Superhero ... ish III

Third instalment.

III

The Shade kept staring her bravely in the face, but seemed a little self-conscious about it now.

"What is it?"

Jimmy forgot to chew her gum and blinked in confused irritation.

"You're the fucking wheelchair girl," she accused. It was all she could do not to actually point a leather clad finger at her face. The Shade blushed and frowned, but did not look away.

"So the wheelchair is your cover?" Jimmy demanded with a challenging nod. The Shade smirked and snorted softly, but said nothing. She looked down at the tree tops down in the dark, empty parking lot.

"Doesn't that get annoying? Pretending you can't walk?"

The Shade's smirk turned a little sour, and then into a quiet smile, as she stretched and leaned back on her hands before looking back at Jimmy.

"It pisses me off," she said in a tone that suggested Jimmy was an idiot for asking. Jimmy mulled that over for a few seconds and blinked slowly. The Shade was still looking at her.

"... Then why do you do it?" She remembered the gum in her mouth. Decided not to do anything with it just yet. Because The Shade was staring at her stonily.

"You think I'm doing it ... on purpose?" The Shade's stare shot daggers of disbelief, inscribed with the words Moron!, Idiot! and Imbecile! at Jimmy's face. Jimmy started chewing again slowly. She was not using the wheelchair because she wanted to. She had to. But she obviously did not need it. But she did. Jimmy frowned.

"What?" she managed in utter confusion.

The Shade let out a slightly annoyed breath and pulled her bandage back up over her nose. Jimmy leaned towards her.

"How do you not need it now?"

The Shade stood and stepped up to the very edge of the concrete roof, almost half of her feet sticking out into the air, and looked down the eight storeys to the parking lot. Jimmy followed her gaze down her own legs dangling over the edge, then looked back up at The Shade.

"So somehow your legs are useless during the day, but at night you turn into bondage batman," she flicked one of the steel rings dangling from The Shade's pant leg nearest her. The Shade looked at that and snorted softly. "And if you don't return home on time, you lose your shoes and turn into a pumpkin."

The Shade laughed. Jimmy got up, too, and nodded at her, hoping it looked more encouraging than threatening. "Come on, what's your deal?"

The Shade smirked at her from the side.

"I'm magic," she said with a wink of her one visible eye and turned around, letting herself fall backwards. She lifted two fingers to her mouth and kissed them, then waved them away as she fell straight down. Jimmy watched her turn once or twice in the air before disappearing into the thick mass of leaves covering the closest large tree.

Jimmy smirked to herself.

To the next part.