Dark Side (Completed)

A Mysterious Stranger

Emily, being the nice person she is, lent me a change of clothes. A baggy sweatshirt helped to conceal the ever present slouch of pain and exhaustion that plagued my torso, and a pair of blue jeans hung a little loosely on my hips.

I had also convinced Emily to go back to the mall and retrieve my stuff from the bathroom. It felt good to have my bag back in my possession, and as if to prove this, I hiked it up farther on my shoulders. It hurt a bit to walk, but I was able to make my way home, slowly but surely.

The air was starting to grow dark. The days were getting shorter, and I remembered this as I walked down the gradually emptying streets. As the sun dropped lower on the horizon, the neighborhood grew more and more similar to my usual territory.

I passed by several sketchy alleyways before hearing the familiar click of a gun behind my head. I immediately stopped and fought the urge to smirk.

"Not even going to wait until the sun goes down?" I sighed.

"It's close enough," a gruff voice replied, "Now, into the alleyway, little miss."

I purposefully avoided showing the man my face as I complied with his orders.

My hood was up, shielding my face from the mugger, and as he asked for money, I pulled off my bag and started rummaging.

But it wasn't money I was searching for. When my hand wrapped around the cold metal of my spare handgun I did smirk, much to the man's confusion.

In a low voice, I spoke through my smile, "Do you really think it's wise..." I paused for dramatic effect as I pulled out my gun, "...to mug a mugger?"

His eyes widened ever so slightly as he took a step back, readjusting the grip on his own weapon. The hood still covered my eyes as I smirked at him.

"Who are you?" his voice betrayed him with a nervous crack and he took another step backwards.

My lips only twitched upwards at his discomfort.

"I'm Lightning Pulse, baby," I grinned as my arms crackled to life. His face went pale and he almost immediately dropped the gun and hightailed it out of there.

I smirked and dropped the gun back into my bag before slipping back onto the streets.

After that, my walk home was rather fast and uneventful. Upon reaching my crummy apartment building, I pushed open the front door and climbed up the stairs.

Before opening my apartment door, I paused. There were voices coming from inside. Slowly, I inched open the door and slipped into the entrance.

The voices were still muffled. One was my mother and the other was distinctly male.

They were coming from the living room. As I crept closer, I was able to make out some words.

"-not sure how much longer I can do this, Heather," the man said. His voice was hushed, barely a whisper.

"There has to be something you can do," my mother suggested in a small voice.

"It's not safe anymore," he said.

My brows crashed together and I chanced a peek around the corner. The man's back was to me, and my mom was hidden from view just behind him.

He was tall, very tall, and a grey T-shirt stretched taught against his muscular back. His hair was short and brown, a few shades darker than my own. He was overall intimidating, and I wasn't sure how I felt about him standing that close to my frail mother.

"Heather..." his voice was soft, almost pleading, "Say something."

She shifted her weight and her face came into view. Her eyes were watery, and they almost immediately flicked to me, "Johanna," she breathed.

The man showed confusion before turning to follow her gaze. Our eyes locked and he took a few steps closer to me. He paused momentarily before he passed. His eyes were hazel, like mine, but his expression was unreadable. He looked to be the same age as my mother, but I was unable to assess him further as he continued on and out the door.

I turned wide eyes to my mother.

"Who the hell was that?"

Her eyes flitted to the floor and she was only able to answer with a sad voice, "An old friend."

That was all I got out of her before she turned and locked herself in her bedroom.

***

"Mom," I said in a soft voice as I stood just outside her bedroom door. I knocked lightly a few times, "I made dinner. Are you going to come out and eat with me?"

I heard her sniff a few times before saying, "Yeah, sure. I'll be out in a second."

I turned to start setting the table just as the phone started to ring. Glancing back at the door and realizing that my mother was not going to burst through and scurry over to answer it, I made my way to the spastically ringing instrument.

I picked it up on the third ring, "Ah, Hello?"

"Heather-" a male voice started to say. I cut him off.

"Actually this is Johanna."

"Oh, Johanna... May I speak to your mother please?"

I shifted my weight and leaned against the wall, "She hasn't come out of her bedroom yet. I just called her out for dinner."

There was a few moments of silence before he continued, "It's urgent... Can you get her for me?"

I was about to do just that when I paused, "Are you the guy from earlier?"

He sighed, "Yes and I urgently need to speak with your mother."

"Why?" I asked, my curiosity peaked.

He groaned again, "Johanna, just, please. Look, you're in danger. You need to get Heather and yourself out of that building immediately."

"Wait?" I bit my lip and looked at the bedroom door, "What kind of danger?"

"Terrible, now please, get yourselves out of -"

He didn't get a chance to finish before a small explosion sounded on the other end of the house. I almost dropped the phone.

"Johanna! Johanna," his voice was frantic, "What was that?"

The only thing I could say was a quiet, "Mom."

I heard her scream from the other room. It didn't take long before she opened the door and slowly walked out, a super dressed in black and red spandex directly behind her.

"This one yours?" The super said into her ear. She refused to reply. The man only cracked a wicked grin. He turned slowly to look me in the eye, "Tell the Blue Phantom that Blood Lust is back in the game."

With that, he and my mother completely disappeared.

I heard the man swear on the other end of the line and I brought the phone to my ear.

"What's your name?"

There was a pause before he responded, "Daniel."

I gulped, "What do I do, Daniel?"

"Run."

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Hey guys! We're bringing back some feuds from old supers. You know, the ones that actually fought each other and were actually mortal enemies. Anyways things are getting exciting. Let me know what you think by clicking that little star. Comment any powers you want to see in the near future! Thank you!