You’re not ready for this Phi. The sound of Christie’s voice and thoughts echoed in Ophilia’s head as she mounted the hyper cycle and guided it through the maze of underground tunnels.  Next to Nemesis, she knew these back ways better than any one.  What else was she suppose to do to occupy her time when everyone else was getting to play hero.

In a way Ophilia knew that she wasn’t ready.  She knew that she wouldn’t be able to prove them wrong in a single night.  She knew that her actions were being ruled by her emotions, and that her brother would accuse her of having a death wish.  But she also knew that she would never ever be able to become a hero under the over protective eyes of Soldier Boy and Nemesis’ condescending attitude.

She still couldn’t shake the scenes from her head.  One at a time she went to see them, to feel them out about her participation on the team.  Jag had tried to break it to her gently, but it had hurt.  "It ain't just that you're green, Princess. It's that bum ticker of yours. You're too god damn fragile. I just have this image of the rest of us spending all of our time covering your ass. It's not good, Princess."

Phi had swallowed her DiSantiago pride, nodded her head and thanked him.  There really wasn’t much else that she could do, not when she could feel the genuine concern that emanated from him.  It was a lick that she didn’t like, but she could take it gracefully and in the spirit with which it had been intended. 

Nemesis on the other hand had been a pride choking affair that still made her shudder.  Just the act of bringing the matter up with him, considering their terse relationship of late, had been difficult.  He had looked at her through his goggles and smirked, shaking his head dismissively, as if the idea was too ludicrous to entertain. 

In retrospect Ophilia wished that she’d let it go at that, but she hadn’t.  No…that just made her angry enough to look past her good judgment and force the conversation.  She could still feel the sting of his words and hear his condescending tone.  "You're not going out. You're a DiSantiago. You just go to your parties and your family functions, and take care of the paperwork and the press.  Leave the rest to those of us who get their hands dirty for a living."

Ophilia regretted most of all, that her response to him had lacked the dignity that she’d managed through Jag’s rebuff.  Instead, her hurt feelings had gotten the better of her, and she had spun on her heels and left.  She knew that Luke had seen how upset she’d been, and the idea of yet another weakness to add to her considerable pile, was humiliating.

The hyper cycle purred underneath her and made her feel accomplished to some degree.  Stone had been the only one on the team so far to treat her like something other than a liability.  She couldn’t have known at the time, how much the skills that he taught her with the bike would empower her.  A part of her wanted to drive that cycle right over Nemesis’ condescending ass.

Her thoughts eventually fell into the background, the hum of the hyper cycle turned into a roar, as she pulled it out on the main road and accelerated.  She’d been out several times since her first lesson and was really getting the hang of the basic two wheeled functions.

Costume.  Check.  Mask.  Check.  Totally hawtt boots.  Check.  Helmet.  Check.  Cool ride.  Check. 

Everything was going great as she headed towards Blackbridge Park.  She was somewhat familiar with the area, due to it’s proximity to her apartment in Bankhurst, and it was about the roughest place that she felt comfortable trying to handle by herself.  Mason’s work at the nearby LeMastre’s Park had cleaned it up considerably, but lately some of the riff raff had been migrating towards the neighboring park.

It didn’t take long before Ophilia had arrived at her destination, still very much up in the air about what to do next.  She pulled to a stop in one of the parking areas, only one of the light posts was operating correctly and it did little to illuminate the area.  She slid off of her bike and hesitated, immediately wondering if it was safe to leave it.  It occurred to her that someone might steal it, and that offended her administrative sensibilities.

So, she hesitated, and almost changed her mind.  To an outside observer, it might have appeared that she was having second thoughts or chickening out, but in truth it pained her to leave the hyper cycle there unattended.  Finally, she grabbed the keys and walked away, forcing herself not to look back.  She knew that as a hero, she would need to make a lot of difficult decisions, and that this would likely be the least of them.

As Phi walked through the park, navigating the bike trails, she tuned into her inner gifts.  It was rare for her to indulge them, and in truth, she really didn’t know just how far she could push them.  She decided to start with something simple, and opened up her mind.  It was liberating, to tune into all of her senses, a rare and exquisite thing to feel with her mind, uninhibited as she saw with her eyes and heard with her ears.

Her psyche slid away from her, slowly at first as she let it loose, feeling for other minds in the area.  She didn’t rein it in this time, like she normally did and it continued to travel ahead of her through the park.  It seemed to gain a life of it’s own, as it hurried, swiftly into every nook and cranny that her eyes could never see. 

She felt brushes, some soft and some bristly as her scan invaded the false serenity of night.  It seemed so harmless, the soft burble of a stream nearby, the rustle of the leaves in the wind, the freshly tended shrubberies on the side of the trails.  ….but no, this force that she had unleashed showed her the truth, and shattered the mirror of illusion that laid on the surface.

A man, a simple man, his bristle of pain, followed by the sweet hum of euphoria, when the addict slid a needle into his arm. - A guardian near by, a man of strength and concern. - The sweet whispers of awkward lovemaking, from two young teens, as they braved the disrepute of the park, for a chance to be with one another. - Another presence, territorial, exotic, wild and feral. - A stargazer, daydreamer, a feminine mind. - Practiced grunts of sex from a two dollar whore, the assaulting smell of her patron's filthy body as he shoved her mouth again and again over his throbbing cock. 

