She sniffled. “I knew that he had affairs when we were dating. For three years, I put up with his ways because he promised me things wouldn’t end like his first two marriages.”
I tried to groan, but I still had no control over my body. She sounded like a terrible person so far. Anyone with common sense wouldn’t buy whatever her husband was trying to sell. She could call herself a mother, but to that poor girl, she was probably just another one of her dad’s new wives. My mother and father were married forever, it felt like, until they were ripped away from me, while scum like her got to live. Tingling in my fingers started, and I felt my heart quicken.
“I did everything for Paula, and instead of being grateful, she seemed to enjoy showing me the video her mother had. How could he be sleeping with that whore of an ex-wife of his!”
I was about to groan when I felt the vibration starting in my throat. I was able to make a sound now, which meant her hold was weakening. The memory of my parents’ death had jumpstarted my rage and built my electric powers. I just needed more of the anger. For the first time, I listened to her story of a spoiled, rich life and thought of my parents, who’d worked so hard for everything we had.
I let my mind drift, feeling the twinge of power as it started to return. It was my father who brought the rage to me that I needed. I hadn’t seen him in days before the accident, a rift having started between the two of us. The memory was crystal clear as we sat around the table, picking at food.
“I don’t understand it,” he grumbled.
I glanced at him, his clean-shaven face and neatly rolled-up white sleeves even more infuriating to me. He didn’t know what was going on in my life, and why would he? A father who was never around and a mother who tried to baby me. I stabbed the meatloaf on my plate, and a chunk of meat went flying through the air.
My mother sighed as my father stopped eating. “You’re so smart. Why do you insist on acting like an idiot?”
“There it is,” I said, setting down my fork. “You think I’m an idiot, so why don’t you just come out and say it then? Stop beating around the bush!”
“I said you were acting like an idiot, not that you were one,” he shot back.
“Please, can’t we just have one family dinner without the two of you at each other’s throat?” my mother begged.
“I don’t see why sports is so damn important to you!” I yelled.
He glared at me. “Don’t you use that sort of language under this roof! It was that girl, wasn’t it? She didn’t like your being on the wrestling team, huh? Thought you should be some football player or something?”
“It had nothing to do with her,” I muttered.
It was the truth. I quit the team but she didn’t care about that. It wouldn’t be long before I realized that she didn’t care about anything that I did as long as I kept giving her notes and helping her to cheat in class.
“Then tell me what you were thinking? For five years, you’ve been on that team, but now what? Are you going through some sort of phase that I don’t know about?”
“Please,” my mother chimed in. “That isn’t any way to have a conversation. Why don’t you two try talking through this? Benji, is there a reason you didn’t tell us you quit? Of course, it’s your choice, but still, a little heads-up would be nice.”
“His choice?” My father interjected. “I’m the one who pays thousands in school and sports fees, but it’s his choice? In my day, if we played a sport then we stuck with it, even through temper tantrums.”
“You’re not helping the situation,” my mother growled at him.
His eyes leveled on her and I became nervous. I hated it when they fought, though it wasn’t very often. I knew most of the arguments were about me. She didn’t like it when we fought, but lately, that was the only time we talked at all. My heart started to race. He couldn’t really make me join the team again, could he?
“So, that’s it then? I just shouldn’t have any say in what I do with my life? That sounds like bullshit to me.”
His fist slammed down on the table, making me jump as he looked over at me. “I told you not to use that kind of language. You’re grounded, and no more internet. Maybe a little solitary will do you some good.”
“What?” I said. “You can’t take away my internet! That’s how I do my homework.”
“Not anymore. You can go to the library like the good old days. Maybe you’ll meet some friends with actual character there!”
“Here we go,” I muttered with a dramatic eye roll. “That’s what it is, right? If it’s not a girl, you’re complaining about my friends. God, I thought you knew what it was like being my age!”
“Really?” he said. “When I was your age, I was getting ready to go to war.”
I rolled my eyes again. It was my own fault for bringing up his past. He’d spent a year overseas, barely seeing any action, but he acted like God’s gift to the army. I just wanted the dinner and conversation to be over with.
“Fine,” I said. “I quit the team because I was no good. For years, I’ve sucked. Something you would know if you bothered to show up for the meets! Jesus, even Mom knew I sucked. Why do you think she isn’t complaining?”
“It takes practice to become good. You just wanted to quit.”
I slammed my cup down and pushed my chair away from the table. I couldn’t take it anymore. I would never live up to his expectations. His eyes grew wide, anger boiling over at the sudden interruption of his meal. Leaning over the table, I glared at him.
“I don’t care what you think. You’re nothing but a sperm donor. Mom is the only one around here who actually knows how to parent. Leave me alone!” I screamed at him.
Without thinking, I turned around and ran from the room, violently shoving open the back door and hopping on my bike. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to go, but it was better than being around him. My parents fought that night after I snuck back home and up to my room. For the first time in years, they were downstairs, screaming at each other. It wasn’t hard for me to figure out what was at the center. I was the screw-up.
