Chapter 19

Twister stood on a high building on Kadence Street, watching the scene below her and looming over the people going about their evening.

She couldn't help but think the people below all looked like insects from where she stood. It would be so easy to create a whirlwind large enough to take out everyone below her-

Twister shook her head.

She saw some people look up and begin to panic and point up to her, getting the attention of everyone on the street below. Once enough people caught sight of her; Twister launched herself off of the tall building and flew down to a shorter building below, landing with a large puff of smoke to the screams of the gathering crowd below.

Twister looked down at them, hands crossed over her chest as she stared down at them, eyes darting from person to person, waiting for the attention of enough people before she decided to start doing anything.

The crowd below her was full of shocked expressions and pale faces. Each person was contemplating either internally or externally about what horrors Twister planned to unleash upon the city. She heard whispers about destruction, taking a hostage, tax fraud…? Twister was genuinely confused by that one.

In complete truth Twister had no idea what she was going to do other than gather attention.

Twister decided to raise the ante of the situation until she arrived. There was only so much standing and brooding Twister could do before it got confusing rather than intimidating.

As she began to see people stare at her with confused anticipation, so Twister rose her hands above her head and began creating a large tornado which made the onlookers below panic and scream, some beginning to run away as the tornado grew bigger and bigger….

"HEY!"

Twister turned. The crowd, still shell-shocked, followed her movement, a hush falling over them, some people got out their phones as the tornado above Twister's head stilled.

"YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH THESE PEOPLE THEN YOU'VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH ME!"

Twister smirked as the crowd became more excited than confused. Loud and dorky, just like what they talked about.

Twister calmed the tornado, the mini storm going out with a loud whoosh! Twister turned slowly and cocked her head at the booming voice.

Clad in a dark sheen purple body suit, pink tights and crop top, large purple visor and some sort of glowing thing in her hair Twister couldn't make out from the distance, the short newcomer stood on the building next to her, hands on her hips and face in a challenging scowl, the wind blowing her pigtails and the light from the city illuminating her in dramatic exposition.

Twister looked to the crowd with a scowl, noting a pale-faced Tiffany in the crowd, before turning back to her new opponent, an intense adrenaline building up in her chest.

"And who the hell are you?" Twister called.

"Me? Hah.."

The crowd held their breath as the newcomer chuckled, hopping down to Twister's level.

"It's Psycha. Psycha Delic. Maryland's new super- HERO!"

The crowd immediately exploded in a chorus of murmurs and cheers of curiosity, disbelief, and excitement.

Twister scoffed. "A hero..? Really? Do you have any idea how outnumbered you are?" She asked flatly.

Psycha pumped up her chest.

"It doesn't matter! Because I'm dedicated to protecting the good people of these city, and soon the number of heroes will rise as well, so your days are numbered, villain!"

There were some whoops in the crowd, cheers and claps from the onlookers below. Psycha beamed wider as she heard people call out "Get 'em hero!" Twister turned from the crowd, smirking at Psycha as well; their plan was working perfectly.

"Alright then," Twister said, causing a hush to fall over the crowd once more, she raised her hands into a fighting position, giving Psycha a determined gaze. "Just remember that you asked for this."

Psycha scoffed, summoning two large purple spinning rings on her wrists, which caused gasps of shock and delight from the crowd the two were both acutely aware of. "I won't take it personally."

Twister summoned her own power, launching an intense blow at the hero, who dodged quickly, powering up a glowing ring and sending it Twister's way, who blew the ring away with ease. Despite her show of confidence, Psycha was incredibly worried that one of the rings would zoom off into the crowd and hit one of the civilians, this seemed to be Twisters concern too, as she was trying to blast the rings away from the direction of the mesmerized crowd below.

The crowd seemed to notice this, some calling to each other to back up, and with a quick glance down, Psycha saw that the police has arrived and were attempting to diffuse the situation and keep the crowd safe from the dueling supers, but they were clearly fighting the urge to stop and stare as well.

Psycha jumped after Twister, summoning multiple rings on her arms and launching them all in quick succession. She remembered their training earlier. The wind in her hair, the cheers of the crowd, Psycha created another round of rings, cooling them down as she dodged Twister's attacks, the adrenaline in her system making her feel she could do anything.

Twister used her wind to blast forward, throwing a punch at Psycha, who was able to dodge the first, but wasn't as lucky to miss the second. Psycha staggered backwards, the impact of the blow making her eye twitch in annoyance. She took off running towards the villain, who had used her moments of recovery to get a far enough distance away, sending rings in all directions, Twister blasting them away from the crowd below and back over to Psycha.

She got close enough to Twister to land a punch to her stomach, knocking the wind out of the villain as she flipped backwards, then got up on bended knee, creating a strong wind that blew the hero back slightly, making her forcefully stagger her way forward, creating more rings on her arms.

