“Is there beauty in vengeance?”

“What?” I whispered back over my headset.

“That’s what she asks her victims, ‘is there beauty in vengeance?’” Stephanie repeated.

“Where did you hear that?” I asked.

“Tara, that’s like, the main thing people know about her. Well, that and that she kicks ass.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed, “Steph, you know I don’t keep track of the Lessers. Also, it’s stupid to even do what we’re trying.”

“Not true! My tech skills could easily get me a spot on their team. Can you imagine what I could accomplish with their resources?”

Not answering, I turned a corner after double checking with the map Steph had sent me. She was dead set on finding this team of vigilantes, called the Lessers. Supposedly, they called themselves this because they believe their wants and needs are less than that of the city’s other citizens. Honestly, that didn’t make sense to me, but it gave them a heroic brand that seemed to be pretty popular. That is, assuming you believed they existed. A lot of people think they’re a legend made by the local law enforcement to discourage crime, or perhaps a special ops unit, but there was a subset of people who truly believed they were a group of well-trained citizens who rose up in the city’s hour of need.

My thoughts were distracted by Steph chiming in over my headset again. “Tara, you need to keep looking around, I can only see what you see, so look around!”

“Steph, it’s late, I’m tired, and I’m only a few blocks away from a bad part of town, I’m heading back.”

“No, Tara, wait-!”

But I didn’t hear the rest of what she said, because when I turned around I froze in fear. Three men were slinking towards me, about half a block away. In my panic, I tried to remain calm and levelheaded. I had pepper spray clipped to my belt, so I could - wait, where’d it go? My hand grasped at empty air, then I remembered I had knocked into a trashcan turning a corner earlier, it must’ve gotten knocked off.

Suddenly, my hand did grab hold of something, but I shrieked and jumped forward, turning around to see another guy, taller than me by half a foot, grinning menacingly while holding out his hand to where mine was.

“Well, well, well, what’s a fine young lady like yourself doing out at an hour like this?” He eyed me up and down, clearly pleased by what he saw. I shifted uncomfortably, slowly scooting backwards, then stopped suddenly when I remembered there were three other guys coming from that direction too. I turned to look, but the guy reached out and grabbed my face and turned me too keep looking at him.

“Don’t worry about them, they’ll get their turn.”

My heart raced, I was terrified, and I couldn’t think of what to do, but thankfully I was able to find my voice, so I screamed. I yelled as loud as I could, but it wasn’t as long as I would’ve liked, as the man moved his hand from my face down to my throat and squeezed.

“Now, we’ll be having none of that.” He growled. His anger faded as he looked me over once more. Whistling eagerly, he chuckled to himself. “I’ve never met anyone like you before!” Exclaiming this mainly for his own amusement, which is why he was just as shocked as I was when we heard a female voice from behind me.

“You should be grateful for that.”

I couldn’t turn to look, but I saw the man squint, then he asked, “who are you?”

“I’m the one who’s bringing you and your men to justice. You steal, you rape, you murder, and so I’ll ask you what I asked your three friends back there.” I heard the unsheathing of knives, recalling something Steph had told me about one member of the Lessers, then the woman continued: “Is there beauty in vengeance?”

Clearly the man was having similar recollections, because he swallowed nervously, and loosened his grip on my throat. I took the opportunity to back away quickly and move as fast as I could in the direction of the woman. She looked just like her fans predicted, taking the pieces of stories and pictures to try to recreate her look.

“You’re…you’re…” I stammered.

“That’s right kid,” she smirked. “I’m Nemesis.”