A Darklight Burning Brightly

A Whateley Academy Fan Fic

by

Solus Nova

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 11:46
Baltimore, Maryland, Alt 459 ft

People talk about having choices all the time, or doing the 'right thing', I keep trying not to go off on their pointy little heads, looking back on it all I never really had a choice until all my choices had been made for me. I'm pretty much over that now but I still find myself thinking about that in the oddest times, like now.

Another bolt of golden energy just missed me as I dodged, rolling and twisting, the 'hero' behind me let loose another bolt of solid light that came closer this time all the while yammering out what I thought was standard Heroic Idiot Speech Number 2, otherwise known as the 'Halt Evildoer and fight me fairly so I can make some more stupid poses and speeches.', I think this idiot was LazerHawk, or was it Sun Hawk, no wait Light Bird, hmm Lazer Bird?

The worse part was I'd already thought of a half dozen ways to stop the Photon Pigeon behind me, ranging from humane to murderous with a few stops at humorous along the way. Only thing keeping me from turning around and KFC'ing this idiot was the fact I'm not a supervillain, my mother was, I just inherited her baggage. Mom's baggage is not the carry-on baggage, hell it's not a steamer trunk of baggage, it's a fucking shipping container, hell it's a ship's worth of containers worth of baggage. It was at that point that one of those 'no choice' choices happened.

I 'knew' that Captain Chicken Brain was about to let loose again and that I could dodge his blast, but that fucking idiot hadn't bothered to check his line of sight this time, and if I dodged, well in front of me was a very nice industrial park, with a very nice tank farm. I'd like to say I did the heroic thing and took the shot like 'proper' hero but mostly running through my mind was two things, one, how could this moron be be this stupid, and second, I had waited too long to dodge and this was going to hurt.

It did.

I have no clear memory of the next few seconds, if you want the details I'd suggest YouTube, some idiot was filming this on his cellphone. I'm sorry but if you see two superpowered types fighting in the air near a tank farm filled full of gas, with one of them firing big honking lasers and you are using that phone to film the fight and not dialing 911 while attempting to break the land speed record away from the fight, you won't get sympathy from me, you'll get a do-it-yourself castration kit so you can save the human race the horror of you passing your genes on.

Ok you want the details, I'll admit I've seen the vid, the Dynamic Dodo smacked me good, I dropped into the parking lot where the trucks were parked, right through a Shell tanker truck and about four feet into the pavement. A few things saved my life at that point, mostly my force field, also I'm a lot tougher than I look. It has nothing to do with the fact I seem to have, ahem, 'developed' the classic super babe body and therefore have extra 'padding' to absorb the impact as my roommate keeps saying. Like she's one to talk about extra padding...no I'm not jealous trust me on that one.

Anyways a bit later most the world stops doing some kind of tap dance on my head, my body cuts in at that point to inform me that in no uncertain terms that payment for that stunt will be due shortly with compound interest if not compound fractures when my brain reboots. I become aware of several ugly things, one I'm in the tangled wreckage of a tanker truck, two the crater that I'm currently lying in is full of fuel, three the idiot that shot me is hovering nearby, doing some kind of victory speech, Christ didn't this idiot ever shut up, I thought only supervillains had Diedrick's Syndrome. So, in the middle of his garble about the forces of justice, truth and stupidity he notices me getting up painfully from the wreckage.

“And the Golden Raspberry for horrible monologue and total stupidity goes to the idiot floating in front of me.” I said through clenched teeth to avoid screaming from the pain, then I swear the idiot looked behind him to see who I was talking about!

In sober retrospect maybe taunting him while standing up to your thighs in gasoline wasn't my best move, because as soon as he figured out that I was talking about him Laser Brain spun back and opened fire. I 'saw' the energy gather just before he shot, it gave me enough time to seriously gather my concentration to slam up the toughest shield I could. The fuel didn't explode it just caught fire VERY fast, once I was sure that roast teen aged super chick was not going to happen, I started drawing power from fire into my shield, then into me to keep me alive and breathing, still good with no bad effects like burning flesh, I then pulled more power and sent it into my body. Various hurts started to fade, then a massive spike of pain flared from my shoulder and that was that, now back at 100%. I'm sure Mom would have been able to do all that without even worrying, hell she'd gone more than a few rounds with Lady Astarte and her crew back in the 80's, but while I have most of her abilities, I don't have her skill or raw power, yet.

