Sometimes... Life just Sucks.

Alice found herself mentally ticking off every bad thing that had happened today. "Bad test grade? Check. Fight with friend? Check. Quarrel with mom? Check. Crappy school food? Check. Lost $100 calculator? Check. Lost in LA? Double Check." she sighed, trying to gauge where she had wandered off to while lost in her own, currently irritated world. One thing was for sure though... this wasn't a good part of town. The few people she had passed looked so intimidating or creepy that she didn't even dare ask for directions lest she got mugged or something. She sighed, wondering if she should call her mom... nah, like her mother could help at the moment. She'd end up screaming at her through the phone before telling her to ask someone for directions which really didn't seem to be a good idea right now... that and she'd left her cell phone at home.

As she walked aimlessly, hoping to get to a more populated area, she noticed what looked to be a small gang congregating in the alleyway. She sped up as she got closer, hoping to walk by without notice. She partially succeeded, they noticed her... but they didn't care enough to pursue her, which in Alice's book, was a success. Sighing in relief, she slowed down, continuing to move until the men were out of sight. She once again looked around, hopping for something or someone that could help her get out. She mentally hit herself for getting lost in the first place without her cell on hand, but what's done was done... more important things were happening.

After an hour or so, she finally came to the conclusion that she really wasn't going to be getting out of here anytime soon. She took out her ipod, glancing at the time, and then the sky. It was getting dark... she had to find a way out quick, but she had managed to get herself into an even more dangerous area then the last one... one where she definitely didn't even want to LOOK at the few people she passed by. She sent a prayer to god, hoping he'd help... she then sent one out to every deity she knew, it was always good to be sure. Sighing, she sat down at a relatively clean part of the curb. She had been walking for hours without stop, and her feet were starting to hurt like hell. She slowly relaxed, her feet, but she was mentally ready for trouble, keeping a surveillance on her surroundings... especially the dark alley ways around her. She closed her eyes, "seeing" what was in those dark corridors... well... she was safe for now. Opening her eyes, she relaxed for the moment, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "Five minutes, what could go wrong?"

(Join?)

(feel free)

Los Angeles looked devious today. And the way the night painted the sky almost made Lucy smile. Finally the sun descended behind the superficial existence of Los Angeles. Not wanting to leave much of a foot print Lucy kept to her normal guise. No one suspect her; she never harmed anyone or committed any crimes under this guise. But hey, this was Hollywood. No one ever plays themselves in the movie.

Lucy decided to hit up her old circuit, the pageant. The place she began experimenting with turmoil and trouble. Today could be different, though. Maybe a little something to get the blood flowing.

A few hours later Lucy stood before a crowded room full of panelist with stern faces. They took this entirely too seriously. "How do I see America's role in ushering clean energy..." Lucy repeated the question behind the blond curls of a green eyed girl. Her hands flowed neatly down against her blue dress towards her torso. "I think that all of you sheep should go hide under your beds while you wait for your masters to mount you. There's not one of you who deserves to be saved." She shot a smile as her words spewed venom into the ears of the crowd. An awkward pause sat over the crowd, as they did not know whether to take it as a joke or not. "You think that's bad, you should see the other girl." Lucy laughed a confident laugh telling the crowd she meant it as a joke. A vile joke at their expense.

The blond girl Lucy impersonated struggled against the ropes that Lucy tied her up with. Lucy abducted her from her dressing room and strapped a makeshift bomb to her. Now she struggled in the empty warehous within a seedy part of town. Within a few minutes the wiring of the bomb would ignite the explosives and the poor thing would explode.

