Superhero ... ish VIII

VIII

Jimmy kept her smug smirk in check and stepped directly in front of The Shade, who stood her ground but didn't exactly look like she wanted to be this close. She looked sort of away to the side and made a rather tense face.

Jimmy untied one of the broad leather straps around her left arm and peeled it off her hand. She let it dangle from her sleeve while pulling out a dart. That she placed in her palm carefully and closed her hand around it. The Shade eyed that, then looked up. Jimmy simply smiled at her, leaned in and kissed her softly. The Shade tensed up even more but still opened her lips a bit. They pretty much stared at each other. Jimmy had to grin a bit and let the tip of her tongue flick over Shade's lip before pulling back. The Shade breathed in and out loudly and Jimmy chuckled.

"Why did you hold your breath?" She opened her hand and looked at the dart lying there, and the thin streaks of blood that were starting to get washed off by the slow rain. The Shade looked, too. Jimmy sheathed the dart again and kept her palm open in the rain. By the time the blood was cleaned off, the cuts had almost disappeared as well.

"Well well," Jimmy said triumphantly. The Shade looked astonished. "Sweet Shade, it seems you're a miracle healer. You could become rich with this." The Shade stared up at her in disbelief and snorted.

"Become rich. You really just said that."

Jimmy blinked and rubbed over her palm, now completely healed.

"Yes. Amazing talent you've got there."

"Tsun."

Jimmy looked at the slight and very wet girl, who wore a very serious face.

"You are really greedy and selfish," she accused quietly. Jimmy studied her face. The black curtain of hair that usually covered one eye had parted into several separate wet strands that clung to her skin in some places, and Jimmy could actually see most of The Shade's face now. But that very fact prevented her from reading anything in it, because she found herself staring at it dumbly.

"Uh," she pointed out eloquently. The Shade's gaze softened a fraction.

"You rob and steal. And quite frankly, I don't see the point of half of your murders." At this, Jimmy just looked on stupidly. "Yes, I saw quite a few. You enjoy it, you said so yourself. Almost everything you do is for personal gain."

Jimmy frowned.

"What's wrong with that? I'm doing a public service by ending harmful people. Everyone I kill has done something despicable, without atoning for it in some way. And they'd all have done more damage to the world if I hadn't taken care of them. How's it wrong if I take some ... get some satisfaction from it?" She busied herself with tying up her handstrap again so she had an excuse not to look at that distracting face. "Who are you to talk, anyway? You move like a bloody ninja and have nothing better to do than stalk me. Don't tell me that's not perfectly selfish voyeurism."

The Shade blushed and snorted derisively. Jimmy faced her again.

"I'm not killing and robbing."

"You're watching it," Jimmy pointed out.

"I don't claim to be the avenger of everything!" She was really pretty when upset, Jimmy noted.

"Neither do I!" Jimmy threw her arms out.

"You said you were doing the world a service and ridding us of assholes. Your words." The Shade's hair had started to rise again. Apparently it just did that sometimes. Jimmy stared at it.

"I am doing that. But I don't claim to be a hero."

"Well... good! Because you're not!" exclaimed The Shade.

"Then what's your problem?!"

"You're staring at me!"

"That's your problem?!" Jimmy's eyebrows flew up and almost disappeared under her cowl in utter confusion. The Shade groaned in frustration and stomped to one side of their haystack. She slid down the slick canvas into the dark below. Jimmy followed suit.

"Shade!" When Jimmy straightened up down on the muddy ground the first thing she noticed was that it had stopped raining. The second thing was the depth and softness of the mud. Making a face, she stepped back onto the edge of the canvas. The Shade was nowhere to be seen.

"This is getting ridiculous. Would be nice to be able to finish a conversation like civilised people next time."