Author's Note: Well, we've made it to the last official chapter. It's been a fun ride, but this is where shit gets pretty dark.


"Anything yet?" Asked Lucas over Wednesday's earpiece. She scanned the New York dusk out her windshield again.

"No." She replied. "How about from your point of view?" She waited just a few moments for his response.

"Nothing. You think they went back into hiding?" He guessed.

"Probably. They seem kind of crazy, so maybe they want a night setting for dramatic effect." Lucas knew this suggestion was a definite possibility, and sighed for Wednesday to hear.

"I know, but the sooner we can get them locked up, the sooner our lives can somewhat return to the rut." She tried to console him.

"Can we at least take a-" Wednesday heard an explosion from Lucas' end.

"What's happening?" She yelled to him, swerving from a traffic jam and speeding down a random street, hoping it was in his direction.

"A garbage barge near Liberty Island just blew up!" Lucas explained. "It's obviously a way for them to lure me there."

"I'm on my way." She skidded around another corner, and immediately had to slam on her breaks to avoid running over someone, who at a closer glance turned out to be Lady Magnificent herself. The woman smirked, and Wednesday cautiously brought her hand down to the button that would bring up the machine gun hidden in the hood. The villainess waved her over like a child, grinning widely and pointing up at the brownstone Nera had stopped in front of. Wednesday furrowed her brow and contemplated exactly what was happening right now.

"Come on!" Lady Magnificent called, and dashed through the front door of the house. Wednesday thought of the garbage barge, and that this too seemed like a very obvious trap. So obvious that they probably expected her to do the exact opposite of going into the house, that her GPS quickly told her was actually a group home for children.

"Lucas, something's come up, but I'm fairly certain you won't find both of them. Be careful." She said into her earpiece, and waited for Lucas' walkie talkie response.

"Yeah, just Ultraman here!" He shouted frantically from his end. Wednesday looked straight ahead, knowing she could go help him, and then looked back over at the group home. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and flung her door open. Charging into the home, she could only hope that Lucas would be alright.


"So tell me, Lux, what got you into the superhero business?" Ultraman asked casually as if he weren't in the middle of mid-air combat. Lux continued to circle defensively, knowing that the psycho would strike at any moment.

"I did it to stop scum like you." He said, and got a plastic smile from Ultraman.

"Now, that wasn't very nice." The man mockingly scolded. "You and I have barely spoken ten words to each other, and you're already making assumptions." Lucas crossed his arms.

"What exactly is your angle?" He asked, causing Ultraman to throw his head back in laughter.

"If only I knew the answer to that question." He admitted, and rushed Lux, getting right in his face. "Have you ever thought of the possibilities when you're like this?" Lucas nodded, hoping to talk him down to a place where he could be detained.

"Every day." He admitted, hoping Ultraman couldn't read minds as well. "You know, sometimes I wake up and I wonder why I even bother saving these inferior people when I could rule them." This lie pained Lucas to say, but it seemed to satisfy the brute. Ultraman smiled, and grabbed Lux by the collar of his suit.

"Exactly!" The villain agreed. "It's why I ate that insolent scientist. It's how things work on the food chain." This was the first Lucas had heard of any kind of cannibalism, but he somehow wasn't surprised to hear it. "We shouldn't be treated like damn celebrities. People should worship us!" Lucas nodded along with everything he said while quickly looking around at the open air and water below. "I mean, the Romans worshiped gods, right? We're gods! Me, you, Dalia, that cute little spitfire of yours…" Ultraman's voice trailed off, and Lucas' hands balled into fists at his side.

"Nera." He said under his breath.

"Yeah, yeah, Nera." Carson shrugged off. "Didn't that pretty young thing once kick your ass on live television?" The older-looking man chuckled.

"Yeah, she's um, pretty tough." Lucas stuttered to come up with anything that couldn't potentially put her in danger.

"Mmmm." This sound that Ultraman emitted made Lux sick to his stomach. "I like it rough." Lux had time to take one deep breath before his eyes flashed red and Ultraman was propelled away from him, allowing him one punch before he was grabbed by the throat.


