Intro: Possessed of a magical mask that clothes her in a garment that grants her mastery over light, Stevenson Highschool senior Emily Fine battles darkness as White Diamond.
Dragonfly swooped into action from the top of the building on which he had been hiding in the warm autumn night. Blinking the light out of his eyes, he saw a dark blur that he HOPED was the Nex dealer. Extending his leg into a kicking position, Dragonfly instead slammed into the wall of the adjacent building. The kick was powerful enough to damage the brick, but Dragonfly screamed out in pain as his knee wrenched.
The Nex dealer, a dark and grizzled man with Mediterranean features, did not immediately notice the hero who had crashed into the wall behind him; he was facing the other way. He had turned to face the bright light, shielding his eyes with one arm while holding a high-caliber pistol in the other. As soon as he found a mark insight the brilliant display, he fired. He had no idea what or who he was shooting at, but as far as this criminal was concerned, a bullet was a bullet.
White Diamond watched as he considered his options, watched calmly as he fired. She was in no danger. The bullet came within millimeters of her skin, and then exploded as it hit the heat shield that surrounded her. The remains of the bullet either fell to the ground or disintegrated into metallic mist as the bounced again against the shield. Diamond grinned a vengeful grin, and fired her own attack. A bolt of coherent light flashed out, striking the man in the chest and knocking him backward into a cluster of storage barrels.
The two college students began to realize their latest attempt at a quick thrill had landed them in hot water, and turned to flee. To all the other participants, it seemed they were moving in slow motion, their reflexes were so slow. Dragonfly took stock of the situation. The two students would run to safety; the dealer seemed to hold no more interest in them, as he was struggling to remain conscious and to deal with two assailants. Pain still exploding in his knee from the powerful impact to a solid object, Dragonfly flew rather than ran to where the dealer lay.
The man was older, probably mid-forties, with features that made him look as if he were from southern Europe. Dragonfly guessed Italy or Greece. As Dragonfly approached the man, the light at the end of the alley dimmed. The figure which stood there was that of a young woman, lanky and somewhat tall, with a rounded face and curly, thick black hair. She wore a costume that almost appeared to be made of translucent crystal; it clung to her just a little more loosely than a cat-suit. Her face was partially concealed by a matching mask which caught the light especially well. She held a second energy attack in her hand should Dragonfly prove to be a new threat.
As Dragonfly knelt down, the man quickly pulled something from his belt and popped it in his mouth. Oh, No, Dragonfly thought. Nex. Quickly he lashed out, hoping to knock the man unconscious before this got ugly. His hit was so strong it broke teeth in the man's jaw, but he merely grinned. Almost leaping to his feat with preternatural speed, the Nex dealer picked up Dragonfly and launched him toward the end of the alley where White Diamond stood. Quick thinking an acrobatic training kept Dragonfly from colliding with the young woman (the wings didn't hurt, either). By the time he'd recovered, the dealer was nowhere in sight. Realizing he must have leaped from view, Dragonfly quickly took to the air for a better view.
The man was nowhere in sight. Dropping back to the alley, Dragonfly decided to greet his unplanned "assistant".
"What the hell do you call that?" Dragonfly asked, hovering a foot or so off the ground in front of White Diamond.
The young woman was resolute as she stared into the flippant eyes of the winged hero.
"I'd call it a takedown, if you hadn't messed it up!"
Dragonfly could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Me? You're the one who came in here guns blazing while I gathered evidence. I'm trying to find out who these guys are and where they get there stuff, and you come in here shooting lasers around." The two glared at each other momentarily.
"Are you done?" Diamond asked. "We need to find that guy before he gets out of the area."
"Yeah, I'm done. You go low, I'll take the skies." Without another word, Dragonfly took to the air. He didn't trust the girl, but something about her said she was for real, if a little under-trained and thoughtless. And definitely cute, he thought as an afterthought. While he flew, searching the surrounding blocks of Stevenson, he kept an eye on her as best he could.
After a few minutes, he flew back to where they had met. Ten minutes later, the young woman showed up.
"No luck?" she asked.
"None. He's gone to ground somewhere, for sure. No way to get at him now, short of breaking and entering every structure in the city.
"Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Dragonfly," the hero stated.
"Yeah, I figured," the young woman said, locking his eyes. Then she sighed and said "White Diamond."
"Hey, listen. The night is young. Grab a sandwich or something?" Dragonfly asked, feeling his pulse race as he did so.
"I don't think that's the best idea," White Diamond answered. "See you around, hero," she said, and moved off into the night.
Dragonfly flew up as soon as she was out of his sight, hoping to secretly follow her and learn more about her, but when he got to Fairview, she was gone. Just like that. He looked around for a few minutes, then headed back to the rooftop. Time to get changed and head back to the dorm. That early philosophy class he had was a killer.
Meanwhile, a black-haired lanky young woman walked up Fairview among the college crowds, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that read "Stevenson Girl's Track". Held tightly in her left hand was a glittering white eye-mask.
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