"A controversial topic like nuclear proliferation uses lots of big words my tiny brain can't comprehend." Lucy chattered off. "The problem with getting rid of bombs, is that once we make them all explode, we have to make new ones. I believe we should responsibly use bombs only." An angry woman waved her hand towards Lucy. Either the mother or maybe a manager, Lucy though. "Hey everybody, there's my mom. She's a total bitch who makes me do these stupid things. Sometimes I think I'd be better off..." Pageant officials cut the feed to her mic, cutting her off before she could mutter the word dead. Oh well, just because you don't hear the word doesn't mean it makes that bomb any less lethal. "...Dead"

The bomb erupted, bursting forth flames that ripped through the building. The explosion did nothing to hide itself from the vast interruption of silence it mustered. Smoke rose from the hole in the roof the bomb caused when it went off. Even though the bomb caused quite a ruckus, it really lacked the power to level anything more than the warehouse floor. But, boy did it do a number to the floor and to anyone it happened to be strapped to.

No one in the convention center noticed the explosion, the proximity just did not loan itself to thematics. But who cares, it still happened. Lucy walked off the stage to see the angry woman grab her by the wrist. "Hey, crazy woman, you should probably let go." Lucy spoke in her regular stop and go speech pattern.

"What is wrong with you?" An irate tone shot out. "What are you..."

"You should really shut up before I take this personally and do something you'll regret." Lucy sharpened her eyes and starred her down. "Imagine if this were our last words. Would you want it to end like this?"

"Get in the car." She demanded.

"You get in the car." Her humor and attitude always stayed with her. She broke her wrist away from the angry mother. "I'm going to have unprotected sex with multiple partners and then get lots of abortions, bitch." She hardly contained herself with the sleight, but walked away from the stunned mother. After taking the corner Lucy hopped into the vanity mirror before her. Time to check up on the disaster she perpetrated in downtown.

A few mirror hops later, Lucy appeared outside of the mirror in a gas station and took to the streets. A news crew showed up to cover the bombing. A smile came over the painted face of the pageant girl she occupied. She stumbled in front of the crew hoping to snag an interview. "Oh no, I think..." She helplessly fell before the camera. "I think my dear friend was in there, when the terrorists blew it up."

"We have breaking footage. A terrorist threat in LA." A young man knelt down before her with a microphone. "Did you see the men?"

"Yes." She placed her hand over her forehead. "They were from the Antarctica Liberation Front. They said they needed the plight of oppressed scientist needed to be delivered. My friend wasn't a hostage, she was actually a terrorist. I didn't know she was a terrorist, other than the fact that she often mentioned blowing up buildings and killing members of society, but how do you interpret that into terrorism?"

"Okay, guys, cut..." He made a slashing motion. "Cut the feed. No, this is just crazy." He spoke to his film crew. "Let's go find other people; she's just here for the attention." Yeah, but once dentals records matched the missing person's report this would win a Peabody. Lucy walked away with her greatest accomplishment of the day.

Alice sighed, staring off into the middle distance as it got darker and darker. In a way, she was glad it was nighttime was approaching, after all, the more shadows and darkness, the better. But even with her powers, she couldn't avoid the primal fear of the dark. She slowly got up, popping a piece of gum into her mouth... it seemed her sweet tooth was acting up again. She chomped happily, not knowing of the disaster that was soon about to take place. Suddenly, the sounds of an explosion reached her ears, causing her to jump up in shock. She immediately looked for the source, quickly spotting a slowly rising column of smoke. "You have got to be kidding me." she muttered, staring for a moment before taking off running towards the origin point. She wasn't sure what was possessing her to run towards the thing... maybe it was the fact that there would surely be emergency services there soon... nahhh, she was being delusional. "I'm am too bloody curious."

When she arrived, it seemed the new crews had already gotten there... she wasn't surprised considering she had to backtrack 18 bloody times! She panted from the sheer exhaustion of none stop running. She quickly scanned her surroundings, automatically noticing an interview going on with a .... well... she supposed the girl was pretty enough, but the garish amounts of makeup kinda ruined it... the dress didn't help in her opinion either. It looked like something one would wear to a pageant of sorts... but if that was the case, what was she doing here? Alice stood in the shadows, managing to evade the attention of the reporters. She definitely did not want to talk to them. Unfortunately, it also meant she was way too far to eavesdrop properly. She sighed, leaning against the wall of the alley, zoning out for a moment in boredom and thought. Suddenly, she heard footsteps approach. Alice quickly shrank in the shadows, her powers allowing her to blend in so that she was just about invisible. It was the girl, but still, she kept silent, wanting to see why in the world she was heading towards a dark alley, and not asking the police for help.