So, I'm back in fighting shape but in a burning tanker truck park, with storage tanks all around, first priority stop the fires, second stop this idiot from destroying the city trying to stop me since I haven't done anything wrong other than be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Step one, I reached out feeling the energy around me and pulled it in towards me. I rarely do this, it's not one of my usual tricks, but it does give quite the buzz, like your first few beers, uh, not that I know what that is like, I'm still 16, way too young to be drinking. Anyways that snuffed the fires fast, I kept at it draining, pulling the heat out as well to prevent flare ups. While I did that Laser Something's jaw was dropping.

“You can't do that I defeated you!” He said.

I made a mental note that he said 'defeated' not arrested, stopped or any other more sensible word choices, so he's a talker and nut job, just great.

“Look Laser Brain let's stop this before you do something I can't fix, I surrender, take me in...” My attempt a being reasonable ended in mid-concession.

“YOU ARE TRYING TO TRICK ME YOU FOUL MONSTER!” With that bit of dumbfounding delusional deduction, he opened fire again.

This time I was better prepared for him, I thrust my hand out, wisps of dark energy coming from it, as I concentrated on the space the beam that he was firing on me and I watched as the beam scattered away before even getting close. That didn't have my hoped for effect, all that made him do was fire more shots at me all the while screaming various 'heroic' cliches.

“Stop this you idiot I'm trying to surrender here, arrest me you...” at that point I missed blocking one of his shots and staggered as the beam of coherent light slammed into me and bounced me off of the lip of the crater I was still standing in. Not fun, Laser Brain seeing an advantage got off several more shots, they hurt a lot, energy is easier for me to handle but his shots were a type of solid energy that was giving me fits. I drew on the energy from the distant hot spots from the fire to keep healing as I spat out a mouthful of blood and hoped I didn't break anything that I can't repair.

Rather than buy into his cliche superhero vs. supervillain delusion by trying to come up with something witty to say I just returned fire in very restrained way. I concentrated and formed a bubble of dark matter around him, there that should keep him out of my way...

Trying to describe the pain as this guy blew through my creation is like trying to describe a migraine to someone that never had one. A bolt of pure pain tore through my skull, I tried to keep from screaming but the scream tore its way past my teeth. I dropped to my knees trying stay conscious the pain was slowly fading, just about the same time as Laser Strike fired into me. My last thought before darkness clubbed me down was, I knew I'd remember his name sooner or later.

***

Ok I was alive, that is always nice to wake up to. I opened my eyes, off white tile, institutional standard, smell of chemicals, ok, my wild guess hospital, I hate hospitals there is nothing worse than being in a hospital. Then I noticed a few other things, nothing felt normal, ok you say you are in a hospital things shouldn't be normal, but that was the thing I felt normal, for the first time since I 'inherited' my mom's powers I felt normal normal, well mostly, there were a few things that still felt off. Second was the very fancy restraints, very fancy high-tech restraints tied me to the bed, I could feel a heavy metal collar around my neck. Third was the two heavily armed and armoured figures, wearing the black version of the Mutant Commission Office battle dress with very large guns pointing in my direction.

Ok this takes waking up in a hospital to a new low I thought, “Hello? Can someone tell me what is going on?” I said. Nothing. A few other attempts at communication failed, the Sphinx was more talkative, uh, the Sphinx in Egypt, not the superhero down in Memphis. Time passed, then time went around the block and passed me again. I amused myself by counting the holes in the ceiling tiles, that didn't help much.

Finally, the door clanked open, metal high security door in the MCO and it clanks open? The maintenance section must be another fan of bad cliches. The man that stepped in was bland, bit above average height, medium build, brown hair I couldn't see his eyes because even inside a building he was wearing sunglasses, dark blue suit, red tie.

“Ok you must be Agent Jones since you definitely aren't Will Smith, how about letting me out of here.”

His expression didn't change much just a hint of a scowl, “You aren't funny mutant. You attacked a bank with your team, then when a local vigilante showed up you attacked a petroleum storage site to cover your escape. We are calling it a terrorist act, so understand you have no rights, so get used to it and keep your mouth shut you freak.”

I was quiet for few seconds trying to process the utter madness of his statement. “Ok that is ridiculous, I was at the bank yes, but to make a withdrawal, a legal withdrawal from my own accounts when the bank was attacked. I did nothing except following the robbers' orders until Laser Strike attacked the bank and he then attacked me, so yes, I ran at that point to get my ass out of the line of fire, and to keep the casualties to a minimum. Laser Strike pursued me and wasn't being too careful about his aim. I took a shot from him rather than have that shot go into the tank farm. Then while I'm laying there he opens fire and ignites the wreckage, I snuff that to prevent it from spreading, all the while trying to surrender.” I snapped back with some heat.

