It was raining outside. Lisa's raincoat covered her well enough, but she wondered she would have to leave it behind after she left the city. Coins shook in a homeless person's jar. She looked over and shot her powers at him:
Disabled Veteran
She relaxed, calming her paranoia. It had been like that since leaving Taylor's home. Constantly checking her powers to see if anyone was following her. The world just became bleeker, there just weren't a lot of options for a girl running away from home.
The metro finally came to a stop. The doors open and she set a foot inside. Someone pulled her back. In a fleeting moment of panic Lisa's powers provided her answers:
Getting pulled back
No shit sherlock, by who?
Pulled by the hoodie
Useless fucking powers. That was a constant drawback, only getting answers but never the answers she needed. Lisa pushed forward, almost ready to uncloth her own raincoat to get off the person's grasp.
Stocking pulled harder, and shoved Lisa onto the ground. "Sup cum dumpster."
Lisa bobbed her head back. The blue haired girl looked down at her on the ground with a flatlined expression. "Stocking?"
"Yup," she extended her hand for Lisa to hold, "come on, let's go home."
Lisa looked over to the train which quickly left to the next station without her. She shoved Stocking's hand to the side, "no."
"
Nou," Stocking teased at the word 'no', saying it in a high pitched squeak to mock Lisa.
Lisa gritted her teeth, "will you leave me the fuck alone? You and your sister-"
"Blonde 1."
"Ruined everything!"
Stocking snorted. "That's adorable. I'm not the one who sucked a villain's dick just to get on his good side."
"I did not-"
"Metaphorically speaking."
Lisa glared at her. She rised up on her own. "You and Panty fucking ruined
everything. Coil wants me dead. Scratch that,
he wants me worse than dead! He has masters and tinkers ready to drug me and turn me into his pet, and now I'm screwed thanks to you two!"
"Your sandals are tacky."
"What?"
Stocking pointed to her shoes, "I got those for Taylor. Pisses me off that you stole them on your way out."
"Will you fucking listen to me!"
"Why should I, when you don't even want to listen to me?"
Lisa clenched her fists. Every part of her wanted to read Stocking's expressions, but for some unknown reason her powers didn't work on her. Lisa stepped out of the crocs and picked them up. "Take them. Take them and leave me the hell alone."
Stocking took the crocks from her hand, and tossed them onto the subway rail. "Hell. Nice choice in words."
"Will you shut up about that! You two aren't angels, you're psychos. I don't know how your powers work, but you're not some divine thing sent here to save Taylor. If I had to guess, you two forgot your memories after triggering, and made up a shitty backstory to explain the stupid amount of powers you both have."
"That would be pretty cool," Stocking said glancing up, "like, what if this is all a dream? And you're just the basic bitch in the background of my story?"
"You're not listening!" Lisa yelled. "I'm fucking dead thanks to you, and you keep fucking around because you're too screwed up to face facts."
"Facts, I've never been good at those." Stocking leaned onto a nearby pillar. She started counting on her finger, "let's look at the facts then. You're a teenager with powers that joined a super villain. You helped him gather information for gang violence, drug deals, human trafficking, and murder. You're single handedly responsible for everything he did with the information you gave him. You gave him power, you knew he hurt people, and you still helped him. I'm not even pissed that you did all of that shit, I'm more pissed that you think you're role in it can be justified. Because you can skirt around the facts as much as you want, either way, the truth of it all is staring you right in the face… You're a bad person, you've always been a bad person, and we both know you're going to hell for it."
"I had a gun to my head."
"No you didn't."
"Metaphorically speaking."
"Right," Stocking twirled the locks of her hair, "so, did Coil metaphorically tell you to recruit Taylor? Fuck up her relationship with her dad, make her lose sight of being a hero, and
hurt people, for his sake?"
Lisa paused for a moment. This was the first time in a long time her powers wouldn't help her against someone. "Those things were her choice."
Stocking stayed quiet.
Dammit.
Stocking knew exactly when not to say something. She let Lisa sit on her own words rather than argue it. Her powers gave her answers that weren't helping:
If Taylor never became a villain; She'd have been a hero
If she were a hero; her life would have become stable
If she were more stable, she'd have less psychological trauma
She'd have been better off never meeting Lisa; Yourself
Lisa turned away from her and left the metro station. The rain outside hit the edges of her coat. It was dim out, and Lisa hoped the rain could cover the sound of people's voices. It wouldn't matter too much because Stocking instantly began following behind her.
"I know you, dumbass," Stocking said from behind as they walked through the city streets. "You've been a bitch to me, Panty, and Taylor ever since we met you. It's fucking annoying. And it's not annoying because you're a bitch, we're all used to that. Its annoying because you're a
stupid bitch. Not stupid as in 'I'm wrong and I don't know it', but stupid as in 'I'm arrogant and I won't admit it.' Just how stuck up your own ass do you have to be to think that you can still call yourself a good person?"