“He’s a teenager!” she yelled at him. “You don’t have to be such a bully. Just because he isn’t like you were at that age doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
“I don’t care what he does! You think I care about wrestling? Of course not, but he needs to learn to stick with things! How many part-time jobs has he had this year? Six? Anytime something goes wrong or he doesn’t want to do it anymore, he just quits.”
“He’s a kid, and he doesn’t need to have a career yet. For God’s sake.”
“He needs more discipline,” My father said.
“Great!” she yelled. “Then stop working eighty hours a week and spend some time with him! I’ll go up there right now and ground him if it means you’ll spend the weekend here with him.”
“You know I can’t do that. I have a deal that’s about to close and I need to be there. You’re here with him almost every day. I think you should be a little stricter.”
“And I think you should leave,” she said.
I couldn’t keep listening after that. Like a child, I grabbed my pillow and held it tightly up to my ears. They couldn’t get divorced, not because of me. Nothing ever came from the fight. I don’t know if things were resolved between them and I never would. It was one of those heartbreaking reminders of everything I would never have. I didn’t know what bands my father liked or what my mother wanted to be when she was my age.
I had lost so much. I had given up hope and run away from confrontation. Maybe my father had been right. Maybe I was a runner, but I wouldn’t be like that anymore. I wanted to make my father proud, wherever he was. I wanted him to know that I was doing something good with my life, not just letting it pass me by out of fear.
Looking back on the conversation, I couldn’t believe the rage that filled me. He was tired and overworked. Fighting to keep his job at a cut-throat firm and keep a roof over our heads. Nothing that I did for him was respe
ctful. Now it was too late. I would never get the chance to tell him just how sorry I was. He was dead, just like my mother, while the insane Barbie in front of me was still around, ranting about her depressing life. I started to listen to her again as the rage continued to simmer. Soon, I would be able to break free.
“Stupid girl. After that I had to confront Walter. Well, instead of taking care of me, his wife and the woman who supported him for years, he up and left me!” she scoffed. “Can you believe that crap? All I wanted in life was a family, a good career, and maybe a little extra money.”
I could hear her hair brush against her shoulders as she shook her head. “But no. I don’t get a happy ending anymore right? The world ripped my husband and dreams away from me. The damn internet and snapchat. They suck the life out of you, you know?”
“Well,” she said with crazy laugh. “That won’t be a problem for me anymore. I’m taking this money and getting far away from all this crap. Enjoy your hell because I’m disappearing after this. Maybe I can get a few of the others like us to join up with me. I bet you’re rethinking which side you’re on now, aren’t you?”
She giggled. “Too bad, no second chances. Not anymore!”
It wouldn’t be long before I could be able to get out of the shell. I kept thinking about my parents and the injustice of their deaths. My hands started to tingle, the vibrations carrying throughout my body as I groaned. The purple light of my power was glowing on my hands. Taking a deep breath, I let the power surge, praying that Andy’s suit would protect me and himself in whatever came next. I couldn’t just let her walk away.
“What the hell?” she muttered.
I felt the darkness trying to wrap itself back around me. I knew that she was fighting me with her own powers. Whatever fear she felt was quickly hidden as she took in the battle at hand. I had to commend her concentration. It was almost enough to keep me from pushing forward. I saw my father, though, smiling and proud, and I knew that I had to fight her and fight the darkness inside myself as well.
“You think that you can get out of there?” she whispered sadistically. “I don’t think you realize just what you’re up against. I promise that those two back there weren’t my first, and you won’t be my last. I knew what I was after from the second I felt the power surge through my veins. You,” she scoffed. “You want to be a hero, but for what? To help people who are going to hunt you anyway? You want to waste your life taking orders from men who would arrest you, given the chance? You’ll never be able to have friends.”
I felt the power die down, but my heart sank when she continued to talk. She was walking away from me and I heard Andy groan behind me. She had turned her attention back to him. “This one, you think that you can be friends with someone as ‘normal’ as him?” She clicked her tongue again. “You don’t get to have friends anymore. Starting with this one, I think. See, he would end up turning on you soon. So really, I’m doing you a favor.”
The Darkness laughed as Andy’s mask fell to the ground. “Wow, this is the guy you pick to have your back? Boy, I bet you get beat up a lot in school. Don’t you, kiddo? No more, though. I’m going to take away all your pain and suffering and give it to your magic friend over there. You’ll just be a memory, and he’ll carry the weight of your death on his shoulders for the rest of his life. Like Cain and Able, how sweet.”
She was going to kill Andy just to prove a point. Fear started to creep inside me, shaking my resolve and dimming the electricity I had started to emanate from my hands. I had to focus on the rage. The Darkness was a perfect name for her. She was nothing, but I could make a difference. Andy could make a difference in this world. He was a good kid, but that bitch was trying to snuff out his life. It would be a cold day in hell before I would let him suffer for what I had done. I never should have dragged him into this.
The rage came back with full force. It was just like when I broke through and learned to master levitation. The rage poured through me, unhinged as it cracked against the darkness and shattered the invisible force field of darkness around me. The light was blinding as I gasped and closed my eyes. A peace inside me knew that I wouldn’t be harmed by my own powers. Nonetheless, it was a breathtaking sight to see. I was catapulted through the air, my body colliding with the van in a sickening crunch.
