They look like they’re havin’ fun,” she said.“Are you... with any of them?” Vista asked.“Don’t be an idiot, twerp,” Shadow Stalker said. “She’s as black as me. None of them would want her.” Her emotionless mask fixed itself on Cheshire. “Hey kid, get out of here, would you. The big kids are working here.”“Don’t look like y’er workin’ to me,” Cheshire said. “Looks like y’er lazin’ about while there’s fightin’ to be had.” Her sentence was punctuated by a piercing scream from below and she cursed for having missed the action. “Speakin’ of.”With a step, she walked off the edge of the roof and fell towards the ground, the hood of her onesie flapping around her head before she turned ghostly and slowed down. Just before landing she phased back and aimed both feet down, heels first, towards the back of a bald guy’s head.The man toppled forwards like a falling tree, Cheshire riding him down with a laugh until he crashed face first into the ground right in the middle of the brew fight.All the gangsters paused to stare, so she grinned right back at them. “Heyya. Y’all ready ta get whipped?”

Chapter Nine

Seeing the dumbfounded expression on the faces of the gathered thugs warmed Cheshire’s heart. That was, until one of them took a swing at her with a bat while screaming, “Cape!”She ducked under the blow, took a step back, and almost tripped when her foot landed on the guy she’d knocked out. “Dang it,” she muttered as she took another step away from bat-guy. Narrowing her eyes, she waited for him to finish his wild swing, then punched.Her claws bit into his forearm, locking it in place for the seconds it took her to get her head in close and chomp down on his hand.His scream was musical, and the metal bat clanged to the ground at her feet as his hand spasmed. He tried to back away, so Cheshire helped him along by ramming her head in his gut as hard as she could.That was one more idiot down. She started to bend over to pick up the bat when another thug ran at her, knife in hand. Phasing out of reality, she avoided his first swing, then jumped backwards again to gain some ground. The idiot just stood there, slack jawed at her awesomeness.“Super Secret Cheshire Special!” she screamed before swinging her foot forward as hard as she could and punting him between the legs.He went down wheezing.Grinning, Cheshire turned to the other idiots only to see a couple of them take off running. Another fell down with a bolt sticking out of his chest and another ran full tilt into a wall that warped around to block off his path. Then the heroes arrived, Vista beelined towards the nearest downed idiot and started tying his arms together with cuffs while Shadow Stalker stomped over to Cheshire.“Hey,” Cheshire said.“You little shit, you stole my power!” the older girl screamed.Cheshire glared up at her, arms crossing. “No I didn’t.”“I just saw you!” Shadow Stalker pointed off behind her to where Cheshire had turned smokey just a minute ago. “You’re the reason my power’s been weird all week. You stole it!”“If you were afraid of gettin’ y’er power stolen, you should’a kept a better eye on it,” Cheshire shot back.“Guys,” Vista said as she cuffed another thug. “We should really just wait a bit. I’m sure we can figure things out once the others arrive.”“Oh, I’ll figure things out, all right, when she starts squealing,” Shadow Stalker said. She reached out to grab Cheshire but the girl phased out and reappeared with her tongue sticking out and her middle finger holding one eye open. “You little shit!”“No, y’er a shit,” Cheshire said.“Guys, just wait, Console sent some adults,” Vista said.“Shut up,” both Shadow Stalker and Cheshire said at the same time. They turned back and stared at each other.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.Cheshire hrmped. “I’m goin’ home. You cowards are too much for me.”“Cow— I’ll strangle you,” Shadow Stalker said as she tried to grab onto Cheshire. The girl spun out of the way with a squeak then started laughing as Shadow Stalker chased her around in circles.“Oh my god,” Vista said. “Piggot’s going to kill us.”With a running leap, Cheshire hopped up, used her power to become lighter, then jumped off one wall. She spun in mid air and did the same against the opposite wall, gaining height with every bounce back and forth.Shadow Stalker screamed incoherently as she started following her up. The girl was taller, and had stronger legs, her flight up the side of the buildings around them was quite a bit faster, and by the time Cheshire was on the roof she was hot on her heels.“Screw you, shadow girl!” Cheshire screamed over her shoulder as she sprinted to the edge of the roof and jumped off. She could hear Shadow Stalker’s angry panting as she followed. There was a twang behind her, and on instinct Cheshire phased out of reality just in time for an arrow to dart through where she was. “What the hell!” she said.Figuring that speed was the better part of valour, Cheshire started sprinting all out, not that it helped much, Shadow Stalker was fast.Growling, she let herself phase through the roof of an office building, landed on a desk and grabbed a heavy lamp from off the top. When Shadow Stalker’s shadowy form followed her down, she threw the lampat her, keeping her phased out long enough that she dropped to the floor below.She took her chance and ran off in another direction, phasing through cubicle walls and then out of the side of the building to land on the street.A few people screamed as she landed in the middle of them, but she paid them no mind, too busy trying to put distance between herself and Stalker.

* * *

She was sweaty and tired by the time she made it home, but there weren’t any homicidal Wards on her tail. She had cut through buildings and alleys and kept off the rooftops as much as she could. It added a few minutes to her travel time, but at least it made it nearly impossible to follow her.She hoped.Landing in the backyard, Cheshire brushed off the pants of her onesie, straightened its hood and wiped the sweat away from her forehead with the back of one hand. She was going to need to be extra sneaky as she ran a bath and tucked her onesie under some dirty clothes.Phasing through the backdoor into the kitchen, she started to pad over towards the staircase when the lights flicked on.Taylor was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, brows drawn and not a hint of amusement on her face.“Heya, big sis,” Cheshire said.“Sit.”“Aww, shit.”