The glow of the dim lit sun looked beautiful under the rising clouds of smoke from the ill-fated warehouse. The humidity wore against the make-up, drawing lines against her newly acquired 16 year-old skin. The heat intensified with the flames that rose from the building along with the brutal heat of California. "I can't wait to get back to the East coast." Her frizzy hair let her know the time for a new body came upon her. She looked over the alleyway for a new body. A young, Hispanic reporter walked away from her news crew and towards the gas station. Her hair and make up refused to fall in line for her. Seemed like she needed a little touch up before going back on air; she would not want to look bad on the local news of course.

Lucy pulled out a compact she stole from the pageant and pushed up against the alley wall. Within a moment she made her jump into the mirror and stood before the young reporter. The small bathroom only contained room for one person at a time to use. Surprised by the intrusion, the reporter turned around to see if Lucy was standing behind her. In the moment she took to check her back, Lucy sprung forward and wrapped her arm around the young reporter's neck. Under the guise of the dark haired woman, Lucy slid her legs out of the mirror and wrapped them around her torso holding her tightly.

It only took a few seconds for the reporter to fall to the floor of the bathroom. Lucy taped the girl's hands and feet to keep her pacified. A good old roll of duck tape always came in handy for mischief. Lucy stuck her new head out the door to see if anyone paid any attention to the door. A few people walked around scattered by the debris, but the bathroom door appeared to be far away from everyone's attention. Lucy walked back over and wrapped a line of tape around the girl's mouth and threw her over her shoulder. "Even if someone sees me, they'll never know just who did the kidnapping. I just need to figure out a way to get you to a safe place so I can conduct the interview of my career and your life."

Lucy emerged from the bathroom with the reporter over her shoulder. Wanting to avoid all attention Lucy made her way back into the dark alley only fifteen feet away. A dumpster could make a good holding cell for the time being. Lucy flipped her lid up and then used the reporter's feet to hold it up while she slung her into the garbage. The lid landed hard against the metal dumpster echoing in the alleyway.

Brushing the dirt off of the pair of slacks and white blouse Lucy walked back towards the camera crew she connected with her new persona. She planned on going back for the reporter after she found a good means of escape. Anyways, this girl needs to do a news story. She guessed it could not hurt to get a practice run in before the real thing.

Alice looked at the girl curiously, it seemed she wasn't from around here. Then, the strangest thing happened. The girl took out a compact, nothing too out of the ordinary, probably wanting to check to see how to makeup was holding up... that's when it got really weird though. The girl held the compact against the wall and seemed to DISAPPEAR into the mirror. Alice stared, rubbing her eyes. Did that really just happen? Alice crept out of the shadows, poking at the mirror slightly, nope, it seemed normal... what was that? After a few minutes of simply staring, she decided that maybe... it was just a fellow superhuman trying to get home. There really wasn't any use rationalizing it any further in her opinion. "Well that was exciting." she muttered dryly.

Once again, she heard footsteps approaching. Alice quickly stepped back into the shadows, only to see a young Hispanic woman enter the alley way. The weirdest part of this whole situation, was that she was carrying what looked like her twin with a piece of tape over her mouth as a gag. It looked like a kidnapping, Lucy's next statement only affirmed her suspicion. Alice watched as the poor woman was dumped into the... well... dumpster. She was thoroughly confused at this point... once again, her only thought was, "What the hell just happened?" She made sure that the other woman was gone before leaving the shadows and pushing open the heavy lid of the dumpster. "You ok?" Alice whispered, not sure whether she should pull the tape off her mouth... it'd hurt.

"We need to go live." A hurried producer scratched his dark hair. Years of sleepless nights took its toll on his wrinkled skin and left him a lesser man for it. He adjusted a pair of sunglasses to keep the glare of the burning sky line out of his angle finding eyes. A camera man hoisted the device up with his tattooed arm and let it rest along his untamed hair. "Where's Alicia?" A cue came to Lucy. Alicia? I should respond to that.

