Caroline screamed as the ground trembled again, knocking the two off their feet. The tremors sent vibrations up and down her spine and goosebumps rose to the surface of her skin. Andy didn't wait a single moment to get up and pick her back up, pulling her in close again. He felt warm. His eyes darted around, studying the blackened sky, looking for answers as to why this was happening. Suddenly, a streak of blue zipped past his field of view.
"Look!" He yelled, pointing. Caroline looked up at the sky in fear to see The Phantom and the Blue Warrior throwing punches, lightning, cars, anything. Her eyes went wide; she had never seen anything like this, except for on the news of course. Here she was, up close and personal. She was almost in a trance, horrified and amazed. The air seemed to grow super thin, she struggled to breathe.
"Caroline, we need to get somewhere safe. Any of these buildings could crumble," Andy explained, worried for her safety. She broke her eyes away from the boys to look up at Andy and she processed what he said. Her eyes met his, and for a moment she hesitated. Finally, she nodded, trusting him, and looked back at the boys. Andy began to pull her in a different direction, and she followed, but didn't break her gaze until she really needed to.
Andy led her down some concrete stairs to the underground stations. At least down there, they couldn't be trapped under any debris or crushed by building parts. He quickly found a safe spot for them to sit on the floor, and pulled a textbook out of his laptop bag. He handed it to her.
"If it gets really shaky again, when the ground tremors, hold this over your head, okay? I doubt the foundation is going to crumble down here, but just in case. Please," Andy said.
"Okay," Caroline said quietly, taking the book from him. Her brown eyes began to fill with tears. She never really cried in front of people before, but she truly was afraid. All she could do was trust Andy.
Andy noticed the pools in her eyes and opened his arms a little, offering a hug. Caroline accepted it, wrapped her arms around him, and began to cry. She buried her face in his chest; her tears lightly stained his shirt.
"I'm scared, Andy," she cried softly.
"I know you are," he said. He held her close, one hand on her back and the other on her head, gently running his fingers through her hair. He felt her slowly start to calm down in his grasp, and for just a moment, he didn't feel like such a bad guy.
Above them, The Phantom and the Warrior kept on fighting. They were particularly brutal that day; they didn't have any mercy for each other. Behind the Warrior was a "cage" of some sort; it was a barrier, in the shape of a cage, made out of the purple lightning. If the Phantom could get the Warrior past the barrier, he'd be stuck inside.
"Get through the fucking barrier!" The Phantom shouted, punching his enemy for nearly the 100th time.
"Not without a fight," The Warrior said, barely flinching. He conjured up some of his own lightning in his palms and fired it at the villain in front of him.
The Phantom shouted and lost his flight, falling into the concrete below. He created a crater in the sidewalk before sitting up, slowly recovering. He rubbed his head and pushed himself off the ground, and stood back up with wobbly legs.
"Is that all you've got?" He finally muttered. His eyes went completely white as he began to fly again, rising up to meet his opponent face to face.
Darien stared into the grotesque image of the whites of the Phantom's eyes. They gave off a grey-colored glow; he felt like he was staring into his soul. He suddenly felt awfully sick to his stomach.
"What's the matter, Warrior? Weak stomach?" The Phantom asked, tilted his head and smirked. The hero continued to feel woozy.
"Pathetic," The Phantom said, laughed, and hurled bricks in the hero's direction.
Darien was hit multiple times, almost losing his lunch in the process. He slowly crumbled and fell to the ground, weakened and bleeding. He gasped for air as he looked up at the villain. What the fuck was wrong with him today? Why couldn't he fight back as easily as usual?
"Why... why do you need my identity so badly?" He finally shouted.
"It'll be all the more fun to kill you," The Phantom said, bluffing for the most part. He still wasn't sure about the whole killing thing. Still, he had to play his part. He floated back down to the ground and landed on some rubble in front of the hero.
"You couldn't just kill me now? Are you that cowardly?" Darien taunted.
"Are YOU so cowardly that you'd rather be killed right now, identity hidden, than live another day?" Seth asked, laughing maniacally. He stepped towards the hero and kicked him down, pressed his foot onto his chest and began to step on him.
Darien winced and grunted, trying to push the Phantom off of him. He grabbed onto his ankle and tried to remove it from his chest, but that only made the villain press down harder.
"You're going to listen to me, now, hero," Seth said and smiled. "I'm going to take your mask off, and then you're going to die."
"Fat chance," Darien said, struggling to say it. The Phantom reached down for his mask and slid one of his fingers under it, ready to lift it off. The Warrior began to struggle and pull his hand away.