Multi dimensional glimpses tingled each of Ophilia’s senses as her scan slid through the park’s patrons.  The briefest flashes of what they were experiencing washing over all of her faculties.  She stopped abruptly and shook her head, so powerful and unexpected was the mental assault - sight, sound, scents, touch, taste, thoughts.  Some good, some bad, as one after the other they tumbled through her mind and reciprocal senses.  It was like taking off your sunglasses in the bright of the day after wearing them for a week.  It took a bit of effort to push down her revulsion and allow the force of her mindscan to run free again.

All while it played in and out of the park, scouring it, touching each human mind for a few fleeting seconds before seeking out the next, Ophilia walked on.  She was completely oblivious to what was immediately around her as she tried so hard to control the force that she had unleashed, trying to train it how much was too much.  Trying to find that delicate line between checking in for signs of danger and total invasion of privacy.  Her tanned skin and her dark costume blended in with the night, but there was nothing to quiet her foot falls as she pushed onward, the rhythmic click of her boots against the pavement. 

Then.  She felt it.  A cold mind with intent to harm, she had almost missed it at first, it was empty of everything but the hate.  Hungry and starved for something, mad with wanting something.  Need.  It was her eyes, as they trailed her mind that had seen him, seen him through the eyes of another woman.  The woman didn’t falter in her step, even as Phi hitched a silent ride.  A reluctant witness to whatever would happen next. 

She tried to reach out to her to warn her…but her bond didn’t work.  She didn’t know if it was the distance, or if it was because she was already concentrating on her scan…but she couldn’t reach her.  A whimper escaped her as she tried again to mentally shout a warning to the woman, to turn around, to look for another customer. 

She knew that the woman went by the name Candy, and she was done for the night.  She was headed home to her two kids Lucy and Amanda.  It was Amanda’s birthday tomorrow, and she was going to be four years old.  Amanda was going to be so excited to get her Leapster!  Candy had finally found one in pink…

Phi shook her head and took off at a dead run in the direction of the woman and the empty man.  Her mental connection stayed locked on Candy.  She was done for the night!  She was done for the night!  …but…  It was Amanda’s birthday tomorrow.  If she could turn one more trick she could get her that pink dress she wanted.  It cost too much money…but it was her birthday.

“No.  No.  No.”  Phi chanted out loud as she continued in a straight line towards Candy and her would be assailant.  Her arms burned from the scratching of the brush against them, she tried not to heed it, but her flesh was so tender.  She could count on one hand how many times she’d bled from an injury, she didn’t get hurt, she anticipated and avoided trouble.  What am I doing?!

Inhale.  Exhale.  Inhale.  Exhale.  Her breathing was so loud as she came around the large oak tree that anyone could have heard it.  Her throat ached from the labor of running but it was all a distant pain compared to the vivid images that flashed through Phi’s mind.

Both of Ophilia’s hands went to her throat and she buckled at the middle, as the blank man reached out and brutally grabbed Candy.  She could feel the intensity of the woman’s fear and the crushing pain of the powerful hand on her throat.  In a way it was a blessing because it sliced into Phi so hard that it severed the bond that had grown between herself and the prostitute.  Now that her mind was her own again, she could think clearly.

“Stop!”  Ophilia cried out in warning to the man, her voice desperate as she straightened and strode forward.  Gathering her mental energies and readying herself to lash out at him with the full force of them.  To feed his void filled hunger with a taste of Conquistador justice.

The man stopped, he did so immediately, as if her will had commanded him to, but it hadn’t.  His mocking sneer turned upwards into an evil grin, as he unclenched his hold on Candy’s throat, allowing her to fall to the ground.  Then he turned his full attention on Marionette.  Any interest that he’d had in the plump and oversexed prostitute became a distant memory at the site of this heroine’s perfect body and pristine image.

“You better act fast little girl.”  He said, as quicker than she thought possible he was almost to her.  It had only been seconds, she’d never seen anyone other than Nemesis or Phase move so quickly, she had most certainly underestimated him.

One step.  Two steps.  She withdrew towards the woods, knowing that if she turned and ran, he would have her.  So she lashed out with all of her vehemence, allowing the full force of her fear and anger to overwhelm his mind.  Unfortunately for her, the attack fell flat.  It had affected him but it did not pummel him into the mindless heap that she had intended.  Instead he staggered backwards a bit and grabbed his head with both hands.  His hate that she felt earlier swelled and his eyes became blind with rage as he dove at her. 

What did I do?  Phi couldn’t move, she wasn’t fast enough.  Time seemed to stop as he dove at her, she saw it coming a second before it did and that was the only way she was able to step just far enough to the right, to dodge his outstretched hand.  His evil intent washed over her and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she would be his, and she knew with startling clarity what he was going to do to her. 

Phi’s heart raced and her stomach plummeted with the kind of sheer fear that she had never experienced before.  She tried to battle the flash from him, tried not to know what his plans were, they were so vivid and lustful.  Hunger.  Need. 

Christie’s voice and then Jag’s voice echoed through her mind, and she was about to call out for help, knowing that even if she did nobody could get to her in time. Her finger was only a hairs width from her communicator's panic button, but then her stubborn willfulness resisted, deciding that she’d rather die right then than hear an I told you so from Nemesis.  She planted her feet into the ground and let out a growl as the man gathered himself to spring for her again.  Her thoughts were everywhere, but somewhere in them was an odd sense of triumph, as she thought how sorry they would be for treating her like they did.  Like she was nothing more than the person to sign their paychecks, not worth the time to be trained in the field. 

As she wallowed in her stubborn pool of self pity, he dove for her again, but this time, he took her down.

...to be continued.