The Act Of Murder
This story starts where most end, with the death of a villain.
Ava was tired, a bone chilling tired. Something that seeps past your body and into your soul. The villain, the terrible Div, was finally defeated, her blood still stained Ava’s hands, probably her suit too. Ava crouched down and carefully peeled off Div’s mask to reveal a young woman, probably two or three years older than Ava herself.
The woman's hair was in an intricate looking bun/braid thing that Ava had no clue was even a thing, but the brown hair had clearly started to fall out of the creation because there were strands sticking to her face.
Before Ava had processed it she heard a camera shutter, she quickly pulled Div’s mask back on before picking her body up and looking behind her. Ava saw a crowd made mostly of press, all asking her questions “Halo, is Div dead?” “What is Div’s true identity?” “Halo, doesn’t this violate your morals?”
Ava was spiraling because of the questions, and the situation, and everything really, she teleported, something she mastered with the help of Shannon, and ended up at a sea cliff.
There, on the cliff, facing the unforgiving ocean, Ava dropped Div’s body.
“I don’t see why you had to move the body.” a familiar voice hummed, Ava whipped around to find Div, standing there, unmasked.
She looked different than the villain Ava knew, she looked more civilian, she had what looked to be recently ironed corduroy pants and a white button up shirt.
“What are you doing here Div?” Ava’s voice felt unsteady, if she were honest with herself it probably sounded unsteady as well.
“You tell me Halo, I’m dead, I assume this is some kind of guilt driven use of your powers.” Div reasoned, she always had an even voice, the kind that always sounded correct. “This isn’t me.” Ava said, trying to snap herself out of her turmoil, was this a guilt driven use of her power?
Ava slowly reached out, her hand went to brush Div’s arm, instead it went right through, as though Div wasn’t there.
Div jerked her arm away “Watch it Halo, I may be dead but I can still mess with your life.” “So you know what you, as an alleged ghost, can do?” Ava almost sounded excited. “I’m surprised you even know what alleged means, and no, but I can make informed guesses.” Div hissed back.
Ava looked down, anger flared in her chest at Div’s jab, but she was suddenly reminded by what she’d done
Before she could think about what she was doing she teleported to her room in her tiny apartment, a loud thump indicating to her roommate, Camila, that she was back.
“Ava!” Cam ran into the room, ignoring any and all privacy rules they created over the years. “Ava?” Div questioned from behind her, great, she’s still here .
“I saw the news, are you alright? What did you do with the body?” Cam asked in quick succession, not even noticing Div yet. “She threw my body off a cliff into the ocean, pretty insensitive if you ask me.”
At another voice Cam’s head snapped up, Ava, already tired and confused, kept her post leaning on the wall and probably dying.
“Who the hell are you?” Camila asked, eyes flickering from Ava to Div, like she might drag Ava away from the scary mystery lady.
“I thought it was implied that I was Div, are your friends all this stupid or just this one?” Div turned to Ava for the second part who helpfully rolled her eyes, not that anyone could see it though so it was very much lost on them.
“I watched Div die on the news, that’s not you, Halo who is this?” Camila turned to Ava who just pulled her mask off. It was one of Camila’s best works, a beautiful amalgamation of gold and black to match with the rest of her suit, now it looked more like red and black with some dirt scrubbed in for extra artistic detail.
“Cam, I think she’s telling the truth, she was at the cliff and somehow followed me here.” Ava huffed, slowly sliding down the wall, their landlord was gonna kill them for the stain.
“I’ll show you how.” Div frowned, quietly walking away from Ava, only to make it about 20 ft before it was like some invisible wall prevented her from going farther.
“You’re tethered to me.” Ava hummed, Camila whispered something about getting help to Ava, she just waved her off.
Ava took her chance and collapsed in a very fuzzy pink chair, much like the rest of the furniture in her room, it looked like complete nonsense.
Div looked around, eyes lingering on a zebra striped loveseat before spotting the massive, slightly suspicious stain and moving on to Ava’s bed, staring at it for a few seconds. “Sit, you’re gonna get tired- wait, can ghosts get tired?” Ava asked, sinking further into the seat while Div gingerly sat down on Ava’s bed, the bed sagged a bit under her weight.
