Dark Side (Completed)

The First Pieces to the Puzzle

"Shit," I breathed as I clumsily hung up the phone. I cautiously moved forward, eyes wide in anticipation of the super popping back in.

I quickly skirted around the corner, towards my bedroom, in a panicked attempt to retrieve my backpack. I swear, that thing is my lifeline. After swinging open the door, I froze.

What used to be a window was now a wide open view of the crummy street I called home. The wood of my walls and floor were badly splintered and small flames licked at the jagged ends like malnourished animals. A cool breeze, one that I should not feel from here, gently blew my hair back away from my face. Why the hell is the wall of my bedroom gone?

I didn't give my self time to answer once I spotted my backpack. Quickly swinging it over my shoulder, I hightailed it back to my kitchen. Once I was confident I was in an area with no circuit breaks, I slipped into the lines.

My heartbeat was erratic, and as I zipped through the world of electrons, I thought of the one place I could go. Lawrence's. Within seconds, I was standing in their living room, two pairs of wide eyes staring back at me in confusion.

As soon as I saw them, I lost control. Salty tears spilled past the dams I'd built to hold them back, and I dropped to my knees as they sailed down my cheeks.

My hands came up to cover my face and I nearly cursed when they came into contact with the wetness. Villains don't cry, dammit. Crying shows weakness. I am not weak.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I blinked a few times and tried to look up through my bleary eyes. Lawrence stood above me, concern embedded deep in his gaze.

I blinked a few more times and swallowed the lump in my throat. Villains don't cry. I coughed a few times and wiped away the gleam on my cheeks, "Okay," I said, more to convince myself than the others, "I'm good now. Not going to cry anymore. Villains don't cry." Now I stood and glanced at the others, clearing my throat and swallowing the last elements of my despair, "Okay," I breathed out, trying to figure out a way to word this, "My, uh." My eyes dropped to the floor as the tears pooled up again. Dammit emotions, not now! "My mother was kidnapped by a psychotic super villain." I choked out abruptly as I bit back the emotions that threatened to spill out with them.

"Johanna," Emily's voice came softly, "It's okay to cry."

That was all it took to break the last of my fortifications. My emotions stormed from my tear ducts like an army taking over an enemy fortress. Like a monster finally escaping its confinements. Like a mob of people fighting to escape the chaos of a city riot.

It was all I could do to keep my body from shaking with horrible sobs. My lungs fought ferociously as I tried to force them to keep functioning in a steady rhythm. I probably looked like I was plagued with a spontaneous wave of hiccups, when in reality, I was fighting with both my mind and body, desperately trying to maintain some form of composure.

It was just around then that I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around me. Almost immediately, I buried my face in his shoulder, relishing the opportunity to hide my face from the world.

My fingers clutched at the fabric of his shirt as I continued the internal battle between willpower and emotion. Somehow, I was able to achieve a small degree of silently crying. Lawrence traced light, comforting circles on my back whilst muttering nonsense like 'It's okay' and 'We'll get her back'.

After a few minutes of humiliating weakness, I stepped back and wiped at my eyes, taking a few deep, cleansing breaths before I continued, "He said his name was Blood Lust. That ring a bell to anyone?"

Lawrence shook his head in the negative while Emily retrieved her laptop from the couch. After a few minutes of typing, she read aloud, "It says here that Blood Lust was a pretty powerful and influential villain in the late 80's/ early 90's. He's been charged with over 49 felonies, 72 misdemeanors, and countless ticketable offenses. After the mysterious disappearance of his sworn enemy, Blue Phantom, Blood Lust dropped off the radar."

My throat made an involuntary choking sound as I realized that this maniac had my mother.

"Shit," I muttered, biting the nail of my little finger, "Pull up Blue Phantom."

Emily clicked a few times before turning the screen to face me. I moved closer to inspect the picture of the flying super in blue spandex. Before I could get a solid look, an urgent knock sounded at the front door.

We all froze, heads turned in the direction of the door. When the knock sounded again, Lawrence snapped to life. We listened as the door edged open. Before Lawrence could utter any words of greeting, a male voice spoke frantically, "Is she here?"

I moved to the corner so I could get a peek at the stranger. The dude from earlier, Daniel, he'd said, stood tall, looking down at Lawrence with a worried expression.

"I'm sorry," Lawrence responded innocently, "But who is it you're looking for?"

Daniel's eyes found mine and I noticed him visibly relax a bit. I forced out a few choked words to Lawrence, "Let him in."

His head shot around to look at me, eyebrow quirked in question, but he stepped aside to allow the man entrance anyway. The door closed softly behind him as he entered. He moved out into the open area of the living room, Lawrence and I in tow. With a quick glance around, he turned back to look at the three expectant teens before him. He rocked back and forth on his heels, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his worn jeans.

"You have two seconds to explain," I commanded in a surprisingly strong voice.

He immediately snapped his head to look at me. I shifted my weight under his evaluating gaze. In truth, it made me a bit uneasy. This complete stranger was looking at me like I was a ghost. As if this action pulled him out of his daze, he cleared his throat and spoke, "You three are sworn to secrecy, as of this moment. Do you understand?"

We all nodded and crossed our arms over our chests. He cleared his throat again and shifted his own weight.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued, "Okay, well..." he paused to figure out a way to word things. When he spoke again, it was very cautiously, as if he was about to step into a minefield, "My name is Daniel, but I guess more people know me by the name Blue Phantom."

^

^

^

^

Hey guys! Hope your weekend went well. This chapter ended up deleting on me like three times. I guess that was a way of telling me it could be better. Anyway, here's the fourth try. Hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to click and comment. Thanks for reading!