"I can tell you like children." Lady Magnificent said to Wednesday behind her back as she stretched her arms into a crib to pick up a newborn wrapped in a bundle of blankets. "It's moving, really. One pathetic thing caring about another," She reached into the blanket to get a better look at the baby. "But it simply won't do if Carson and I are going to let you live." Wednesday cautiously stepped closer.

"Listen, my lady," Nera addressed her sarcastically. "I can assure you that I am everything but pathetic when it comes to bludgeoning you so severely that your brain will be dripping out your nose."

"Ooo, I'm so scared!" Dalia shot back. "Kid, you don't know the lives these ones have to look foreword to. Most of them end up working for people like me, shooting up between their toes and getting into cars with old men who like 'em young." Wednesday glared at her. "So to be quite honest, blowing them up would be doing 'em a favor." The villainess held up one the explosive disks.

"If you know what's good for you, you will put the baby down right now." Wednesday growled.

"Ummm…no. I'd rather not. It helps give me some leverage." She looked down at the disk and pressed a few miniscule buttons. "You have two minutes to make your decision."

"What decision?" Asked Nera, stepping closer to her.

"Let the people here die, or join me and Carson." Lady Magnificent said with a smirk. Wednesday blinked a few times.

"Please tell me you're kidding." She said dryly, and the villainess just shook her head. "You said two minutes?" Wednesday asked for confirmation.

"That's right." The younger woman looked down at the floor, as if to make a difficult decision. But instead of Lady Magnificent getting an answer, she was met with a series of punches from Nera. She stretched her arms around her head to protect her face. "Bad decision, bitch!" She screamed, and kicked blindly at Wednesday, making contact with her shin. "These people will die here, and so will you."

"We'll see about that." Nera shot back, and tackled her, going right through the brownstone's brick wall. They crashed down to the street with Lady Magnificent managing to land on top, and she wasted no time in getting a few punches in.

"You're weak!" Dalia shrieked before connecting her open hand with Nera's cheek. "You think I don't know how to deal with little bitches like you?" This time a punch to Nera's nose. She marveled in the wonderful sound of crunching bones, followed by the geyser of blood. "It's a damn shame. You had such a pretty face." In an act of sheer cockiness, she reached a hand out to stroke Wednesday's hair. Her wrist was instantly grabbed, and the other arm flew out and stretched itself around Wednesday's neck in an attempted sleeper hold.

"You know what's fun about being a complete shut-in?" Nera asked while gasping for air. Lady Magnificent raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" She asked.

"Time to work on non-academic skills. Like mixed martial arts." Dalia had no time to react before Wednesday twisted the villainess' wrist, causing her to loosen her hold on her neck, which opened the door for her to break free.

"Impressive." Lady Magnificent said through her teeth when she looked up to meet the end of Nera's crossbow.

"Oh, you have no idea. This thing's loaded with bolts that will send five-hundred volts of electricity through you. Would you like to see if you, like rubber, don't conduct it?" The heroine received only a glare. "Good. Now give me the disk." The bomb was just ticking to zero the minute it connected with her palm, and she had only moments to throw it into the air, above the houses. When Lady Magnificent thought Nera was distracted by the cloud of flames, she outstretched her arm, only to have Wednesday grab her wrist once more, this time using it to flip her onto her back. She coughed from the ground. The young heroine leaned over her, smiling.

"My very first super villain. Where's the Polaroid when you need one?"


Lucas caught a glimpse of an explosion in the city's distance, which elicited a sigh from Ultraman. He let up on the smaller man he held down on the frosted grass of Liberty Island.

"Uh oh. Looks like things didn't go well between the two of them." The villain gave a malicious smile. "Sorry." Lucas tried to bring his hand to his now-empty ear, wishing desperately to hear Wednesday's voice.

"Nera's gotten away from those stupid bombs before." He defended. Ultraman nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, but that was with you. Not to give you too much credit, but I recall a two person effort." Lucas had to keep reminding himself that Ultraman was only trying to emotionally compromise him. He simply couldn't think of the alternative.

