Scene 1
The First Night
☆Midnight Magic Hour☆
|| Location ✦ Bay City ~ Little Ben ||
|| State of Mind ✧ :D ||
The First Night
☆Midnight Magic Hour☆
|| Location ✦ Bay City ~ Little Ben ||
|| State of Mind ✧ :D ||
The city lights gleamed dimly on the horizon, their glow fading rapidly into the dark clouds that rolled inexorably over the vast metropolitan landscape. The cars countless stories below gave a faint whine as they sped through the lifeless urban sprawl, like predators prowling in a silent jungle. Alone amidst the darkening skies, a single figure rose, silhouetted against the city skyline by the fading light of the crescent moon. The wind swept over the rooftop of the old apartment complex, causing the black shadow's scarf to billow out behind her as she stared purposefully down at the city below. A flash of red light shone forth as her eyes began to glow like rubies, embers rising into the air around her, trailing off of her long muffler like so many fireflies scattering into the night.
She stared into the darkness of the night, and the darkness of the night... completely failed to pique her interest. Alice Lane, better known by the sobriquet of "Mistress Mania," breathed a heavy sigh, tossing herself dejectedly down upon a nearby air conditioning unit. "Maaan~... It's so boring up here," She grumbled to herself, propping her head upon her palms as she stared dully across the block at the looming shape of one of the city's many bargain-bin ripoffs of famous foreign landmarks. The giant hand of "Little" Ben - which was diminutive only in its incredibly tasteless name - turned ever so slightly, a dull "ka-chunk" resounding throughout the silence of the cityscape.
Mistress Mania pouted, her cheeks puffing up like a child's as she gave a loud chuff of disappointment, abruptly tossing her head back and dangling upside-down over the edge of the air conditioning unit she'd made into her seat - and, by extension, the building it sat on the edge of. Huh. Who'd have thought? She pondered. The city looks just as boring upside-down as it does right-side up. My head hurts now. Flaring her disappointment into a tangible force, she found herself suddenly feeling weightless as her body and costume alike emitted a faint madder red glow. She pushed violently against this solid light, feeling herself snapping upright in an instant, like a vampire rising out of its coffin. Man, it would be cool to be a vampire, she thought. Then I could go around, like, sucking people's blood and turning them into my minions. I guess I wouldn't be able to eat garlic anymore, though. Pizza night would be ruined forever. She sighed again, pacing idly back to the edge of the building to continue staring blankly at the giant clock. Pizza sounds tasty. Man, I'm really hungry right now. I wonder if the Midnight Society serves pizza to their members? That'd be cool. Except then I'd have to share with other people. Bleh. I should take over this city so I can seize control of all the means of pizza production. My reign would be like a communist dictatorship, except I would have all the pizza and everything else wouldn't matter. Wait, what was I thinking about again? Alice blinked. "Oh, right," She mumbled aloud, getting her thoughts back on track as she peered down at the streets below. Why do so many supers seem to think it's fun to stand stock-still on the edges of buildings on windy evenings, anyway?" She stopped, listening in silence to the sounds of the city for a few seconds, then cocking her head to the side. "Actually, better question. Who am I even talking to right now?" Her eyes widened in horror, her hands rising to her cheeks as she did the century's best impression of "The Scream." "Oh no! It's happening! I'm turning into one of those crazy vigilantes who lurk on top of buildings and talk to themselves! Pretty soon I'll be saying stuff like 'I AM THE NIGHT' and disappearing randomly whenever people stop looking at me!" She fell to her knees, covering her eyes as she sobbed theatrically, hamming it all the way up for her imaginary audience. "Nooooo~...." She whined pathetically. "I don't want to be a serious character... They're no fun!"
Fortunately for her, there was exactly a 0% chance of that happening! A loud chime rang out through the air, and she leaped to her feet in the blink of an eye, her expression of discontent instantly replaced by a manic grin as she skipped her way to the edge of the rooftop, intoning a loud "ding-doooooooooooooooooong~" in a childish sing-song harmony with the immense clock as she bounded towards it. "Yay~, look, it's midnight! It's finally time~!" She cheered, flapping her arms behind her like a giddy schoolgirl as she hopped up onto the edge of the building... and then straight off the edge, right out into thin air. Unlike Wile E. Coyote, however, she didn't seem to be concerned by the fact that gravity shouldn't actually allow you to do that, or by the downward plunge that usually followed the acknowledgement of that fact. A pinkish-red flash paved her way, catching her feet with each hop she took. The clock chimed once again, and she timed her steps to its rhythm, using this impromptu metronome to keep the beat as she began to sing. "Ooh, believe it or not, I'm walkin' on air~, never thought I could feel so free~eeeee~eeeeeee!" She, surprisingly, managed to at least stay within an octave or so of the rising note she was trying to hit, although this was probably just a fortuitous accident. "Flyin' away on a wing and a prayer, whooooo could it beeeeeee~?" She hummed in time with her own imaginary background music as she gracefully hopped up onto a windowsill on the side of the grand tower, spinning into a pirouette like a whirling dervish before abruptly spreading her arms and taking a theatrical bow, drinking in the applause that existed only within the confines of her imagination. "Believe it or not, it's just me!" She concluded, suddenly perfectly on key. "Thank you, thank you!" She proclaimed triumphantly, taking several more bows that really should have carried her straight off the side of the building, given the level of enthusiasm present in each.
