The Adventures of Empathica

Tyfani Fox was not an average high school senior, and she knew it. Actually, she'd never been average and pretty much since she was a toddler she knew it. She didn't know why, and she was afraid to discuss it with anyone, but she had an innate ability to feel other peoples' emotions.

Like now, for instance, that jerk football player Jake Jones was undoubtedly going to ask her out. She could feel his aggression and cockiness from down the hall--he KNEW she was going to say yes. The arrogance pissed her off, and luckily she had a few seconds to come up with an excuse before he asked her. Sure enough, he came strutting down the hall right towards her, a huge smirk on his face. Kim and Sandi, those two cheerleader bimbos, were sending out waves of mindless lust at Jake, but only Tyfani seemed to notice as he breezed right by them.

"Hey, babe," he began, "Lookin' good today. Yeah!" He winked at her, and Tyfani couldn't believe that ANY woman would actually fall for this crap. He must have seen the scowl on her face, for his concentration faltered for a second; Tyfani sensed, for the first time, some uncertainty from Jake. "Um, you know the, uh, fall formal is in two weeks, babe. And I was wondering, I mean I thought you'd like to go with me!" His bravado was back, and now she could sense petty jealousy and anger from the two bimbos when they overheard Jake's line.

"Sorry, Jake, but I'm busy that night," Tyfani responded and then quickly turned her back on him, slamming her locker shut as forcefully as she shot down his proposal. She grinned in satisfaction as she felt Jake's shock and disappointment turn to anger and confusion. As she strutted down the hallway she realized that he'd probably never been turned down before. Oh well, always a first time, she thought.

That night, after her parents were sound asleep, she donned her superheroine's costume and snuck out of the house. After preventing a few minor fights at school she realized the potential her ability gave her to support the forces of good in the world. This was driven home the time she was in the Circle K after school. A guy entered, and she felt fear, paranoia, and an empty sense of desire coming from him in intense waves. Before she could interpret the sensations, he pulled a gun and demanded cash from the clerk behind the counter. Of course, she realized, those emotions are exactly what she would expect from a scared kid about to commit a robbery. Without even really thinking about what she was doing, she silently walked from behind the would-be robber and grabbed the gun right out of his hand. "Call the police," she instructed the much-relieved clerk. The perp's emotions changed--he was still afraid, but now he almost exuded a sense of relief, like he was glad to have been caught. Tyfani decided that most criminals probably didn't WANT to commit their crimes, and she sensed that same sense of relief many times after that when she would foil one scheme or another.

So she would walk the streets at night, going where he senses took her, and almost every night she would prevent or interrupt at least one crime. She kept herself in peak physical condition, since she knew she had no real super-powers to speak of. Once a slimy criminal had slashed across her arm, creating a nasty cut. She eventually managed to subdue him, but everyone wondered why she wore long sleeves in the middle of summer, at least until the cut healed and she could show her bare arms again.

She named herself Empathica and even created a costume for herself. Her exploits had gained some degree of fame (all of the police definitely knew about her), and she didn't want her family and friends to find out about her after-hours crime-fighting. During the day, Tyfani just wanted to be normal.

Her costume was actually fairly basic, made mostly of black spandex. The material allowed her freedom of movement when she did have to fight a bad guy or two, and the color enabled her to hide in shadows to maintain the element of surprise. Originally she wore black sneakers but one night, when feeling especially saucy for some reason, she donned her new calf-high black leather high-heeled boots. Amazingly, she was just as mobile and silent in the boots so she wore them from then on. Her gloves were also black leather, as was the half-mask she wore over her nose and eyes. The mask had the additional benefit of acting as a headband, keeping her straight jet-black hair out of her way. The costume was completed with a subdued "E" across her impressive breasts. It was kind of silly, she knew, but if she prowled about in the dark dressed all in black she felt like a shady character herself until she added the monogram.

She didn't know how long she'd been walking when suddenly her senses perked up. Somewhere nearby a girl was feeling scared, no, terrified. She sensed another person who was excited and charged with lust. Following her internal compass she broke into a run in the direction of the two people, determined to see justice done!