Lisa walked faster. She didn't really trust herself to say something clever without her powers to use. She walked along the mostly empty streets to get away from Stocking.
Stocking yelled aloud, "God will judge the fuck out of you after you're dead."
Lisa turned around and screamed, "you don't get to judge
anyone. Don't bring up god just to act high and mighty. You and your sister aren't shining examples of what it means to be good!"
Stocking leaned her face directly at Lisa. Rain dripped down both of their hoods as they spoke at each other's faces. "I don't know what God has in store for you, but bitches that treat people like pets fucking disgust me."
"I didn't turn her into a pet!"
She jabbed a finger at her shirt. "You abused her. You used her. She was your toy and you know it. She had no one and you pretended to be her friend to use her like a human shield." Stocking spat on the ground. "Are you really just that empty? Are you really so fucking hollow that you couldn't feel for a girl who needed help?"
Lisa's hands felt colder. Rain didn't drip leak inside of her sleeves, but her body felt cooler from the rainy mist falling down on them.
Stocking's voice became quieter, almost merging at the same volume as the rain. "Did you really just want a pet to see what being Coil was like? Just how much did you hate Taylor enough to drag her along one suicide mission after another? Was her soul a joke to you? That's not sick Lisa, that's psycho. Did your powers bust something in your head? Or do you really not feel anything inside?"
"What do you want me to say?" Lisa said in a hollow tone. "why can't you just drop it?"
Stocking paused. She pushed her hands onto Lisa's hoodie and pulled it down. The face was clear now. Lisa's lips trembled from Stocking's words. "If you really don't feel anything at all, I'll give up on you. Because if that's true, we both know you're too worthless to bother saving. So I just need to hear it from you before I leave... What the fuck were you thinking when you made Taylor join you?"
The water covered over Lisa's face. Tears finally fell down her cheeks as she coughed out, "I did it because I was scared. I was
alone. I saw Taylor and I thought I could finally have someone real to fall back on."
Stocking stepped back. Her stare was still expressionless.
"You've had your sister,
I've had no one. I only wanted one person,
one person in my life that wasn't a criminal, neurotic, or a sociopath. Because she was the only good person I'd ever met. Taylor is
the only good person I know. No one else is less shitty than her, and I needed her to remind me what being a good person looked like."
"You dragged her into the dirt," Stocking said coldly. "Got her face covered in your gravel and shit because you're selfish."
"I know that!" She screamed. "I'd have never talked to her if I knew how toxic I was!"
They stood silently there. Lisa's eyes were watering on their own beneath the rain, and Stocking's frown was still neutral from her words. Stocking looked over to the side and said, "you have no idea how long I've wanted you to say that."
A gunshot sounded. The bullet pierced through Lisa's lung. She dropped to the ground losing her breathe. Stocking turned around with her blades materializing. Distantly, she saw a man sprinting out of view into a street corner.
Stocking's first instinct was to go after him. To catch him before he got away. But she looked back at Lisa.
The line of blood seeped out of her coat with her back against the ground. She breathed heavy as the water washed over her. She couldn't breathe, barely able to grasp her own chest.
Stocking dropped to her side, "Lisa."
"I'm… Sorry."
Her breathes were far too short. The heavy rain became a light drizzle as her breathing became shorter. Stocking yelled, "no no, no, you can't die Lisa, you'll-"
Go to hell. Stocking knew the rules. She hadn't been 'saved' yet to prove her worth into heaven. Dying now would mean hell would be the only thing waiting for her.
She wouldn't tell this to Lisa. Stocking picked Lisa up in her arms and sprinted. There was a clinic nearby, maybe she could make it in time to rescue her. She cut through the alleyway to the otherside of the buildings to try and save her in time. The blood on her jacket was washed away by the time the rain finally stopped. Her breathes were becoming quieter as her eyes fell heavy.
"Oh God," Stocking spoke loudly as Lisa was dying. "God, please christ help me save her. I swear to god if you help me I'll be better. I'll be a half decent person and swear I'll never swear again."
Lisa was crying to herself. Her powers told her how hopeless the situation was. The sound of Stocking panicking made her know her time was almost up.
"I swear I'll never eat sweets again. I'll make Panty go abstinent. I'll pray to you every day! I'll do community work and finally recycle. Just please don't let Lisa die. She doesn't deserve this. Oh God just give her a chance. Give her a chance and I swear we'll be better for you!"
Stocking reached in front of the clinic building. No one was there. It had been shut down since Bakuda's bombings. Stocking stared up with her eyes closed, "God… Please, I'll do anything. Just give us a chance."
A light broke through the storm clouds. A single ray of sunshine fell onto the building near them. Stocking looked over. It was a modest, family-owned restaurant, with only two notable people inside. One of them being Panacea.
Stocking looked towards the sky and said, "never mind that, I'll fix it myself." She ran into the restaurant.