“So you can affect non living objects.” Ava surmised “Inanimate, and I do believe I can interact with living beings, it was a conscious choice to not let you touch me.” Div quickly corrected, Ava was almost happy she had, probably not even an hour ago, punched in her smug face.
Camila slowly approached, like Div might pull out a knife and stab her- “Do you have any knives on you?” Ava asked, her head falling to the side so she was facing the offending criminal.
Div glanced from Camila, who looked like she was having a panic attack, going through the five stages of grief, and having a particularly bad aneurysm, then to Ava who already looked half dead.
“No.” It was cut off and unhappy, and just as it happened Div’s phone went off. The girl jumped and wrangled the piece of technology out of her pants, she stared at it for a few seconds before sliding her finger across the screen, then again.
She looked up at Cam and Ava then back down at her phone, “It’s not working, will someone please pick up my phone.”
She surrendered her phone to Cam while Ava laughed, “The great Div, defeated by a little light box.” “Actually you were the one to defeat me, I guess I picked up your losing streak.” Div hissed back, causing Cam to decline the call.
Div glared at the two of them when the phone started buzzing again, “Mother.” Cam read out, Div visibly panicked and slid up in front of Camila. “Please pick it up, you don’t understand-” Camila cut her off by hitting the decline button. “What if you out Ava as the Halo to your mom? We just can’t trust you.” Camila hummed, glancing down at the phone one more time before sliding it into her pocket.
“I don’t even know her last name, do you know how many Ava’s there are in New york?” Div raised her voice, her carefully crafted facade was gone and all that was left was a woman who needed help.
“Cam, give me her phone.” Ava said softly, Camila quickly handed it to her. Ava looked at the lock screen, it was Div with two women, they looked happy, like they were friends.
A text from Div’s mother popped up “If you do not answer the phone there will be serious consequences.” “Can you try and trace the call?” Ava glanced over at Cam who quickly ran off in the direction of her room, presumably to do just that.
The phone rang again, Div looked distraught, like when you’re a teenager and your parents catch you in a lie and the truth comes tumbling down like some ugly creature.
Ava pressed accept.
A woman, British, was on the other end, “How dare you ignore my calls, you know around this year it’s important to present a united front to make sure your father gets reelected.”
“Mother I know-”
“and we really need to plan on going to a rally or donating to one of those organizations we talked about, those rumors are back and we cannot let it ruin us, do you understand?”
“Yes.” Beatrice looked defeated and uncomfortable, “Darling? Hello? Do you understand?” “I- yes?” Beatrice tried again but Beatrice’s mother just made an impatient noise.
In Ava’s best imitation of Div, that is to say a horrible imitation, she said “Yes, I understand.” After a beat that felt like a lifetime Div’s mother responded, “Alright, I’ll set up a meeting soon.”
Div quickly backed away and returned to her spot on the bed, Ava watched her with slight interest, she always knew there was someone behind Div’s mask, she just never imagined them to be human.
Camila came running in with Mary and Shannon in tail, she quickly glanced at Div but she wasn’t looking at them, instead she gazed at Ava’s sketches of her original costume.
“Come on kid, we gotta get you stitched up.” Mary smiled, holding her hand out for Ava, as they began to walk down to hallway out of Ava’s room she suddenly remembered that they should probably warn Div to follow before-
There was no sound, she didn’t make a thump or any noise at all, other than a low groan. “Do you have a problem with me that proceeds my death?” Beatrice asked while being tugged along by the invisible string that tethers her to Ava.
“Only that you’re a murderer.” Mary shot back without even looking at Div. At that Div got up and stormed over, “I did not murder anyone that didn’t fully deserve it.” She hissed, hand gripping Mary’s shoulder.
Mary shrugged out of Div’s hold, she went to grab the girl’s wrist but her hand just passed through. “Don’t ever touch me again, murderer.” Mary spat back, venom in her tone.
Ava panicked looking between the two of them, “Mary, let’s just go, I think I’m actually bleeding out here!” Ava laughed, gingerly pointing to an increasingly large red spot on the abdomen of her suit.
