A Normal Life by Day..
Present Time
The music within the tattoo shop blared as Josephine opened the front door. All around the buzzing of the needles could be heard as her coworkers created art on the bodies of their customers. While she did enjoy working here it was all a disguise, the real her was the Pariah and this was just her cover for when she was hunting Metas. She was greeted by one of the other artists, Sera was her name, she ran up to Josephine and hugged her enthusiastically as if it had been months since she'd seen her. Sera was what you'd expect to see if you entered a tattoo shop. She wore ripped black jeans with a grey tank top and skull cap. Her hair was short and brown but still managed to get in her face which had both lip and nose piercings.
"Hey Josie! I see you decided to come to work only a little late this time", the girl said mockingly before sitting down in an unoccupied tattoo chair. Josephine did the same only grabbing a the shop's catalog as well.
"I know, strange ain't it?", she replied while flipping through the pages of the catalog. Before she could turn the next page Sera spoke up up again,
"So what happened with you last night? You ran off after we left Chris' party"
Josephine had almost forgotten about what happened that night besides the interrogation. That night she and Sera had gone to a friend's party in a condemned factory, it was off limits to the public but the crowd there wasn't exactly law abiding citizens. It was there that Josephine had found the group of Metas she'd later hunt.
Snapping back to the present she needed an excuse for her ditching Sera,
"I remembered I had a date with some guy that night
"Oh really? So how'd it go?"
"The dude didn't like me standing him up, he left before I got there
"Aww well that sucks!"
"Eh it's nothing, he probably wasn't my type anyway"
"You say that about all the guys you go on dates with", it occurred to Josephine that she had used that excuse before,
"I'm going to have to come up with something new", she thought.
"Well I guess I haven't found the right guy yet. But thats fine with me, less drama when it's just me. Besides I got my best friend with me and that's good enough for me"
"Awww thanks Josie!", Sera would have gotten up and hugged her if hadn't begen working on a customer. Josephine, realizing there was another customer waiting for her got up out of the chair and gestured for him to sit.
"Alright, what can I get ya?", she asked holding up the catalog for the man. He was the stereotypical college meathead who was getting a tattoo to show who edgy he was.
"Actually could you do this for me?", he showed her a picture of a Kanji character.
"Of course, how did already know", she thought to herself before answering,
"Sure thing, sit back and I'll start in a minute"
Josie was getting everything together when she noticed everyone was crowding around the tv.
"What's going on?", she asked Sera who was now standing with the group staring excitedly at the screen.
"Its a bank robbery! No one's come out but a super went in through the roof!"
"A super?..", a bank robbery alone wouldn't have gotten her attention but the mention of a super did. The got up and moved to the tv which showed a helicopter broadcasting an aerial view of the bank. It showed a super hover up to the roof and throw the door open before entering. Sera, who was all too happy to see this turned to Josephine and squeeled.
"Do you think he's a hero? I hope I is, I need someone to teach me-", she was immediately shushed by Josephine who pulled her away from the crowd and out of earshot.
"What do you mean teach you?!", he asked. Josie was hoping so bad that what Sera was going go say was not what she thought. Sera made a careful look around the room before leaning in to whisper to Josephine,
"At the party, I found a guy. He was creepy as hell and had this bag of something I don't know what it was I thought it was drugs. I took it and by the time I got home I was, I don't know, changing!"
Josephine's fears were confirmed, whatever was in that bag made her into a Meta and she knew what this meant. Sera took a step back a carefully, out of sight of the others, began to cause ice to form over her hands.
"I can cover my entire body in this but I'm not cold when I do it! Imagine if I got into the Justice League?!", Sera was overjoyed and barely was able to contain her excitement. Josie on the other hand was hurt with each word Sera spoke. Despite the persona of Josie being a cover for who she really was the experiences she had and the friends she made were real.
"That's...that's great Josie! Listen we should celebrate, after work you and I go out and have some fun. Maybe test out your powers too?", this was going to be hard to do but it was for the greater good.
"I'd love that Josie, maybe we can create our own superhero team. I mean you don't have any powers but you can be like Batman! You already can kick ass you just need a costume", Sera hugged Josephine before running back to watch the news. Josie stayed behind as a look of rage came upon her. She was going to deal with this, then find the bastard who did this.