Super Shot

The image showed a tiny speck of red and black movement crash into the roundabout. Nadia adjusted her controls on the camera and zoomed in on her subjects. They were six floors below her and moving faster than the camera could pick them out among the grassy roundabout of Sematat Avenue. A red-clad male figure and a black clothed female one had just crashed into the site. Out of all the vigilantes and criminals with strange abilities that had been cropping up in the capital, these two were the most celebrated rivalry. After months of taking shots of the Keyih Hyle and Gnay Tselim, Nadia knew them intimately. 

Movement continued beneath her and she took her camera off the tripod to follow it. This way her pictures wouldn’t have the crisp look she wanted but maybe it would look exciting. The newspaper editor always used to think so when she’d bring him her initial pictures of Keyih Hyle. The hero had only been jumping from one roof to another, surveying the city for any crime, on his debut appearance in the paper. He by no means was the first vigilante to appear on any media, but he’d been the first one to appear with his picture, she’d made certain of that. Close to the journalist who’d written that piece, Efrem Tadese, was her own, Nadia Nour. In smaller print but still, she’d gotten paid and ever since then she’d been following the hero from one adventure to the other. And then…

Enter Gnay Tselim the charismatic villain robbing people left and right. She cut such an impressive figure and almost always miraculously managed not to harm anyone (but bank accounts) in her shenanigans that public opinion was divided in her case. Her non-lethal ways had even led to Robin Hood sort of legends to revolve around her. Families living on the fringes finding random money bags after some of her heists were whispered about but never confirmed.

The upright and noble Keyih obviously couldn’t let the heists proceed, especially with how much bolder Tselim got each time. Those two had encountered each other more than once, but she’d always managed to get the slip. Keyih would, of course, still manage to get most of what she’d stolen back and save the day. Their battles were always so epic that you couldn’t fault him for not having caught her yet. He had strength and speed on his side. Those abilities she couldn’t match, thought she could take his punches like no other. What Tselim had on her side, was smarts. She always knew where to located the closest exits, had prearranged distraction methods and Nadia could tell that wearing black wasn’t just a fashion statements. She knew that Tselim had started her stealth missions during the dark hours of the night, but it now seemed that she’d graduated into the daylight. 

Just now she’d been attempting to steal from a bank in broad daylight. The bank was less than a block away and had little security attached to it in quitter days. Now that ‘superheros’ and ‘supervillains’ had come into play though the bank had buffed up their security. They’d installed cameras and armed the guards. The cameras would serve little purpose as most people with abilities always hid behind hoods or masks. And Tselim in particular was bulletproof, as was Keyih. An ability that not many had. Both of the bank’s measures would be useless on her.  

She’d already succeeded in breaking in and out of the bank with a hefty sum, as the heavy looking gym bag in her hands could attest. Getting away from Keyih was her immediate and only problem. He kept trying to grab the bag from her as he threw red fisted jabs her way. She ducked and swerved but couldn’t get on the offensive herself. Nadia moved from one side of the building to the other to get better shots. The noon sun beat down on her mercilessly, all in a good day’s work.

Finally, Keyih managed to get a hand on the bag and pulled back with all his strength. Tselim, in a last minute inspired move, let go of the bag and manage to unbalance him for a moment. That moment was all it took for her to hook a leg behind his own and pull back. Keyih would have regained his balance after a moment with that move but Tselim wouldn’t let that happen. She balled both her fists together and just as she withdrew her leg from his, she threw them in a downward motion onto his exposed chest. 

BANG! Down he went to the ground, the sound from his impact echoing around the roundabout and to the streets beyond. Nadia could practically feel Tselim smirk through her mask as she got the bag from his limp arms and jumped onto the nearest roof she could find. Nadia’s.

The villain and the photographer looked at each other for a moment before Tselim spoke.

“I hope you got that.”

“Not as well as I wanted to, you guys move too fast. But they’ll do.”

“Did you hear that Efrem?” said Tselim, talking into an ear piece Nadia hadn’t noticed. She hadn’t known Efrem had given his sister an ear piece as well. They were hard to come by, especially ones that worked at such distances. 

“We’ll have to extend our performance. Are you ready?” said Feruz Tadese.

“Ready.” Came a male voice into Nadia’s own ear piece. “Let’s do this.”

Just as quickly Tselim flew into the air again but just as she got to the highest point, something red flew past Nadia’s periphery and slammed right into Tselim. They gave Nadia enough time to cock her camera up at the image of Keyih grabbing Tselim by the ankle, sunlight streaming between them, before he swung her back to earth. 

“Perfect shot.” Said Nadia into her ear piece. The two couldn’t speak as they were going through another choreographed fight scene.