"She can hold her own." Lux said with confidence.

"I certainly hope so." Ultraman admitted. "Dalia's fun, but there's something rather boring about how...willing she is." Lucas had to swallow the bile that once again threatened to come up. "That one of yours; so young, so feisty. Oh, I could teach her a thing or two."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Lucas spat, and elicited a nauseating eyebrow-waggle from the freak of nature.

"Oh, I assure you that I'll do much more than touch her." Lucas gritted his teeth tightly, hoping that Wednesday had the idea to get away from the city, if she'd survived the fight. Either way, he had almost come to terms with never seeing her again, and that if made it so he'd decided it really wouldn't be so bad if Ultraman had the mercy to kill him.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Lucas asked, causing Carson to sigh.

"Oh, I couldn't kill you just yet." He started. "Because truly, I think you're right; your little girlfriend is indeed alive. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to drag you back to her, but unfortunately, there will be no time for a tear-jerking reunion." Ultraman got as close to Lux's face as he could. "I'll lay her down, peel off that outfit of hers, caress her all over-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Lux screamed. This was ignored, and the villain continued to describe in vivid detail every last depraved thing he would do Wednesday.

"But you know the best part of all of that?" Carson asked. Lucas thought that he would rather die than hear what could possibly be the worst in the ordeal he just described. "I'll let you watch. And she will be screaming your name. Over, and over, and over again!" Lucas' eyes instantaneously began to glow red again; this time staying that way.

"Someone needs to teach you some manners!" A voice far lower than the one of Lucas Beineke's roared as Ultraman was lifted off of him by an invisible force. He stood and smiled at the stunned and possibly scared look on the man's face. Just a twitch of Lux's eye caused his face to turn to the side, as if it had just received an unbelievably strong right hook. He repeated the action on the other side, and reveled in finally causing the brute pain. "Boy, I've never done this before!" Lucas yelled gleefully, and even the villain himself was slightly unsettled by this side of him.

"Hey man, why don't you calm down?!" He yelled after he'd gotten a force-punch to the eye, feeling it close from the swelling. Lux broke into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Oh, you really think I should calm down?!" He screamed rhetorically, and Ultraman began to float towards him. "I know the one thing that could do that!" He looked back at the green statue looming over them. Deep down, he remembered learning about how the Statue of Liberty was made of copper, but oxidization from the water surrounding Liberty Island caused it to turn the color it has been since 1920. This new side of Lucas caused him to grin at the marvelous weapon

"What are you really going to do? I'm just as much of a freak as you. The two of us will be fighting forever!" Ultra yelled, and Lux tilted his head to the side.

"Nah, I think I'll just end this with twenty-nine electrons." Carson merely raised an eyebrow in confusion before he was thrown into the air, colliding with the statue's midsection with a clang. He led out a blood-curdling scream as smoke rose from his back, lasting several minutes before he went quiet, and Lux unceremoniously let him go.

"I hope you're happy." Carson croaked between coughing fits that spewed blood out of his mouth. "You won." And just as Ultraman died, the red lights from Lux's eyes went out, and he too collapsed to the ground.


Lucas sat on a nearby rooftop, watching as Nera was trying to get away from a hoard of reporters. The sight of her awkwardly answering questions and restraining herself from hitting anyone would have been rather funny at any other time. The initial relief of seeing her alive and well had been overpowered out by the ever-increasing sorrow that threatened to drown him.

He'd retreated to the city upon regaining consciousness and seeing what he'd done. Only bits and pieces of his rather terrifying episode were coming to him, but he knew that it wasn't him. Something about this new power had taken control of him; Lucas Beineke was not a killer. The heroes in his comic books had always avoided killing at all costs, and he'd always stuck to their philosophy. Of course, he'd made up his mind on the matter when he was certain that the only thing he'd have to deal with was ordinary crime caused by human nature.

