Val hoped she wasn't bothering the taxi driver by tapping her foot so much. She didn't like drawing attention to herself. She'd always been shy, and never really grew out of it even as she approached her thirties.
Of course, it didn't help that if someone noticed her, they might recognize her from her... other exploits.
She sighed. Normally, tapping her foot would be enough to keep her anxiety at bay, but she was just too nervous. Her heart felt like a jackhammer; she leaned back into the carseat and tried to take slow, deep breaths.
You're gonna be fine,
Val thought.
Just take it slow, make some friends, and then you can work all this out.
She thought about the night that led her to take this taxi. She didn't notice her hand absent-mindedly playing with the top of her skirt.
* * *
At 10:47 PM, a portal opened on the roof of Hammer Records.
The portal was shaped like an oval, stood about 6 feet high, and hovered a few inches above the ground. It bathed the roof in a harsh, purple glow. From it stepped a woman dressed in a purple short-sleeved leotard with a white stylized "A" covering the torso, and matching knee-high boots and elbow-length gloves. Her hair was glowing the same unnatural shade of purple as the portal, and was pulled back into a ponytail. The domino mask did relatively little to cover her face, and it didn't do much to draw attention from her striking purple lipstick either. Underneath it all was a deceptively-simple black bodysuit -- deceptive because, despite its delicate appearance, it was sturdy enough to block a bullet. The whole ensemble was skin-tight, accentuating her modest breasts and lean, yet muscular build.
The woman in the bodysuit went by many names. Tonight, she was Violet Angel.
As soon as she was through the portal, it closed behind her with a barely-audible shimmer. Her hair stopped glowing and returned to its normal shade of brown. Violet exhaled deeply, and then examined the scene.
At her 2-o-clock was a skylight, and at her 10 was a door leading downstairs. She cautiously approached the skylight and looked down. Below her was the reason for her visit: pop star flavor of the week Sky... something or other. Violet didn't really keep up with pop music, but she had seen the singer's latest music video when it was making the rounds on social media. It was a little hard to focus on the music when Sky danced around in nothing but a few strips of gold tape, but sex probably sold better than whatever vapid lyrics the record company's team of writers could come up with.
The 9-1-1 call HQ intercepted from Hammer Records was identified as coming from Sky's cell phone. It was difficult to make anything out at first -- Sky appeared to be in hysterics, and only a few words like "crazy bitch" and "psycho" could be made out. But within a few moments, Sky's tone suddenly changed. There was a brief period of confusion, and then the only clear statement in the entire call: "I'm sorry, operator. I made a mistake. There is no reason to send anyone here." At which point she hung up.
Which would be the end of it, except she was the twelfth person to end a 9-1-1 call with that exact same statement, with the exact same tone of voice, in the past two weeks. Which, to Violet and the rest of her team, signaled it was time to step in before they had to deal with lucky number thirteen.
As Violet watched Sky from the skylight, she immediately noticed that something was very, very wrong. The singer was on her knees, completely naked; her tan skin was glistening with sweat, her neon-blue hair was frazzled, and she was shaking like a leaf. Her right hand was working furiously between her legs, and her left hand was fondling her breasts. As she looked closer, Violet noticed that Sky was also repeating some statement over and over, but she couldn't hear it through the pane of glass.
Just when Violet was wondering why Sky would be acting like this, someone else stepped into view. It was another woman, with pale skin and a bleached-white undercut. It wasn't just the hair; her entire ensemble was pure white, from her tailored suit, to her shoes, and even her lipstick. Violet smirked.
Wonder what aesthetic she's going for.
The woman in white snapped her fingers, and Sky's face scrunched up as she moaned loud enough to be heard even through the glass. The other woman kissed Sky's forehead, leaving behind a white mark. The white-clad woman sauntered over to the far end of the room and pulled up a stool. She unzipped her pants, and with a wolfish grin, beckoned Sky to approach her. Sky crawled towards the woman on her hands and knees.
Alright,
thought Violet.
Show's over,
She opened two portals, one just above the skylight and one right behind the woman in white. Taking a deep breath in, she jumped into the portal and used the momentum to tackle the woman to the ground, holding her down with her face against the carpet.
If anyone was impressed by Violet's showmanship, they didn't show it. Sky remained seemingly unaware of what had just transpired, still crawling towards the now-tipped-over stool while mumbling something incoherently, and the woman in white just smirked at her. "You know," she said, "I was wondering when one of you would take notice."
Violet glared at her. "You don't want to fight me. Release this woman from whatever drug or spell you've used on her, and surrender."
The woman just rolled her eyes. "'Drug or spell?' Sweetie, though it's flattering you would think I'm some sort of witch or sorcerer, I can assure you that is not the case. And if you're inferring I'm some common drug dealer, well..." She turned her head over to Sky, who was at the moment patiently staring at the wall. "Sky, my dear? Go wait in the corner. This won't take long."
Sky's body snapped to attention. "Yes, Madame!" she replied, and she crawled over to the corner.
The woman in white smiled and turned her eyes towards Violet. "I'm waiting," she said, her posh English accent somehow getting even stronger.
"For what?" sneered Violet.
"For you to incapacitate me? Arrest me? Ask me my name, perhaps?"
"Your name doesn't matter. You'll lose just the same."
"Confident, aren't we?" The more she talked, the more this woman got on Violet's nerves. Her arrogance, her posh accent that was so stereotypical that it came off as rehearsed, her lack of respect for-
FLASH.
...for...
In one fluid motion, the woman in white pushed against Violet and flipped her on her back. "Oh, my apologies," the woman in white grinned as she straddled Violet's hips. "I forgot to mention something. I have no intention of playing by your rules, purple girl."
