Chapter 7

Present day

Darla and the Nameless Superman sit at their table inside of a fancy Hawaiian restaurant with a white table-cloth and windows covering the sides of the restaurant. Darla sits directly in front of Nameless in her red dress with no back and stilettos. She passionately holds his hand, smiling at him and he smiles back. Nameless lifts her hand to his face, seeing the gold wedding ring on her finger. Nameless then looks at the ring on his hand, admiring it. Nameless and Darla lean forward and kiss slowly, enjoying the moment. They sit back once again as they begin to eat their meals. Darla then loses her smile, thinking about something. "Nameless, do you remember when Rudy took you? Marsha was worried for your safety. So was I, actually." Nameless stops eating for a moment, now remembering what she is talking about. "Marsha was the only one who saw what happened that night. I didn't know until afterwards that you found her."

"I heard her shouting for help and I came. That's when I found out that you had been taken."

California, 1944...

Marsha had called the police station for help, but no one would take her seriously because she was a minor. She ran back outside barefoot in her nightgown screaming for help. It was then that she felt something brush past her from behind. "Marsha," said Darla. Marsha turns around, seeing Darla in a grey dress and grey high heels. Marsha runs over and hugs her. "Marsha, what happened?" Marsha answers in a scared voice. "Warden Jones took Ethan, Darla! I think he went back to the prison!" Darla caresses her head, trying to figure out what she just heard. Darla then kneels down, staring into Marsha's eyes. "How did he take him?"

"Warden Jones had this strange glow in his eyes. It looked like he was hurting Ethan."

"Are you sure of what you saw?"

"Yes! I didn't tell the police that part because they wouldn't believe me, but they turned me down anyway!"

"What happened after the strange glow?"

"The warden saw me leave the house and run over to try to save Ethan, but he used elephant like strength on me, knocking me against the outer wall. The warden then grabbed Ethan and flew into the sky." Darla now begins to look worried. "You believe me, don't you?" Darla nods and stands up. Darla then hugs Marsha again to comfort her. "Don't worry, we'll find him."

The next morning, Ethan sits on the ground inside of a storage closet. His arms are chained to the shelf to prevent his escape. He looks up to his right, seeing the sun shining through the window and hitting the wall in front of him. Rudy then enters the closet and shuts the door behind him. He then stands in front of the sunlight entering the room. "Oh yeah, that feels good. Oh I'm sorry, am I robbing you of your food," mocks Rudy. Rudy kneels down in front of Ethan and begins to revel in his findings. "If only I had found you sooner. I had no idea that there was someone else like me out there, another human with special powers. Of course, I had no idea you would have had this kind of power." Rudy briefly closes his eyes and inhales through his nose. "I know what you're thinking, Ethan. Actually, your name's not Ethan Kent; in fact, you have no name. You are also a lot older than you look. You're also married to a negro." Ethan looks up at him and Rudy just shrugs. "To each his own, I guess." Ethan continues to stare at him.

"How did you know about my wife?" Rudy looks back at him, responding calmly. "I got it from you. See, when I look at something or someone, I drain their energy, but not only that..." Rudy then points to his head. "I hear their thoughts. I know what they know. That's how I knew that Ethan Kent is not your real name." Rudy walks back over to Ethan. "You've been to a bunch of different places, man with no name. Let's see... you've been to Brooklyn... Salem, 1770... France... Egypt, you were in Egypt," asked a surprised Rudy on the last part. "You were in Japan, but not recently. You were there a long, long time ago. You're old. Really old. Impossibly old." Rudy kneels back down in front of Ethan. "At first I thought about killing you for spying on me, but then I wouldn't be able to drain you anymore. Unfortunately, I can't keep what I take with my energy drain, which is why I am keeping you here, oh and..." Rudy takes out Ethan's projector. Ethan then struggles, trying to get it back.

"I took this off of you so that you wouldn't get any ideas." Rudy stands back up and walks out of the storage closet. He locks it behind himself with a padlock to keep his guest from escaping. Rudy looks around at the empty desert. He looks up at the sun, feeling it touch him and give him more energy than it ever has before. With one leap, he takes off.

Darla asks around town to see if anyone has seen Ethan, even visits the prison that he works at. The prison guards say that Warden Jones never came in to work today either, which is weird. Darla then thinks back to what Marsha said last night and takes out her small, square-shaped purple matter projector. Pressing the button, she begins to see Warden Rudy Jones and tries to learn more about him.

Rudy lands at the First National Bank in San Diego. He walks inside and marches over to the teller window, but doesn't stop. "May I help you, sir," asked the female teller becoming suspicious as Rudy seems to be storming at her like a bull. Rudy chops down the stall in front of him and makes his way to the vault. A security guard runs in front of him, putting up his hand in defense. "Stop," shouts the guard, but Rudy tosses him aside with ease and rips open the vault. He grabs a large sack and begins to fill the bag with as much of the bank's cash as he can carry. The burglar alarm has sounded, but Rudy is not worried. He looks up briefly but then smiles, because normally he would be afraid of getting caught, but not when you're invincible. He takes the cash and walks outside before taking off in a blur.

Later, Darla is at the crime scene looking around. It is after dark, so no one can see her. She tries to use x-ray vision, but it seems to be fading. Darla then takes out a syringe gun with the needle coated in what appears to be red sunlight. It is tiny, but the vial sticking up on the top rear of it contains a miniature yellow sun. Darla sticks it into her neck and pulls the trigger, flooding her body with the energy. Her eyes flare red as her 24 hour powers are restored. She then sees fingerprints on the damaged vault door. She takes out her projector and it tells her that they belong to Rudy Jones. It also tells her that he had high concentrations of ultraviolet rays inside of him at the time of the robbery. Darla puts the projector back in her purse and takes off at super speed.

Darla hovers in the clouds, looking at the trail left by Rudy through her projector. The screen then shows her Rudy, entering a storage closet somewhere in the California desert earlier today after the robbery. She then sees inside, seeing Nameless chained down to the shelf by his arms. Rudy then generates a glow from his eyes, making Nameless cry out in pain. Darla becomes worried and at the same time, angry. Rudy then locks him back in and leaves.

Darla drops the screen and now knows where Nameless is, but she also knows that Warden Jones is a parasite, draining her husband of his powers. Darla then flies back to the arctic, a plan forming in her mind.