No matter what the young man told himself, be it that Ultraman's grizzly death had saved countless lives, or that he truly deserved it, the sick feeling in the pit of Lucas' stomach just wouldn't go away. He turned off his farsight, taking away his view of Wednesday, and the usual white light that glowed from his eyes. Lucas rubbed at them, remembering the feeling that had consumed him when he'd killed Ultraman.

The catalyst of it could only be his blind rage, which was not something that happened to any real heroes aside from the Hulk. Maybe, just maybe, the villain had been right about the two of them being equals. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he hadn't even heard the clang of Wednesday's grapple hook on a pipe. He became aware of her presence only when she sat right next to him.

"Big night, huh?" She asked, having already heard about everything that had happened. He nodded, and she sighed at his lack of communication in a time like this. "You know it wasn't bad, right? He would have done worse to you." Lucas turned to her.

"Did you kill the girl?" He asked upon seeing the plaster on her nose up close.

"It's a clean break; not even a deviated septum. I didn't have the heart to tell the EMT that it had already healed before he could set it." She slowly pealed it off, revealing her now slightly crooked nose. Lucas gave her a look that told her he didn't appreciate her dancing around the subject at hand. "After untangling her arms, they sent Magnificent to a government insane asylum on an island somewhere near the city." She admitted. Lucas nodded.

"So I guess you had total control over the situation?" He asked bitterly, but Wednesday understood.

"Not quite, but that's probably because we were both inexperienced." She tried to reassure him. "I would have done the same, had I been in your position."

"No, you wouldn't have. You didn't spontaneously gain Carrie-esque telekinesis." He defended, and the scientist in her made her eyes widen.

"You have another power?" She asked, intrigued by the possibility of a late manifestation. Unfortunately for Wednesday's research, Lucas hardly had any intention of doing it ever again.

"I just can't help but think that this goes against everything I've ever stood for." He elaborated, and she nodded.

"Things aren't always completely black and white, Lucas." She rested her head on his shoulder. "Having one dead body and a slight dent in the Statue of Liberty, compared to a lot of danger for the whole world, is a pretty light shade of gray." The corners of his mouth went upward, ever so slightly.

"Who'd have thought that the ambiguous villain of my story would be the one giving me a speech about morality?" Lucas asked, and Wednesday laughed at her first speech to him.

"Well, I guess those first impressions were pretty inaccurate." She admitted. Lucas raised his eyebrow.

"So, how was your first interview?" He asked, and received a smack to the shoulder.

"Reporters are evil and I still despise them. You can keep the limelight." The man chuckled.

"I don't even want it anymore."

"Yes, well, the society we live in hardly gives us a say in the matter. And you never know where you stand with them. One day they could be saying we robbed a bank, and another day they have a fact sheet about us together." The girl explained, not hiding her disgust for the modern times.

"Where do we stand, exactly?" Lucas asked, taking Wednesday aback for a moment, but she regained her composure immediately.

"Well, we've been on one date, confronted my ex-boyfriend, had admittedly great sex, and have possibly saved the world together...I'd have to say it's too soon to tell." Lucas smiled.

"Whatever you say." He said, looking down at the street below.

"Well, I'm hardly going to get into any committed relationship without properly introducing the person to my family, first." She said in a joking attempt to make herself sound aloof.

"Okay. Then let's go!" Lucas stood, startling Wednesday.

"Wait, now?!" She asked as he swooped her up into his arms.

"Yep." He grinned, jumping into the air. "Let's be crazy." Wednesday pulled Lucas' face down to kiss him. This action seemed to turn on his white lights that matched the late night city. She noticed upon breaking the kiss, and smiled.

"Well, your name will always suit you. Lucas, Lux, you're always the light."

"But what's light without a little darkness?" He asked, running his hand through her hair. They both shared a wordless glance and a smile before Lucas swooped downwards, heading for unknown adventures and the rest of their lives.


Cheesy ending, I know, but I just had to end on a fluffy note. Ummm…stay tuned for the "after the credits" epilogue. There may or may not be shawarma. And don't forget to review!