ILLUSION || Jason Todd

❝I'M GETTING CLOSER❞

FIFTH HARMONY, SLEDGEHAMMER

Staring at her Wayne Tech case, Lorelei Hansworth brushed her fingers through the fabrics of her suit. Jason was getting ready far quicker than the young mage, she could tell from the rushed noises she heard from the other side of the makeshift wall. There wasn't much of a separation from the sheet draped over a few boxes and this abandoned shed really didn't offer much protection against the cold but that was something Lorelei paid little attention to. Her suit had her every interest.

It was rather easy to gain access to their cases. Jason, who had graciously shared how he was stealing the hubcaps from the Batmobile, seemed to have other hidden talents. Like breaking and entering vehicles - lock picking, to be specific. From there on, they scrambled to follow Dick's movements and once the building he entered had been located, an outfit change was necessary.

They had found a nearby abandoned... thing? Lorelei would call it a shed but who knows what its previous purpose was. It was clearly abandoned; the dirty surfaces, dust everywhere and cobwebs bigger than her head were the clear indicators. It was disgusting but it would do. Far better from the dumpster diving stories Lorelei had been told - those were situations she would do almost anything to avoid. According to Dick, the smell gets stuck in your nose and clings to your clothes. Even Alfred struggled to get the smell out of his favourite jacket. Luckily, that man was a miracle worker and saved the day.

Alfred deserved a pay rise. Someone get that man all the holidays and money in the world, please.

But here she was, standing in the abandoned shed. It was time to suit up, Jason would be finished any second now. Lorelei knew she should be stripping and replacing her civilian clothes with her alter ego attire but it was difficult. This was the entire reason she was with Dick - her inability to wear her suit.

The same guy who was trying to help her might be needing her yet she was standing here in debate. Her hand hovered over her mask, her breath hitching as her fingertips nudged against the design. Why did she have to hesitate? What was she so afraid of?

The ice blonde mage loved her suit. It was pretty and - evidently - it would protect her. It was nothing but a shadow laying dormant within the Wayne Tech case, the pile of black fabric acting as a shield as it laid over her utility belt and weapons.

She had to go. She really had to go. Jason was ready, he announced that with a small yet largely eager 'I'll go ahead, see you out there!' that only brought a purse to Lorelei's lips. The boy left without merely glancing at Lorelei out of respect for what was meant to be her naked frame. The young mage wasn't ready. Not physically and most certainly not mentally. Not yet. Would she ever?

The pressures surrounding this suit were silently deafening.

That was it, wasn't it? It was not her suit. It was her. Lorelei was the issue, she was always the fucking issue; some people from her past had no hesitation to remind her of that. She could almost hear their phantom voices within her mind at the realisation. The suit represented something and along with it? Pressure. That was why she was unable to just go for it. Why wasn't anything simple in her life?

A question nobody could ever answer for sure and yet for Lorelei it was simple. A simple answer nobody wished to admit, not even to themselves. Her existence was the response to the question. She was not having an existential crisis, it was just the prewritten fates within her life because of the chosen destinies people controlled in their own lives. A butterfly effect that everyone endures.