"Stop!" Someone shouted.
Confused, the two looked over to see a girl standing there, her red locks of hair twisting and blowing violently in the hurricane-level winds. For some reason, she had a feeling that she needed to help the hero. She stood there, staring blankly at the two with innocent, brown eyes.
Caroline? Seth thought. Why the fuck is she out here? She'll get hurt..
She really shouldn't be out here right now, Darien thought.
"Caroline!" Andy called. He had obviously been running after her, as he was out of breath. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
She was unresponsive to Andy for the moment. She just stared at the two boys, studying them. She wanted nothing more than to help, but she really wasn't sure what to do at that point.
News crew workers began to focus on her, watching this frozen girl stare at the scene as if it were transparent. At this point, the Phantom had stood straight up again, leaving the Warrior's mask alone. Darien secured it tighter to his face.
He used this opportunity to get back at the villain, forcing him into the brick wall behind them. For a moment, he was over powered, punching and kicking the distracted villain, who appeared to stop fighting back. Still, the Warrior had no time for sympathy, pummeling his enemy into the dust.
Andy took Caroline's hand, motioning her to come with him. She broke her gaze from the fight and nodded, locking her fingers with his. The two decided to take off together, running away from the situation and any danger. By the time they had gotten away, Darien had flung the villain into the cage. The lightning appeared to have solidified, staying in shape. The Phantom was trapped by a force that only Z could open.
"Me? I don't kill people. Face it, Phantom. We're never going to have a clear winner here. We are equals," Darien said, stepping up to the cage.
"We will never be equals," Seth snarled, clearly pissed that he was caught in the trap.
"We're at another stalemate, my friend, except I'm on the good side of the cage," Darien said with a smile.
"I'll rip your eyeballs out of your skull!" The Phantom growled.
"I'm sure we'll meet again soon," The Warrior said, making his departure. Seth sighed and sat down on the ground in the middle of the trap.
Z, excitedly, was notified about the trap and had been making his way to it, eager to finally congratulate his monster of a villain. He approached the cage to find Seth inside and he frowned; his blood began to boil in anger.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" He shouted, using a weird, transparent device to open the cage. It disintegrated into ashes all around them.
"It's my fault, sir. I saw someone I loved, I was afraid of hurting her," Seth admitted.
"You need to be able to think through situations like that, boy! Be smart or don't love anyone at all!" Z shouted, smacking Seth across the face.
"Yes sir," Seth said and sighed. He felt like crying.
"Meet me in my office, now," Z said before disappearing. The black sky slowly turned light again, sun glistening against broken glass and destroyed building parts. Seth decided to turn invisible to make his way to the plant, feeling quite embarrassed.
He could never do anything right in the eyes of Z. Z was the closest thing to a father that he ever had; he just wanted to make his old man proud. He often remembered his own father beating him when he was a child; he didn't mind it though, because he had a dad. When he was taken away, he had no one. Z seemed to fill that spot, at least a little bit. Seth didn't even know his identity. No one did.
He met outside his office to receive his mental beating, and stepped inside, ready to be screamed at.
***
Darien walked in the room to find Caroline there, crying. Andy was sitting with her. As much as he didn't like him, he didn't actually have a restraining order yet. He just decided to ignore him and talk to Caroline.
"Caroline, are you okay?" He asked softly.
"I saw them today," she sobbed.
"Saw who?" Darien asked her.
"Them, the hero and the villain. I was so close up, I'm just.. I don't even know why I'm crying," she admitted.
"It's okay, are you hurt?" Darien asked.
"No, Andy, he protected me," she said. Darien looked at Andy, who looked right back at him.
"You're probably just in some shock," Darien said. He stepped over to Caroline and gave her a hug, which she accepted happily.
"Caroline, I'm gonna go, okay?" Andy said softly. Caroline nodded and thanked him again. He got up to walk out of the room and made his way for the door.
"Andy," Darien said. Andy turned around to face him.
"Thank you for taking care of Caroline," he said softly, not a single expression on his face.
"You're welcome," Andy said before excusing himself from their room. He shut the door behind him.
"I'm sorry I brought him in here," Caroline sobbed. "We have been hanging out and studying together and I wanted to tell you guys but all this happened before I could."
"Caroline, it's okay. I'm not upset, really," he said, still hugging her.
"I just wanted to help that Warrior so badly," she admitted. "He's doing the right thing. He's a hero."
"I think the same thing," Darien said softly.
"Do you think he'll ever win?" She asked him, looking up at him.
"You know, I sure hope so, Caroline. I really do."