Psycha raised her fist to launch yet another ring, but before she could the force of Twisters wind throwing it off of her wrists. Psycha glanced back at the rings before remembering the new move she learned earlier.

She held a hand out to the discarded rings and clenching her hand into a fist, making the rings grow brighter and brighter until they began to pull up on their own, seemingly drawn by the gravity of Pychas' hand. The rings spun in their place building momentum while Psycha turned around to face Twister, the two held in a silent standoff, waiting for the other to make a move.

The increasing whirring of the rings behind Psycha motivated her to make the first move.

With just a quick flick of her wrist, Psycha sent the rings hurdling towards Twister at lightning speed. The rings came from multiple directions and were hurling at Twister so quickly she didn't' have time to block, and once again she got hit by one of the rampaging rings, sending her flying backwards to the edge of the building.

Twister growled in annoyance, slowly getting up as she hissed from the pain of the scratches on the roof. She slowly stood up, staggering slightly before raising her hands once again, her irritation fueling her next attack. Psycha came barreling towards Twister, more rings at the ready, as Twister threw her arms out quickly in her final attack.

Twister had hit her with an intense rush of wind, causing her to slip off of the buildings edge as she was just seconds away from her and fly falling backwards into the alleyway below. There were wordless screams and shouts of panic from the crowd, and Psycha swore she saw a look of panic on Twisters face as she went spiraling downwards.

BLAM!

Psycha felt a surge of pain and the wind knocked out of her as she slammed on top of the dumpster, her vision becoming covered in black spots as the metal of the dumpster crinkled and bent underneath her, groaning in rusted protest at her weight. The force of the fall so intense it knocked even the ability for her to cough, gasp, or even breathe, the pain so intense in her lungs it rendered her dizzy and immobile. The crowd gasped and softly murmured amongst themselves, the world seemingly holding their breath for their new hero, each person silently praying that she would rise up and come back stronger than before.

Twister cringed as Psycha fell to the ground, a pang of sympathy in her chest. She looked back to the crowd. She expected the faces of humor, but she also saw those of fear, those of hope. Twister furrowed her eyebrows. This is what the people needed. What they had been begging for for so long. A hero. And no matter how much Twister wasn't supposed to show her good side; the people needed this. She needed this.

Twister turned, back to the crowd of tense whispers and muffled sobs as she walked over to the area where the purple hero had fallen. She made a slight adjustment to their plan.

"So, you wanna be a hero to these people huh?" Twister called to the fallen heroine. The crowd stilled, expecting a brutal ending to their new beacon of hope. Twister stared down at Psycha and huffed.

"Then you better be ready to have Zalic's cronies crawling up your ass like a hemorrhoid." She turned her back to Psycha. "Next time I see you, you better put up a better fight. Rival."

Psycha gasped.

This was better than what they planned! And it worked out for them both, too. It gave Psycha the publicity of getting Twister's respect as a rival alongside her debut, Zalic finds out about number fourteen, and the other villains can't hassle Twister about being weak, why didn't they think of that before?

With a final cold glare to hush the crowd, Twister launched herself up in a gust of wind, leaving behind a cloud of debris and dust.

Once she was gone, there was a beat of silence. Psycha only had time to blink before she was swarmed by the crowd of onlookers and reporters. She barely had time to react before the crowd reached her, pulling herself up from the tin, ignoring the surge of pain that came with ripping her arms out of the bent metal.

"Who are you?"

"How long have you been a hero?"

"Do you plan to stop Zalic?"

"People give her space!" She heard Tiffany's voice over the others.

Psycha gave a sheepish smile to the people of Maryland, honestly expecting more criticism and tense glares for letting Twister get away, but perhaps it was just as obvious to everyone that Psycha was inexperienced as it was to both her and Twister.

Psycha tried not to show too much pain as she faced the crowd that seemed to be holding their breath waiting for her to speak. "GOOD PEOPLE OF MARYLAND!" She called into the restless crowd.

She took a deep breath to gather her bearings and calm her shaking hands.

"It's true, I'm going to be your new hero.. Though it's clear I have some work to do.." I even managed to get flattened in a set up match.. She mentally added. She looked into the crowd.. Their faces of fullness and joy inspired a new hope in the amateur super, giving her the confidence she needed to finish her speech. "Though I may be inexperienced, I'm going to do everything I can to improve constantly, to protect you. First, I'll protect you here, then I'll build my way up to the big guns… Zalic. She's threatened the people of this area for too long, and it's about time someone put a stop to it. So I'm taking up this mantle and I promise to all of you, that evil will fall at my hands! -Rings, rather.." She ended meekly.

But the crowd didn't care, they burst into a round of gratitude of applause, cheering her name in chorus as she bowed and waved to them. A new hope was finally born.

Psycha looked into the crowd and saw a familiar brunette clapping along with them, an expression of pride and relief adorned onto her features.

The sight alone gave the new hero the strength to smile onto all of them, making another silent vow to herself that she would do everything possible to protect these good people,