Righting herself, she pivoted on the ball of her foot, grinning ear to ear as she reached out towards a brick in the wall to the side of the window she perched on the edge of. "Now, then, at midnight I was supposed to push a thing and then..." She mumbled, pushing the brick in. She got no further than this, however, for the instant she did so, the window suddenly detached itself from its frame, spinning around and clobbering her from the side, catapaulting her head first into the aperture the "window" had been built to hide.
A cry of surprise swiftly changed to delighted laughter as Mania slid, skidded, rolled, and tumbled down the smooth tube, managing to right herself just in time to find herself flying straight out the end of the slide. "WHEE!~" She exclaimed, flipping head-over-heels as she fell straight out of one of the walls of what looked to be some kind of dining room, crashing head-first into one of the many chairs drawn up beside the long table that formed the room's centerpiece and tumbling along with it off towards the far wall. The chair bounced, launching the giggling "supervillain" upward as though she'd just bounced off a trampoline, and then landed once again on its legs, skidding to a stop against the far wall as Mania came tumbling back down, somehow managing to, in spite of all odds, land seated cross-legged upon the chair, a goofy grin spread wide across her face as she tried to get her bearings.
Oooooh man, sooooo dizzy, She thought, shaking her head from side to side as she tried to stop the world from spinning. She was in like, some sort of really big room, and there was stuff there, like a giant table, and two people on each end... no, wait, that was one person on each end, she was just seeing double. Anyway, there was this really big guy, who was like- woah, no, seriously, that guy was BIG. Anyway, he was wearing a suit, and had his own personal giant chair to go with his giant self, so that probably meant he was the guy in charge. Let's see, what were you supposed to do to greet your new boss again?
...
Mania gave a cheerful smile and a rather wobbly wave, hopping to her feet on top of her chair and launching into a rather unexpected monologue. "If I may make the most miniscule of manifestations, I must make measure of whether you are the messenger who manufactured the marvelous midnight missive that mentioned this majestic mansion and marked the means by which to make way to this meeting. Are you the mastermind of this malarkey? Mayhaps it is meaningless at such a magnificent moment. Mind not my mannerisms, and merely make a memory of my moniker: Mistress Mania, a masterful mercenary minion of many maniacs and makers of mayhem matching yourself."
Concluding her rant, Mania froze, still posing on top of her chair. She placed a finger to her lips in a thoughtful manner, seeming to ponder what she'd just said.
"Huh. That sounded better in my head, actually," She mumbled, tossing herself back down into her chair before scooting back up to the table, her attention evidently caught by the many multicolored bits of confectionery lovingly laid out before her. Snatching up several small cookies, she began to munch on them cheerfully, presenting much the same image as a squirrel having found a particularly tasty nut. Her craving for sweets satisfied, and her introduction completed, she glanced back and forth from one end of the table to the other, staring curiously at the huge man who had evidently called her there.
"Sho," She said between mouthfuls of cookie. "Whatsh yur name?" She gulped down the last of her current treat and reached for another. "No, wait, lemme guess. Is it... Colossus? No, no, too easy. Maybe Titan? Or Goliath? Gigantor, maybe? Hmm..." She abruptly pounded a fist into her open palm, grinning from ear to ear. "I've got it! You must be Emperor Maximus Titanicus Giganticus Humongous Mucho Grande Very-very-big-icus. DeLarge. The Third." She nodded, seeming satisfied that this was clearly the only possible answer, before turning to the man at the other end of the table. "And you're..." She stopped, her eyes widening in surprise and recognition as her already massive grin broadened considerably. "Mr. HAMBURGLAR?! You're here too? Long time no see!" Mania exclaimed, pointing excitedly at the helmeted, stripe-wearing man, whose no-doubt noisome nickname she had been the primary source of, although she, for her part, didn't see anything wrong with it, and couldn't fathom why the man in question disliked it so. Oh well, She thought resignedly. He'll come around sooner or later.
"Yeah, I'm pretty much the best at names. Nom." She mused to herself aloud, giving a muffled giggle that was quickly silenced completely by another cookie disappearing into the bottomless abyss of her stomach.
...Now if only they had free pizza, this would be perfect.