"Hey, I'm here." She heard the voice for the first time. She now spoke in a tenor voice. Could be worse, she imagined. "I'm ready to go live."

"If we can't find Alicia, then Wendy will just have to go on." Apparently she was Wendy. An easy enough mistake to make. The producer ran his hand down the sweat ridden collared shirt he so willfully perspired into. "We need some footage now, or we loose our window on the viewership. Okay, that fire's going to go out soon, and I don't just want B-roll on it. I need a reporter in front of the flames." He breathed heavily while his hands gravitated towards his sides. "Alright Wendy you're up. Lets roll." Lucy moved to stand in front of the burning building, while the uncouth crew moved the equipment around her. "Get her an earpiece." A soft plastic tube wrapped behind her ear that feed a script into her ear. They wanted her to acknowledge the travesty that this kind of attack brought on the community. What they got was different.

"Well, Tom..." Lucy gave her most knocked off reporter voice. "Apparently the sun is about to disappear." She motioned behind her to the setting sun. "Once it disappears, what will happen? Where will we get light? These are questions we hope to ask the moon, our new provider of life."

"What the Hell are you doing?" The harsh voice of a man shouted from behind the stout cameraman. "This isn't walk through! We are live!" He shouted.

"Live?" Lucy laughed at the comment. "Maybe I should do something more spectacular."

"Cut the feed." He nudged the cameraman in the arm, barely moving him. "You're fired." Never before did he witness this level of behavior from a reporter. After this stunt, he would be lucky to work for another news agency let alone keep his job. Stress and heat exposure caused his to grip at his chest and breathe with more emphasis on getting oxygen.

"Don't have a heart attack old man. Call me up sometime camera guy" Lucy laughed as she dropped the mic to the ground and ripped the ear piece out.

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Wendy barely regained any vision at all before she saw little hands reaching for her. The smaller girl asked her if she was okay. She mumbled something and moved her face towards her hands. The predicament could not get much worse for her, and right now any help she could receive seemed welcome. She clinched her cheeks in anticipation of the tape being ripped off, but she needed to warn the little girl about the woman in the mirror.

Seeing that the woman was ready, Alice took a deep breath before ripping the tape off of her mouth. "Sorry." she muttered quietly, glancing around the alley way to make sure that the other doppelganger wasn't back yet. "Wait one quick seccy." she said with an apologetic smile before running over to exit of the alleyway. She peered out to see the doppelganger on live television... and whatever she was doing... it was not welcome. Sensing that she was running out of time, she ran back to the dumpster, "Yeah... you may be losing your job after this." she said absentmindedly as she stared at the woman for a moment, deep in thought.

She suddenly shook her head, as if coming out of a trance. "Here, I'm gonna need you to turn face down so I can get the tape on your hands off." she said, whispering frantically. She could somehow feel an impending doom coming down upon them... then again, she always felt this. Either way though, it was good to hurry. She fidgeted slightly as she waited, hoping the doppelganger would linger for a bit at the scene of deception... if she didn't, Alice didn't know what she was going to do.

Ripping the tape off of her mouth gave a numb feeling to her lower face. She pucked her lips and jaws before giving into the advise of the young girl. Feeling her current location matched her live at this moment, Wendy rolled onto her belly to give Alice a better vantage point to get the tape off of her hands. "Hurry, she could be back any moment." The severity of the moment looked reflected in Alice's face.

Lucy walked back into the alley to hear the hushed voices of the duo in the dumpster. Instead of crying for help they decided to keep a low profile; a risky chance, but not without its logic. It made sense that they would exclude Lucy from this get together. The exclusion they visited upon her should anger Lucy, but she retained a smile across her face, a smile neither of those girls in the dumpster would show in a few moments.

Lucy hurried her pace and threw her open palm at towards Alice's head. If her hand caught her head, she would grip it tightly and slam her head into the metal side of the dumpster. Exerting her force and ringing the echoing pain through the young girl's head would hopefully knock her out, but even if she fought through, it would leave a deafening detriment in her fragile head.

