#kidomary

Mary was quite used to this, by now.

The kidnapping business, that is. According to her estimations, it was the third time this month and the twentieth time this year alone that she had been tossed into a sack and thrown in the back of a car, or taken away from her bed while she was sleeping, or, as she dozed in class one day, and found herself being handcuffed and gagged and flown away in a private helicopter. It happened so often, in fact, that Mary had almost come to expect it, and was somewhat disappointed when it didn’t happen.

Another upside, she supposed, to being kidnapped so often, was that her favourite superhero, the man they called the Forrester, would come and rescue her every time without fail.

Although, this time, he was running a little behind schedule.

"Alright, girl," One of the thugs was saying, bending down to intimidate her. It was very intimidating, and the only thing keeping Mary from falling down was her faith in the Forrester and her previous experiences. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which would you prefer?"

Mary’d heard this one before. She struggled, vainly.

"Hard way it is, I guess. Kekekeke, we’ll extract that power of yours, whether you like it or not!"

Mary really doubted it since they’d never succeeded before, but now they were coming awfully close, and there was the shinng! of a blade being unsheathed, and now her palms were sweating, and they were moving in…

"O-oi!"

They stopped, and Mary opened her eyes. Nothing had changed, except one of the thugs was rubbing his head in pain.

And suddenly, he toppled over in a dead faint.

"Hey! Who’s th-AGHFBLRR-" Another thug began to froth at the mouth, and clutched at his collar as if to relieve some sort of pressure. This was all odd and very new to Mary. It certainly wasn’t the Forrester, and now she was truly scared.

"Boys! Fall back! Unprecedented-" He never got a chance to finish, as a pool of blood sprouted from his upper arm and his eyes rolled back. The rest of the gang was out the door in seconds flat, leaving Mary alone and tied to a chair, with only this possibly malevolent presence to keep her company.

"H-hello…?" She called out, blindly, shakily, and tears threatened to roll down her cheeks. There was a copper-y smell. ‘I-is th-there somebody th-there?"

Silence. And then-

"Hello."

"EEK!"

A girl suddenly appeared in front of her, carrying a knife and dressed in a hooded purple cape, with green hair and red eyes, and a red eye-mask. The mask reminded Mary of the Forrester’s, actually, and despite the drilling gaze, Mary felt… safe. Or, saf-er.

"I’m K- I mean, they call me Ghost," the girl explained as she freed Mary from her restraints. Once free, Mary went to give her a hug, but stepped back when she remembered it wasn’t the Forrester at all. Where had he gone?

"Don’t worry. They’re only unconscious. S- the Forrester is back at our… Our base, I guess. We’re team mates. He was a little caught up with Snakeman, see, so I had to run here and save you instead…" Now, Ghost looked more apologetic than anything else. "Sorry I’m not quite who you were expecting."

"It’s fine." Mary said. And it was true. With a smile, she continued, "After all, it’s lovely to make new friends, isn’t it?"

Ghost’s face suddenly flushed, under her mask. Mary found it cute, unlike that cool image being projected earlier. A gloved hand was stuck out in front of her.

"Take my hand," Ghost said, sharply, but Mary could tell she was really happy, "I’ll take you home."