(and Erebus, or whatever)
“Baseball bat bit of an odd weapon for a super cop isn't it?” The stranger asked, his electric voice coming across as unconcerned and prepared. He seemed ready for a fight, and as if to prove it, he took the moment to reach behind his back and pull out a baton. With one quick jerk the baton extended, coming to nearly a yard in length. “That chief of yours not trust you supers enough for the real weapons, not deep enough in her pocket to ensure you'll behave?” Damn, was this guy really just some random street urchin? Emily needed to catch a super human robber, not deal with biker gang members and their weird weapon preferences.
"
You supers?" Emily responded with emphasis. "So I guess that means you're just a regular guy? A regular back alley creep making imposing gestures at a girl in a dark alley? Dang, here I thought this would be interesting." She punctuated this with an exaggerated pout.
While the light show carried on its conversation, the real Emily took up a position behind the strange man, her taser aimed and readied, just waiting for him to make a move.
"Regular?" Erebus raised a hand to his chest as if hurt "My dear I am many things, a cheat, a thief, a scoundrel, a liar, a generally not very good person." Without warning Erebus lunged forward, baton raised ready to strike only to vanish mid stride.
Reappearing directly behind her whispered, amplified to a digital hiss by his helmet
" But I am anything but normal"
"Gah!" Emily gasped in surprise, the noise slipping through her illusion. She suspected her foe was a super human, she had suspicion he was a teleporter, but actually seeing it happen before her still came as a shock. The taser fumbled from her hands. 'Shit!' she thought to herself, knowing she would need to buy a few moments to grab her weapon and recompose herself.
"Nice trick," Emily's projection quipped back. The projection turned to light and snaked downward, becoming a shimmering stream and weaving its way under the criminal and between his legs. It reformed behind her enemy, mimicking the move he had just used against her. Emily was under stress, no time for creativity, besides who would question her act of plagiarism, as blatant as it was. Fully formed, the aberration whispered, "though I think it looks better on me." Her light clone grinned.
"You'll find no argument on the matter" Erebus retorted turning to face Lumineer's reformed shape. He'd known from her reputation that she was a light manipulator but he was just beginning to grasp the problems that might cause him, the snake light she'd turned into had been bright enough destroy the shadows in his immediatley area. His usual tactics might not be quite as effective around this one.
"But I promise it's not my only trick" Erebus said as thick fog like substance constructed of pure darkness begin to emit from the, thankfully plentiful, shadows of the alley. Once he was sure that enough darkness had coated the area to obscure his opponent's vision he threw a second construct, a wave of semi solid darkness about two feet tall behind him to what he perceived to be the source of the noise he'd heard a few seconds earlier. He wasn't willing to take his eyes off Lumineer to check himself but it never hurt to be too careful.
The shockwave met its target, smacking into her and knocking her back onto her ass. 'What the hell?' Emily thought as the shock and pain began to clear and she realized what just happened. This wasn't supposed to happen, Lumineer was the target, not Emily. She did the fighting and her lightshows took the hits, that's how things worked. The waves of confusion and anger clouded her mind, she almost didn't realize her initial illusion had dropped. Lumineer was gone, and Emily was center stage, lying weakly on the ground. 'No no no!' She was panicked now. Without concern of the noise it would make, she dove for the taser, which still lay on the ground, readied for its signal.
Lumineer's outburst and and the sound of her hitting the ground caught Erebus' attention as the illusion he'd been facing down popped out of existence. He wheeled on the spot, his enhanced vision piercing through the miasma of shadow that filled the alley.He couldn't help but laugh as he saw Lumineer sprawled on the ground. With a quick beckoning gesture of his index and middle finger a miniature version of the wave that had knocked into Lumineer shot out in front of her colliding with the taser and sending it skittering across the ground in Erebus' direction. He stepped forward to stop it with his foot and bent down slightly to address Lumineer as she lay sprawled on the ground.
"This interesting enough for you yet" he taunted
"Hey screw you dude." Emily had enough of the games and illusions, she was pissed and didn't care if the stranger knew. She got to her feet and took out her knives, this guy was dangerous and this was life or death as far as she knew, lethal force just got put on the table. She made herself invisible again, foregoing an illusion in her place this time. "So you manipulate shadows, is that it?" She amplified her voice, tossing it from every corner of the alleyway. "Well then Mr. Whoever You Are, why don't you tell me what happens to shadows in the light." She created several bright beacons in the murky depths of the shadow storm the man had molded, illuminating the darkness.
Erebus tensed as his fog dissolved around him. Stupid he thought to himself, he should have gotten out when he had the chance but he had to stay to play his little games. Still, he didn't think her constructs had any offensive power on their own and the alley didn't leave much room for maneuvering so at least he had an idea of her angle of approach. He bent down to pick up the taser, and began to back down the alley. As he did he swept his baton infront of him, hoping its' reach would give him an early warning of her presence.
"Why don't you go back to baseball bats my dear" Erebus said, forcing himself to keep his usual nonchalant tone "So much better for games don't you think? Knives and these" he gave the taser a light shake to indicate it "are only going to get someone hurt."
Emily grinned at his retreat, but she wasn't about to let him get away. Kicking off, she booked it after her mark, the criminal slowing down a bit to grab her taser and gloat. "Call me 'Dear' one more time and I'll show you just how much more uncomfortable the bat can be." Her voice was still reverberating throughout the alley, keeping the two of them centered as the noises followed. She was careful to keep her light focused around the man as well, it seemingly nullifying his shadow powers. Emily needed to stop him though, which would be difficult with him swinging his baton around like a blind man in a piñata factory, she needed to stun him. Hiding her eyes in her sleeves she paused her chase for a second then casts a blindingly flare in front of the runaway, about at eye-level and not more than a few feet ahead of him. 'That ought to slow him down' she thought smugly.
Erebus grunted as the blast of light caught him full force in the face. His visor thankfully took enough of the brunt that he didn't think there would be any permanent damage, but his overly high sensitivity to light did mean that it had been enough to effectively blind him for the time being, and his shadow sense wasn't adding much in the illuminated alley except helping him make out the sides by the shadows in the buildings on either side. If he could get her to drop the lights for even a second, or just a few of them, he could get an opening and escape.
Raising an arm to shield his eyes against further light bursts Erebus leveled the taser and fired in what he assumed to be Lumineer's general position.
The shot connected, Emily realizing what was about to happen a moment before impact. "You son of a biZzzaAAaaacccttttttttttt-" Her power didn't cut off right away and her pained yelp echoed up and down the alleyway. Emily fell to the ground, her illusions melted away as her faced met concrete. The taser was still sending volts and pain was hitting her in spasming waves. Struggling, she looked up to see her target, but was met with an empty alley. The world dissolved into static as Emily resigned from consciousness. Today was a long day.