Black Lightning: The Outsiders

Chapter 4: Watching Over the World

The team stares at the monitor.

"That's the end of the video", TC says.

"The team she's talking about must be my dad and the Crisis team", Anissa says.

"Possibly, and the Armageddon thing she's talking about must be the team Perenna is training us for", Khalil says.

"Which is why we need to stop playing around and really work hard at training with Perenna", Anissa says.

"Yeah because she sounded worried", Grace says.

"She?", Jenn says still staring at the monitor, "Why do you keep saying she, it's obviously me, I sent that message from the future".

"Jenn we don't know if it's actually you", Anissa replies.

"For all we know it could be a shapeshifter", Grace says.

"Why would a shapeshifter warn us of danger approaching?", Jenn asks.

"To maybe scare us into helping them stop it", Dionte says.

"Well mission accomplished, we're scared", Jenn says walking out of the room.

Brandon takes a deep breath and walks out with her. Anissa walks over to the monitor and stares at a snapshot of the Jenn lookalike. 

"Jenn's right, I mean look at her face the resemblance is uncanny, also a shapeshifter wouldn't be able to know that we call ourselves the outsiders, this is Jenn and if what she says is true, in a few days, we'll all be dead", Anissa says.

Grace sits down in a chair and stares at the wall. Khalil turns and walks out, followed by Dionte, TC, and Erica. 

Jenn's POV:

Jenn sits outside the hideout looking up toward the stars, suddenly Brandon comes out and stands next to her. 

"It's beautiful isn't it", Brandon says.

"The ionosphere?", Jenn asks, "It's beautiful but it's dangerous".

"I was actually talking about the stars", Brandon says.

"Oh, yeah that too!", Jenn replies.

"Do you ever miss it, being up there in the ionosphere?", Brandon asks.

"Always, I mean I could go up there and talk, scream, do whatever I needed to do, and not be seen or heard, I would kill to go up there for just a second", Jenn states.

Brandon looks up and then quickly looks back at Jenn. 

"Then Let's do it!", Brandon says. 

"What?", Jenn asks.

"Let's take a quick trip up there to let everything out", Brandon says.

Jenn chuckles at Brandon, but his face is serious.

"Wait you're serious?", Jenn asks.

"Yeah, I mean come on, we can make it a one time thing and if it gets to be too much for either of us we will come back down", Brandon says.

"I don't know!", Jenn says hesitant. 

"Last chance....", Brandon says smirking.

"Fine, but let's get our suits, we'll be safer that way", Jenn says.

Brandon smiles and they run back into the hideout.

Anissa's POV

In the Sanctum, Anissa re-watches the video over and over again trying to decipher the message. Grace walks in and hands her a cup of tea.

"Thanks", Anissa says taking the tea.

"So", Grace starts, "You figure anything out?"

"Not really, I mean the more and more I look at it, the more I can't tell if it's Jenn or not", Anissa says.

"Why do you say that, I mean it looks just like her", Grace says.

"Yeah but there's this looks in her eyes that doesn't seem right", Anissa says rewinding the message and pausing on Jenn's Face.

Grace examines it.

"It looks like fear to me, I mean she did say that everybody around her was dead and the world was ending, If it was me my face would look exactly like that", Grace says.

"I don't know about that, but what I do know is danger is coming and we don't know if it's that team Perenna is talking about or something worse", Anissa says, "I think we should have a discussion with Perenna and see if she can give us anymore intel on who this team is".

"Alright let's go", Grace says standing up.

She and Anissa leave the hideout and head to Perenna's Safehouse.

Jenn's POV

After Grace and Anissa leave, Brandon and Jenn walk outside in their suits.

"Ready?", Brandon asks.

"Are you sure about this?", Jenn asks.

"Yes, it's what you need", Brandon says, "It's what we need!"

"Then I'm ready", Jenn says.

Brandon counts to three and he and Jenn fly up in the air. The continue rising until they reach the ionosphere floor and break through the membrane. Jenn stops flying to signal to Brandon that they've flown far enough. 

"This is it", Jenn says.

"This is amazing", Brandon says, "I can see why you like to come up here".

"Yeah, it feels good to feel like a god watching over the world", Jenn says, "Sometimes I feel like that's all I'm good for".

"What do you mean?", Brandon asks.

"I mean, there's no doubt that I'm the strongest on the team", Jenn says.

"I'm standing right here, but continue", Brandon jokes.

"What I'm saying is, I'm known for just being strong, and also just being Black Lightning daughter", Jenn starts, "When he left and handed down the throne I was thrilled to be the new person to protect Freeland, along with you guys".

"So what changed?", Brandon asked, "You don't want the responsiblity?"

"No I do, but that video made me think, I mean it said that I'm suppose to be the last person standing, while that should be a relief to me, it makes me feel as though either I was the cause of the world ending or I wasn't strong enough to protect the world", Jenn says.

"That's non-sense, you are the strongest person I know, meta or no-meta, if anything is causing the world to end, I know you are ten-toes down to protect it", Brandon says.

Jenn smiles, wiping a tear from her face.

"That was sweet, but we really should fly back down, before our Body temps rise", Jenn says.

They both turn towards the ground and fly down. When they land on the ground Anissa and Grace have just arrived. The look on their face seems worried. 

"Anissa, Grace?", Jenn starts, "Are you two okay?"

"No", Anissa says.

She takes a deep breath and hands Jenn an envelope. Jenn and Brandon stare at it concerned.

"Perenna's gone, she's been taken, I think it was the team she warned us about", Anissa says.

Jenn and Brandon exchange looks and begin reading the letter.