“Luke?” I opened the door to let him in, “What’s wrong?’
“Ran all the way here,” he panted in between breaths.
I froze realizing what was seriously wrong in this situation. Luke ran here and was out of breath. Luke was never out of breath.
“Luke,” I started slowly, looking him over, “Why didn’t you just fly here?”
“Vigor,” he stood up, regaining his composure, “You were right, you were right about everything. He was the one who stole the Stone of Cratus.”
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, this is bad,” I bit my lip. This was so bad.
“The stupid thing actually worked, I mean come on it was just supposed to be a stupid legend,” he groaned, “It enhanced his powers, Vigor was able to absorb more energy then ever before.”
“What happened to you?’ I asked, my voice starting to break.
“We got the distress call and when we went downtown we started to fight him. We thought it’d be easy; he was the only one from his group, three against one right? At first we were destroying him, it looked like it would be an easy win after all but it seemed like the longer we fought him the more powerful he got. Then he started to absorb the energy from us, I mean we’ve fought him before but he was never strong enough to do that; he drained us from of our powers and turned it into energy. He beat us Dante, we lost,” Luke shook his head as if in disbelief.
I let out a low gasp. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The Anthem Force were the good guys, the good guys always win.
“Luke, where are Brian and Ricky,” I asked finally, fearing the worse.
“Vigor captured them, he hasn’t killed them, yet.”
Kill? I mean I knew there had always been a risk to the job but death? It seemed so harsh, we had never fought anyone like this before, no one who posed this much of a threat. I wanted to help people, keep them safe. Yet I don’t know if I was willing to end my life for it. I didn’t sign up for this.
I sighed, now wasn’t the time to panic, Brian and Ricky weren’t dead, yet. Yet was the keyword. We still had a chance to save them but we had to act quickly.
“Luke, what do we do?”
“What do you mean? He beat all of us with our powers, there’s nothing we can do without any,” Luke looked at me, desperation spread across his face. I studied his features, he had already given up. I had never seen him like this before, he had always been the first to step into a dangerous situation. He had always given everything he had to help someone, putting overs above himself. But now- now he was afraid. With the loss of his powers, Luke had also lost all his fight. I stared at him in disbelief, I had always thought there had been more to him then just his powers. I thought that the courage and selflessness he had always shown came from deep down inside him, I guess I had been wrong.
Any doubts about what my next step should be were erased by Luke’s reluctance. I knew what I had to do. I rushed into my room and changed into my Anthem Girl costume using a spare mask.
“What are you doing?” Luke said, looking up at my sudden wardrobe change.
“Luke, we need to do something. We need to at least try, we’re the city’s last hope,” I pleaded. Luke didn’t say anything, he just looked down into his palms. “You’re not coming with me, are you?”
“Please Dante, don’t go,” he begged, answering my question with his own request.
I stormed out of the room, only turning back when I was already halfway through the doorway, “You know, I expected more from you.”
I slammed the door behind me, instantly feeling regret for my actions. What if I never saw Luke again? Would those be my last words to him? I shook the thought from my head, I had a job to do.
……..
Downtown Anthem was in chaos. People ran every which way trying to get out of town. Of course they couldn’t, the bridges were out. Everything was starting to click together; it couldn’t just be a coincidence, could it? The two bridges both collapsing, trapping everyone inside a city under attack. It was all part of his plan. The city itself was in ruin, buildings were destroyed and some were on fire. It looked like a bomb had gone off.
I had borrowed a stray bike and peddled here as fast as I could yet enough adrenaline rushed through me that I barely felt tired. I walked down street after street, not quite sure what I was looking for. “Marco,” I whispered. Nope, no answer. Where was he? I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, goose bumps rose on my neck. I silently wished them away. They showed I was afraid, and I couldn’t have that. If you were afraid that meant you thought there was a possibility you could lose. I’ve learned that if you think your going to lose you probably will. I gulped, the odds were definitely against me right now but I couldn’t let myself believe it.
As I walked passed the bank I gasped. There standing in makeshift cages out of random objects were Brian and Ricky, still in costume. I ran over to them.
“Are you guys ok?” I asked, hand over my mouth.
Brian stood up, fear spread across his face. “You need to get out of here Dante, he’ll be looking for-“ Brian paused, his eyes growing wide. I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I swiveled around to be face-to-face with Vigor. He managed to inflict as much fear in my as before but now it was even worse. His eyes and hands were glowing bright red and an aurora of power seemed to surround him. He impossibly looked taller and more muscular. I saw the stone was on a chain around his neck.
He smiled but the motion seemed cruel and demeaning. “It’s about time Anthem Girl showed up.” I stood, wide eyed, unable to move. What had I gotten myself into? I couldn’t possibly take him; I should have listened to Luke. Why did I have to be so stubborn?
He grabbed me by the hair and started to pull me off the ground. I screamed in protest and kicking my legs wildly, but it was useless. We started to float higher and higher in the sky. Was he flying? He had never been able to fly before. It must be from all the power he had absorbed.
“I thought you were in retirement,” he smirked, my heart pounded harder. For the first time I realized how high we were and I willed myself not to start hyperventilating. Stupid fear of heights.
“Yah I was, but then I heard some dirtball was destroying the city,” I grunted and tried to make a grab for the stone. Vigor avoided the grab and gripped my neck. I let out another scream, out of the corner of my eye I could tell the whole crowd a below had frozen to watch us.
“Yah and how’s that working out for you?” he gripped my neck harder, cutting off my airway, “You know I’ve had enough of you Anthem Girl, you’ve always just been an annoyance rather then a real threat. You try and act so tough when really all you are is just a scared little girl without any powers.”
My vision was starting to go blurry, my lungs screamed in protest. I made another lunge for the stone but my attempt was even more pathetic then the first.
“It’s about time I got rid of you,” he snarled, “But first-“
He reached with one hand for my mask, I tried to bat away his hand but it was no use.
He pulled it off and threw it to the side, letting it flutter to the ground and exposing my face to the whole crowd. I heard a few gasps from below. “Look Anthem City,” he yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, “This is your esteemed hero, your last chance. Just a weak teenage girl.”
He turned to look and spoke so that only I could hear. I still couldn’t breathe; he was going to choke me to death. “Now everyone knows your secret. Everyone will know who failed them. Not that you’ll live long enough to regret it.”
I felt his grip loosen on my neck and I immediately took in a breath. I released it in a scream as he let go of me completely and I fell to ground.
I felt the wind rush past me, my head still pounding. This was it. I had failed everyone and now I was going to die.
I had never had a chance to say goodbye; to my mom or Jenna, Brian or Ricky. What would happen to them now? And Luke, I had never had a chance to tell him how I really felt and to me that was the worst tragedy of them all.
I closed my eyes, waiting for death.