Alice nodded, picking at the tape. She huffed in frustration, deciding some intervention may be necessary. But before she could actually do anything, she heard footsteps approaching then again. Alice took a deep breath, forming a small blade of shadow and quickly cutting through the tape. As the steps sped up, getting rapidly closer, Alice whirled around to see Lucy heading right towards her. As Lucy's hand came up, Alice quickly ducked under it, and did a sort of hop skip until she was behind Lucy. But even then, Alice continued to step back, hoping to put some distance between the two of them and divert her attention from the woman in the dumpsters. She smiled nervously, putting her hands up to show that she didn't want to fight.

"Ummm... sorry..." she said, trailing off as she tried to find the right words. "I don't suppose we could just forget this and each of us go on our own little paths?" Alice offered, find racing, trying to find a way out. On one hand, if she ran, the other woman would be left at the mercy of her doppelganger. If she stayed though... she wasn't sure what'd happen then. She suddenly realized the irony of the situation, seeing one's doppelganger meant death... in any other situation, she'd be laughing... but now wasn't the best time. Hopefully though, it was only a slight resemblance to the myth... Death was bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

Sachin puffed on a cigarette while sitting on a bench in a park. It was practically a law in California to smoke pot, like it was a law in Oregon to have meth, and a law in New York to puff anything, and a law in Mexico to smoke whatever before you were shot by a stray bullet.

Sachin wasn't totally sure why he was in LA. He believed it had something to do with the fact he wanted to chill out for a bit in yet another city with a bad crime rate. Speaking of which, the twenty year old drew another panel, showing his hero throw a lightning bolt to stun a crook stealing money from a bank.

That was enough drawing for now. Sachin threw the cig away onto the ground and yawned. A small walk would be good right now. He decided to go for a nice stroll, closing his eyes and enjoying life.

Naturally his wallet was stolen in a heartbeat. Sachin's eyes opened quickly, and he saw a crook run away with it. "Stop!" he yelled, chasing the man. But he tripped over a small rock on the sidewalk, and groaned.

Naturally, he felt quite sorry for himself, before realizing he was standing right outside an alley. This fact alone should have been reason to get out of there, Sachin having seen enough movies to know bad stuff helped in alleys, especially LA alleys, but he saw a girl throw her palm at the head of a girl... in the dumpster.

Sachin watched that scene in confusion. You didn't see that sort of thing everyday. He decided to hide in the shadows, and see what was going on in silence. Sadly, Sachin's only experience hiding in darkness came from LazerPark and watching movies, so he wasn't sure if his cover was too good.

The impact of Lucy's hand slammed against the dumpster wall. The little girl backed up and made a nervous plea. She seemed frightened off the situation; not just this situation, but the repercussions of acting like a hero in general. Her nervous energy gave Lucy an idea. No need for abrupt actions that would make Lucy need to haul two bodies into the factory for her second act.

"I've got another idea." Lucy grabbed Wendy by the hair and dragged her out of the dumpster. A cry came from Wendy who fell to the ground. Not wanting to give Alice any advantages in this situation, Lucy pulled the tape out from her bag and taped her arms to her side. "I'm going to take this lovely lady over to that factory behind us. Me and her are going to have a great interview. How about you get into the film business, by shooting the footage with your cell phone?" She wrapped her arms around Wendy's neck to choke her wind pipe. "If you say 'no,' I'll just have to snap her neck, and then come after you."

(Are we going to have a posting order, and what is it?)

(June, Lucy, Sachia)

Alice flinched as Wendy was taken hostage, her arms once again secured with tape.... this certainly was not an ideal situation. As Lucy's terms were made, Alice blanched at the thought of what might happen to the poor reporter, but she had to agree. Alice knew that she had one great advantage in this... the doppelganger was unaware of her powers. She'd have to let the hostage go sooner or later.... besides, an old factory is sure to have ALOT of shadow's lying around. "... o-ok." she stuttered nervously, nodding slightly in agreement. She really hoped that she and the reporter would survive this...