Plotted

Helena was walking down the street, head bent and her steps very hesitant. Her life had become horrible- this was the fifth school she had transferred to, and was bullied as soon as she stepped foot inside the building. It had only been three days, but her condition had escalated from bad to worse.

"Why do I have to change schools so often?" she wondered aloud, kicking at a stone in her path. "I won't attack students like a maniac. I am not a monster either."

Her phone burst into a tinkling tune, and she picked it up.

"What is it?" she spoke rather rashly. An audible grunt was heard from the other end.

"It won't kill you to be nice for once, Helena," a boy's voice said from the other end. She rolled her eyes. "Just get to the point, dunce."

"We have got a new assignment," the boy said, his voice crackling a bit. Helena's mood underwent a huge transition as she became very businesslike and brisk. "What about intel?" she inquired shortly.

"Gathered."

"Good. See you in two minutes."

She disconnected the call and looked around. The street was quite deserted. She closed her eyes.

With a tiny 'snap', she disappeared.

She reappeared in the busiest market in the city. She looked around. "Why did you guys choose a marketplace out of all places to meet up?" she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Helena was the leader of a group of superheroes protecting the city. They had actually been kicked out of their families and had been labelled 'failures' by society. However, Helena saw the potential in them and recruited them.

They preferred calling themselves 'the Amazons', even though Helena had pointed out that they were all supposed to be women. Their group consisted of Daniel, the person who did not have any powers, so gathered intel; Claire, who could create powerful force fields; Fredrick, who had healing powers; and Oliver, who was capable of manipulating minds. Helena had been made leader because she possessed two abilities- invisibility and echolocation. On top of that, she was the only person who could do a bit of rational thinking besides Daniel. The rest of them were professional thinkers in video games alone.

Claire scratched her ear. "Well... we can immediately start on the assignment once we've briefed everyone about it," she admitted meekly. Helena sighed. "Daniel called me," she said. "Where is he?"

"He's currently waking the others up," Claire laughed. "They're not too keen on missions, see."

Helena tapped on the ground impatiently until the rest of the team returned. Daniel was out of breath. But Helena had no pity.

"Brief us."

"Yeah... hold up a sec," Daniel spoke, taking in great gulps of air. He led them all into the thick of the market and got into a cyber café. He inserted a pen-drive into a computer and data flooded the screen.

"See this district?" he began. "This place was a quiet and pretty place, until last month. People have started losing their memory. When the survey team came, they found that the population had reduced dramatically. The death rate there wasn't high either."

"Disease?" Helena suggested. Daniel shook his head. "I thought that was the case, but all of them are perfectly healthy."

Helena's brow furrowed. The cogs in her brain were turning at full speed.

"Show me the list of people who have lost their memory," she said. "And look up those who are missing."

Daniel did so obediently, and Helena's eyes scanned both the lists. Something fell into place.

"The missing and memory cases are from the same families," she concluded. "Let's split up. Claire and Fred, look into the cases of the missing people. Oliver and I will deal with the memory loss cases. Daniel, go home and support us. Hack into the CCTVs of the areas we tell you to. We don't need to be discovered."

They nodded and walked away. Helena held Oliver's hand and transported both of them into the street.

They knocked on a random door, and an old lady peeked out. "What do you want?" she rasped. Both the teenagers braced themselves.

"Get out!" she suddenly flared up. "I know kids like you! You don't have anything else to do except for poke your noses where you're not needed!"

Helena nodded to Oliver, who sped forward and tackled the lady. He pressed a hand on her head, and his own eyes turned white.

"Tell me, have you lost your memory?" he questioned the suddenly-compliant woman. She nodded. "Who did it?" he asked again.

"A girl..." she replied mechanically. "Emerald eyes... faintly deep voice... black hair..."

Oliver sucked in his breath. "What was she wearing? Do you know her?"

The lady shook her head. "Yellow shirt... brown overcoat... black glasses..."

Oliver gasped and turned to his leader. "Boss... you fit the description. You love wearing those clothes, don't you?"

Helena looked at him with an accusatory gaze. "Are you implying that I killed people and spread amnesia? Don't be absurd!"

Oliver sighed. "All evidence points to you. I'm sorry," he said and had her in a headlock within seconds. He pressed his glowing palm to her forehead and whispered, "Kill yourself."

Helena, sucked into a trance, nodded and produced a dagger from her pockets. Without hesitation, she ran it right into her heart.

Oliver sighed and straightened up. He tapped on the earpiece he was wearing. "Come over, guys. I did it."

The rest of the team strolled into the alley, eating ice-creams. Claire sniffed the air. "This is definitely Helena's blood. You weren't lying."

"Was it difficult?" Fredrick asked. Daniel punched him. "It couldn't have been, I gave her fake intel. Do you know how much I had to work to make it look genuine?"

"Anyway, she was a pain in the neck, always bossing us around," Oliver said. "I had to go to lengths to modify the woman's mind. Making her believe that she lost her memory was a bit tricky. But it was worth it, wasn't it? Helena will not nag us any more, forever."

And all of them laughed and scampered away, leaving behind the body of the only person who believed in them and thought they could make a change for the better.