So the Wraith has acquired two sidekicks – Logi-Gal, a sweet, quirky chick with all the answers, and Imo Chanel (it works if you read it fast), a svelte, quirky chick with all the emotions. They usually are a huge help to the Wraith, who sometimes needs to consult with one or the other. However, the Wraith can get into trouble with her sidekicks if she has to get help from them both at the same time. Logi-Gal tells her one thing, which is the logical, sensible answer to things, then Imo Chanel chimes in with her two cents, which usually involves anything but logic. This can send our heroine into long periods of over-thinking and hand-wringing over her current situation. She may go on to consult other heroines, who have similar sidekicks, and end up with too much conflicting information which brings our heroine to a standstill.
So the Wraith returns to her secret identity, the mild-mannered writer/director we shall call, oh, I don’t know, Susan, to contemplate and figure out what to do.
Meanwhile, the super-villain (male, of course), finds the heroine’s weakness – sending mixed signals. Is he a friend, is he something more? What does he want from me? Was that an answer or not? While the heroine sorts through her conflicting information and finds herself bound in a sea of indecision, the super-villain (we’ll call him, oh, I don’t know, Zorta Friend) wreaks havoc on unsuspecting women throughout the metropolis, leaving a wake of confused, wounded, angry women behind who don’t know if he was a friend or more.
Then appears the Wraith’s nemesis (did you know Nemesis was the goddess of retribution? And, by the way, there is no definition for “arch-nemesis” really. What is an arch-nemesis, as opposed to just a nemesis? Just a side thought.), a trendy, non-quirky, hard-looking woman called Sucha Flert. Sucha Flert throws flirts around that are shaped like ninja stars and leaves a wake of devastated men behind her who have no idea what hit them and shattered women who can’t figure out why their men have lost their minds. The men thought she was interested in them but were broken when they find she has no interest in them. She makes dates without any intention of keeping them, leaving men sitting for hours at bars, increasing alcoholism in rampant quantities throughout the country.
The Wraith discovers that Flert is in town. She discovers that Flert has set her sights on the object of the Wraith’s affection, oh, we’ll call him Guy (change the name to protect the innocent; yeah, right). Wraith wants to protect him from injury from Sucha Flert but is unable to because her sidekicks have given her too much information and the Wraith is caught up in a circular pattern of thought that she cannot seem to get out of. Little does she know that both Flert and Zorta have conspired to give the sidekicks conflicting information so that they will pass that confusion on to the Wraith, thereby rendering her ineffective.
Finally, the Wraith realizes that she’s been thinking too much about too many conflicting things and must simplify her thought process in order to escape the confusion that her sidekicks have inadvertently set upon her. When the Wraith is finally able to clear up her thoughts, she realizes that Guy has been dazzled by Flert and Zorta has gotten him to also send conflicting signals to Wraith. However, the Wraith is prepared, knowing that Guy may not be the man for her to fly off into the sunset with but she still loves him for the friend that he is, and confronts Flert with the challenge to prove her worthiness to Guy before she can continue with her wicked, underhanded plan to steal Guy from the Wraith. Flert figures she’s up for the challenge but, in the end, Flert cannot help herself and throws a flirt at another man in front of Guy, breaking her spell and releasing Guy for her hypnotic trance. Zorta tries to keep Guy sending his crossed signals but, once Flert is broken, Guy sees through Zotra’s plan and refuses to be confusing.
The Wraith and Guy leave the villains behind to rethink their plan to overthrow the world while they try to define their own relationship. Guy, however, is not yet aware of the Wraith’s secret identity and, when the Wraith leaves him to go conquer evil, Guy finds himself in the presence of Susan, whom he loves but doesn’t LOVE because he’s waiting for the return of the Wraith. While this frustrates our mild-mannered heroine, she knows eventually he’ll find out that she and the Wraith are one in the same and he will learn that the one he is in love with is really her.
Stay tuned for more adventures of The Wraith…
© Susan Lee 2006
(just in case)
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