The MCO goon gave a hint of a smile, “Even if you are correct in every detail, that matters how? It is our version of events that is the public record, you and your version will never see the light of day.”

That chilled me, this guy was talking about killing me, all of sudden all the crazy conspiracy stories about the Mutant Commission Office rushed to the forefront of my brain. No way was I going to be dumped in some MCO death camp while this bastard gloated...Wait a minute...The fear in my brain receded a bit as logic and common sense began to return.

“Nice try Agent 'Jones', scare the poor frightened girl into attempting to escape, then have her shot in the process, that way no awkward questions get asked. If you really had everything neatly tied up, why did I even wake up? You could have kept me unconscious until someone blew my brains out or 'accidentally' gave a wrong dose of anaesthetic to the prisoner.” I gave 'Jones' a wicked grin, and made a buzzing sound, “We are sorry your application for the MCO Senior Gestapo position has been rejected due to you being outwitted by 16-year-old.”

I like to think I got some kind of reaction from him; but he had a really good poker face. All he did was just make motion to the two stormtroopers and they all left after unchaining me from the bed. Just like that they left. They left me all alone in that room. I found out afterwards that I was in that room for six days after I woke up. The lights in the room would turn off and on in random pattern, like wise the food and the, ahem, facilities would be provided at random times. I think they were also using sonics on the room because I was very quickly going crazy. Well, I like to think was sonics or drugs, but at the end of it I was a basket case, and it was my own mind that was making me crazy. Those six days felt like 6 months by the end of it I was so strung out I would done anything to make it stop.

The lights went on and two of the MCO goons marched in, grabbed me and half dragged me out, they didn't respond to my babbling or my pleas they just dragged me into a large shower stall. There was two more troopers waiting for me to arrive, one of just cut the johnny shirt that was the only clothing I had off of me and turned a fire hose on me, the other two cleaned me up with floor brushes and some kind of harsh soap.

One of them spoke, “See you guys can train a mutie freak,” He hit me in the stomach with the handle of a brush he was holding, “Just like any other stray bitch you have show 'em who's boss.” With that he stepped forward, “Hold her up, get her arms.” Two of his buddies held me up by my arms. My toes couldn't even touch the concrete floor, he held the floor brush in front of my face, his thumb running over the stiff bristles, “We have to get you cleaned up freak, make you look all nice and pretty, don't want you looking nasty, can't have you telling any wild stories about us, not that anyone would believe you freak, but orders are orders.” He made several sniffing sounds, “You really stink mutie, we're going to fix that.” With that he forced the brush between my legs and scoured my groin, the more I screamed and tried to twist away the more he attacked me with it, when he was done he tossed me against the far wall and turned the fire hose on me. He just laughed as I huddled under the painful spray and yelled to his friends, “She must like it, she's all wet and begging boys.” The others just laughed at his joke.

“She, it, whatever looks a little rough around the edges.” This was one of the others, the first time he'd spoke since this began.

The leader responded, “Your right, but we can get her fixed up fast. Mutie's file says that she can absorb energy, helps her heal.” He turned and spoke to one of the ones in the back, “Go get her medical supplies.” One of them left quickly. While they waited for the other guy to return they amused themselves with the odd kick, they quickly got bored when all I did was just curl up and whimper. The whimpers turned to screams when the 'medical' supplies arrived, a car battery charger and jumper cables. I found out over the next hour that I still could absorb energy to heal, not much, and the extra energy HURT.



ELSEWHERE...

The phone rang.

John Bane looked at it with no expression on his face, and picked it up on the third ring, “Yes?” His voice lacked expression just like his face.

“Yes sir, I see, I will resolve the situation.” he paused looking at the collage of horror in front of him. “Of course sir, I'll be leaving in approximately 5 minutes. Any other instructions sir? Very good sir.” The phone was placed carefully back in it's cradle, as Bane quietly rose from his seat, quickly leaving the room he walked briskly to the elevator and past it, opening the stairwell door he took the stairs two at a time up to the ground floor. Exiting the building and reaching his personal vehicle he was on the road to his destination in 4 minutes 43 seconds he noted.

He didn't care about the looks that he got on his way out, it wasn't relevant to his assignment, but everyone that worked with him knew 'that' look and quietly wondered what dire event had stirred the monster from his lair. They didn't feel pity or concern for the object of their boss's attention, if someone was a target that needed that level of attention they deserved their fate and then some. Some may have spared a moment of sympathy for anyone standing between their boss and his target.