…What powers do you have, and how do you use them?
“You got the gear?” The first thug asked, flicking his cigarette aside.
“Sure sure. Premium stuff, man. You can do a lot of damage with this stuff, y’know what I mean?” The second says, grinning madly as he shows off the various weapons in the trunk of his car.
The two goons continued talking shop when a sudden chill fell over them. Before either could comment on the sudden change in temperature, the lone light in the alley shattered, plunging them into darkness.
“What the hell?!” The second man yelled, pulling out a pistol, “This some kind of set up?”
“Me? Hell no!” The first one hollered back, pulling out a switchblade.
I laugh loudly, cutting off their little tiff. The way they cast about in every direction, trying to find me, fills me with that joy-joy feeling I love so very very much.
“Who’s there?! I will cut you, dammit!”
“Now now, that’s just rude.” I chide him from the darkness, “is that anyway to say hello to a new friend?” I flick my wrist and a shadowy chain whips out from the shadows and disarms the man with a vicious rap against his knuckles, sending the knife clattering across the floor.
The second man waves his gun in the air, trying to pinpoint my voice. “Excuse me sir, but I’m gonna need to see your license for that firearm.” I demand. The goon fires in my direction, but I’m already gone as I travel through the darkness to the other side of the alley.
“Forget this man, you’re on your own. I’m out!” The first man whimpers and runs, holding his injured hand close to him.
“Don’t leave!” I call out, “We’re still have so many fun things to do!” I throw out a hand and the shadows swarm after the fleeing figure, wrapping around his legs and sending him sprawling to the ground.
“What are you?!” The second man demands, swinging his gun around. I appear on the roof of his car, eyes glowing brightly behind the skull-visage I hid my face behind. The deep purple hooded cloak I wear hangs around me, hiding my body beneath it.
“I’ll give you a hint, buckoo.” I retort, getting his attention, “It ain’t Batman.”
“Oh god!” The goon cringes at the sight of me, firing three shots. Two miss by a mile, but the third passes through my like I’m mist. Partly because I am.
With a laugh, I leap at him even as he fires more rounds. This has about as much luck as the first ones, but hey, A for effort right? Just before we collide, my body turns completely to smoke and I twirl around the gunman before solidifying in the form of a snake.
He screams as he thrashes around, trying to break loose but I only squeeze harder as I hiss menacingly. Overcome by fear, the man’s eyes roll back into his head and he collapses in a heap.
The second man is pulling at the shadowy shackles around his legs, calling out to his buddy. Poor sap is so in the dark, literally. I slither off of the downed gunman, my body turning to smoke again and reforming.
I look at the man and can sense his greatest fear and my powers react to that fear. New limbs form from the smoke, splitting apart into thinner ones until I’m skittering towards him on eight long legs, my six eyes glowing with gleeful malice.
The man’s eyes fix on me and he screams. Arachnophobia can be a bitch, especially when you’re face to face with a spider the size of a rottweiler. I loom over him, pincer chittering hungrily.
Suddenly, lights explode in the alley and police officers rush in, weapons ready. The bizarre scene the greets them forces them to stop in their tracks. One man, unconscious on the ground, while another is rolling around with his hands over his face, screaming about a giant spider.
I watch from the rooftop, chuckling to myself before turning away from the scene. There were more nightmares to bring to the wicked before the night was through.
Behind the Random: You’d think, for a comic geek, this would be an easy topic to do but it actually took me a little longer than I anticipated. In part, because I am such a comic geek, I’ve thought about this question time and time again so I’ve come up with hundreds of ideas, including some less conventional ones. Picking just one was hard to do. Also, I wanted to do more than just a simple essay explaining the powers and what I would use them for. That would only interest someone like me while I want other people to be able to enjoy this post too, as long as they enjoy fiction. So then came the next challenge: describing the power adequately enough.
So why the power of fear? Because I’m fascinated by phobias. I love knowing what people are afraid of and why, if there is a source to the fear.
Despite the troubles I had, it was still a fun post and maybe someday I’ll make a list of the powers I would love have.
642 Things 