“Yeah, I wonder who caused that.” Mary huffed, going back to Ava and continuing to lead her down the hallway, leaving an angry Div to be pulled along.
—
Dr. Jillian Salvius was the best at patching up The Halo, she probably always will be. So in that way she thought she knew the hero pretty well.
She was reasonably surprised though when the Halo came in with a random civilian that seemingly hated the Halo and everything she did. But that’s just life around a hero.
“You’ll be fine, though please try not to get injured like that again, I’m not sure how long you’ll be able to heal from fatal wounds like that.” Jillian sighed, walking away from Ava though still noticing the smug look the civilian had on her, so maybe not a civilian.
Ava grinned at Jillian, “Thanks doc, maybe next time I’ll get banged up so bad even you can’t fix me.” that’s how Ava always ends their meeting, a promise of a fatal “next time”, though it has yet to come.
—
Apparently on the way home Mary had called Shannon because once they were back in Ava’s apartment she walked out of Ava’s room, a bucket of soapy, slightly red, water in hand.
“She really is tethered to you.” Shannon whispered, apparently shocked that this could happen. “Yup, she’s kinda a bitch too so she certainly doesn’t make it easy.” Ava laughed, clearly meaning for it to be a joke but Div glared dagger at her anyway, (it was still up for debate on whether she actually had some on her person though.)
“Calm down Britney, it was a joke.” Mary said flatly. Div, ever predictable, glared back.
Ava looked between the two, panicked, she knew their past. Mary used to help Div, she never found out Div’s identity other than her name starts with B, that’s what Mary used to call her at least, they trusted one another. When Div killed someone for the first time Mary got mad and found Shannon, a traveling vigilante. Mary helped Shannon who eventually helped Ava, letting her become the hero she is today.
“Quick question? Where’s Div gonna sleep?” Ava interrupted their bigger dick staring contest with a surprisingly good question, she was proud of herself for not just saying some dumb shit to get them to stop.
Cam looked at Shannon, who looked at Mary, who was still having the goddamn pissing contest, so Shannon quickly dragged her away presumably to talk to her about it, leaving Camila, Ava, and the wanna be vigilante. “I’m good with the floor.” Div mumbled, already heading for the bedroom but being stopped by the trusty tether.
“Perfect, the rumors are true, you do sleep under people’s beds.” Ava snarked but Cam put a hand on Ava’s shoulder and the hero quieted.
The hero quietly walked into her room, started grabbing a blanket before Div scoffed and sat on the slightly more red than normal, fuzzy pink chair. When Ava looked slightly confused at her she scoffed, “Wouldn’t want to disturb your sleep by creeping under your bed.” Ava cringed at her words but went about her business trying to ignore the dead girl glaring daggers at her from the stupid chair in her room.
Honestly, she needed some more serious furniture if she kept resurrecting her dead nemeses.
—
Ava could feel rain pounding down on her, her head, her back, her bloodied hands.
She glanced up at the figure ahead of her, dressed in a silky black shirt and a leather looking breastpiece, with glowing blue knives strapped in.
The figure backed up, slowly, carefully, but not fearfully. It moved with purpose and with a clear mission.
Ava didn’t move, she didn’t attack, she stayed, clutching her dying father.
—
Ava woke up with a rush, sitting up in her bed, quickly spotting the figure on the chair. Div glanced at her, passive in her tone, her signature calm seemingly restored in the night, “Calm down, I won’t hurt you.”
Ava grumbled something incomprehensible and stumbled out of bed, hand waving Div forward as a warning to start moving. “Come on Betty, we got stuff to do.” Ava’s voice ringed out, Div could hear Camila start to stir from the noise.
When they made it out of the bedroom Ava was now changed (Div very intently studied the grain of the wooden door while she did so) “Cam, I gotta go out, I’ll see you later!” Ava yelled into the apartment, a groan of conformation told them that Camila heard her.
“Alright Bella, let's get outta here.” Ava spoke as she opened the door back to the real world, the world in which Div no longer had a life in. So she took a step and closed the door behind her.