Chapter 23
I groaned, the shards of glass digging into my flesh even through the tough fiber of my bodysuit. There was only so much poking and prodding that it could take. I did my best to recover, gimping myself down from the van, the glass tumbling to the ground along with me. Ignoring the pain in my legs and chest, I stood up and glared at the woman. She was no great villain, no Darkness, just a bitter woman scorned, but it would be a cold day in hell before I let her get away with what she was doing.
“Cute party trick,” she said as she raised her hand to blind me again.
I matched her hand with my own, and a thin bolt of purple lightning shot easily out of my hand, knocking her backward, stunning her into silence, for once.
“So, should I assume you’re Jenny? Unless you’re just really bad at picking getaway cars.”
“The flower shop was a gift from my late husband,” she spat out bitterly.
“Late?” I asked.
“You don’t think stealing jewels was the first stop I made, now do you? Boy, your generation really is conceited.”
“So you’ve already murdered, and now you’re stealing. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t wipe you off this planet right now. That’s what you had planned for us, wasn’t it? Get away with it all and take out an enemy, all at once?”
She snorted. “What makes you think I don’t have backup coming, huh?” Jenny laughed. “You aren’t the only one with powers around here anymore, kid.”
“How many more of you are there?”
“Well,” she faked counting. “The police helped Clyde come to my side. Police brutality on a black man when he just wanted help really goes a long way nowadays. He’s probably building up quite the following as we speak. Then, there’s Clara. You would really like her.”
“Is that it?” I said.
Jenny shrugged. “See, the thing about your little boy genius here?” she said as she kicked Andy, who was slowly starting to come around. “There are dozens more like him out there. Clara was super-smart before this happened.” Jenny whistled. “Then, she became something else altogether. Now, she didn’t have a chance to get me a picture of your pretty mug before all of this, but thankfully, right before you got in my way, I made a call.”
I swallowed dryly. I didn’t like the sound of where this was going. The manic look in her eyes had returned. Nothing good was going to come of this.
“What did you do?” I asked her carefully.
“What any good villain would do!” she shrieked before lowering her voice. Jenny stood up, brushing off her skirt and taking a shaky step in my direction. Raising her hand so it was dramatically cupped over her mouth, she whispered, “I had Clara kidnap your little girlfriend!”
My heart started to race, my fingers tingling with a blinding rage like I had never known before. Everything around me started to pulse and vibrate with electricity. I could see it moving around me. Jenny’s face fell into a shocked frown as I took a step closer to her. I wasn’t going to let her distract me from what needed to be done.
“Help!” called a familiar voice from behind me.
I spun around and sucked in a sharp breath. It was Hen. Her arms were folded painfully behind her back, being held in place by a large woman with bigger muscles than I’d seen on bodybuilders. She had a black blindfold over her eyes, but I could hear the panic in her voice. The woman, whom I could only assume was Clare, was laughing in a masculine voice.
“You should probably get that one to a doctor,” I muttered. I turned my attention back to Jenny. Of course, I wanted to save Hen, but the only way that was going to happen was by dealing with Jenny first. “Let her go. This is between you and me.”
; She rolled her eyes and moaned. “Could you be any more of a lame cliché? She isn’t going anywhere until I walk out of here unharmed.”
I took a step closer to her and Hen screamed behind me as Clare tightened her grip on Hen’s arm. Instantly, I froze. The sheer terror in Hen’s voice was enough to send chills down my body.
“You really are a bitch. Did anyone ever tell you that?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “You win some, you lose some, but it’s been my experience that angry people tend to do a lot for money. I’ve promised Clare the best medical team in a non-extradition country. After all, she just wants her life to go back to normal. Isn’t that what you want too?”
I didn’t even need to think about it. I shook my head and saw something from the corner of my eye. It was subtle, but it was there. I had to keep her attention on me. Andy was starting to come out of it.
“Sure, but I’m not going to hurt people to get there,” I lied.
“I didn’t hurt anyone but that jackoff husband of mine, and he had it coming. Plus, this is our last heist. Why not end it on a high note and let us go? Otherwise, Clare is going to snap her neck like a twig.”
Sirens were quickly approaching and that meant I was running out of time. We had maybe a minute left before they showed up to arrest us all. I had a sinking feeling that Jenny wouldn’t let that happen though. As long as she made it out, she would kill us all if that’s what it took.
“Time’s over, loverboy,” she said as she started to raise her hand.
“Now!” I screamed at Andy.
He shot out and grabbed ahold of Jenny’s leg. Even I was stunned at how fast he seemed to move. In a split second, her attention was distracted and I had my opening. I shot a large bolt of lightning out of my hand and nodded my head at Andy simultaneously. He let go the second he saw the bolt moving through the sky, ducking his head and curling away from The Darkness. She flew through the air, and I spun around to deal with her goon. It was too late. Clare was gone in the wind, and Hen was left sitting in a ball, crying and trying to untie her blindfold.
The City Superhero (Book 1): Rise Of The Super Strike Page 17
