Chapter 7

Arc 1

Club Zero

Miles Maverick pulled up in an alleyway outside of his nightclub, Club Zero, driving his matte black Maserati GranTurismo. He got out of the car closing the door behind him before walking to the door and typing in a code, unlocking the door. He entered the nightclub and walked up the steps to his office. In his office, he saw his Lieutenant Adam Pierce sitting on his couch with his feet propped up on his coffee table drinking a glass of scotch.

"Get your goddamn feet off my $30,000 table." Miles scolded Adam making him take his feet off the table, mumbling something inaudible earning a look or two from Miles. Adam was a 5'10, Caucasian male in his late 20s with dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Adam and Miles's partnership started years ago when Miles took over unifying the gangs of Sunstone City as The Monarch. Adam was one of the few who advocated for Miles to take over and helped him do whatever he needed him to do.

MIles walked over to his desk and fixed himself a glass of scotch quickly gulping it down before setting the glass down.

"Now what's the problem?"

"There's a few. Remember that kid from last year, he used to work for you. Last name's Harvey."

"No, doesn't ring the bell."

"Well, anyway, he supposedly died last year and he's back, I know because I've seen him."

"People don't die and come back, Adam. This isn't a fairytale. Now give me the real news and not this bullshit."

"Of course, you don't believe me." Adam muttered, earning a look from Miles. "Natalia Del Sol…" Adam was speaking but was cut off by Miles who spoke.

"Sister of Sebastian Del Sol." He finished.

"Yeah, her brother got locked up a few years ago. She's been in town now for a while, goes by Natalia Rodriguez, you want me to deal with her?"

"No, she's not an issue, Adam. But from what I have seen we've been getting ripped off by the Vagos. They've been smuggling some of our drugs, I've calculated a loss up to 500K, I need you to deal with that tonight."

"Alright, I'm gonna need a crew. And not the kind we got. I think we need the special ones you've been working on."

"They'll be ready but be careful, these clones are made out of nanites, you'll need the controller for them to function, you lose that controller, you lose control. If all goes well tonight, these nanites may be the future. An army at my control." Miles said with a smirk as he then walked out of the office.

"Yeah at your control." Adam muttered under his breath.

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Sunstone City Herald

Kala sat at her desk writing down a list of questions. She had a bunch of questions. Questions for the Black-and-Blue Blur, the man that would call The Defender of Sunstone City, The Champion of Earth. But he wasn't the only man that she wanted to question. She wanted answers from her best friend. She watched him die a hero, saving her and the city but now he was here and he joined her earlier with Natalia. People don't die and come back to life, so how did he? She had so many questions and she wanted answers. No, she NEEDED answers.

She tapped her pen up against her notepad as she thought.

"Kala!" She heard as her train of thought was broken as she looked up and saw Natalia staring at her with eyes of worry.

"Are you okay?" Natalia asked as she placed a hand over Kala's.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You were looking deep in though there. Something on your mind?" Yeah, something was on Kala's mind: Cedric.

"Nah, I was just thinking of some questions."

"Okay, well hopefully this Black-and-Blue blur gives us something soon. We got a deadline in a week. People want answers on this guy and if we can't get any we've failed as reporters." Natalia stated as she looked at her computer while Kala exhaled.

"And there's a cutie coming towards us." Natalia said as her attention changed from the computer screen to see Kala's boyfriend, Joey Adams walking towards them. Kala sent her a look making Natalia give a confused frown.

"Oh." Natalia muttered as she recognized him as he got closer. He was the guy that was in one of Kala's pictures on her desk, her boyfriend.

"Hey, babe." Kala stood up and hugged her boyfriend who gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"Babe, this is Natalia Rodriguez. Natalia, this is Joey Adams, SCPD Detective, and my boyfriend." Natalia stood up and shook hands with Joey exchanging a friendly smile.

"So you ready for lunch?"

"Yeah just let me grab my purse. Natty, you want something?"

"No thanks. Have fun." Natalia said as she winked at Kala earning another look from her.

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Harvey Household

It was a few hours later as the super-powered hybrid walked into his home to see his mom sitting on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table with a glass of wine in her hands. She turned her head and looked over at him smiling.

"Hey sweetheart." His mother said as she stood up and walked towards him giving him a hug making him smile as he hugged his mother back.

"Hey, mom."

"How was your day?"

"Alright but it's not over yet, Kala wants to go out tonight and catch-up over the past year."

"I understand her. I have questions about it too."

"Yeah, but I can't tell her the truth. Even though my heart is telling me to tell her."

"Tell her what?" His mom asked as she folded her arms.

"About what I am." His mom sighed as she put her face down into the palm of her hands.

"So you know." She said.

"Yeah, I do. And I appreciate your attempt to keep it a secret from me, you were only doing what's best. Doing what you had to do to protect me. But you don't have to do that anymore. I think I'm gonna use these abilities to protect Kala, you and this city."

"Your father used to have the same type of mentality. He had a hero complex believing that he could save everyone. I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told him, everyone needs saving and that includes you. So with that being said, I ask who's gonna save you when you need saving?" Cedric looked down at the ground as he let what his mom had to say sink in. It was true, everyone needs saving and he was no exception. The question was who would step up and save him.

"I don't know but when that time comes we'll find out."

"Son, you're a grown man. I can't stop you but I can guide you. If you're serious about this hero thing, I want to help you. And I want to start you on the right path."

"What do you mean the right path?" She walked to the coffee table and picked up the manilla folder she took home from work and handed it to Cedric. He looked at the folder's cover before opening it up, seeing the pictures of some of the dead bodies. He recognized one of them, Michael D'More. Michael and Cedric were classmates at Sunstone High. They were both members of the football team with Michael ebing Half-back and Cedric being a Wide Receiver. Cedric used to call him Mikey Mikey to annoy him and get him to play better.

"Michael D'More. We used to play football together. Mikey used to tell me that in life isn't just about playing defense but sometimes you have to work the offense to succeed in life."

"I'm sorry son. But he's just one out of the many murders committed by The Monarch. From what we gathered, he's like the leader of all the gangs in Sunstone City. It's almost like he united them."

"I'm gonna handle it." He said as he threw the folder down on the coffee table and walked up the stairs before his mom could say anything. Just as he went up the stairs, the doorbell rang. Kimberly walked to the door and opened it showing Kala who stood at the doorway wearing some blue skinny jeans with a grey long sleeve crop top with black ankle boots. Her hair was slightly curled up and she had red lipstick on with a black handbag.

"Kalani, you look nice!" Kimberly said as Kala walked into the house smiling.

"Thank you, Mrs. Harvey. So is he home?"

"Yeah, he went upstairs to go change."

"Okay, good. I missed him."

"I know sweetie, I did too. I can't even begin to tell you how many times, I went to that grave just begging for him to come back."

"I went there for hours and hours just about everyday. Just to talk to him, even if he wasn't there. I told him about my day, about how I missed him, about random things. I just wanted to talk to him."

"And now he's here and it almost feels like that entire year was just a lie."

"Yeah, I feel that. When I first saw him, I thought to deny it at first but I didn't."

"You want to sit down and wait for him?"

"Sure." Kala followed Kimberly to the couch as the two sat down and started to chat with each other. After about 10 minutes, Cedric walked down the stairs wearing his blue jeans with his black skinny jeans with his wheat timberland boots. He had a black v-neck in his hands as he walked down the stairs getting a stare from Kala who looked him up and down before her eyes finally settled on her abs. He chuckled as he put on his shirt breaking her attention.

"Ready?" He asked as she smiled and nodded.

"Alright, mom I will see you later." He said giving his mom a hug and kiss on the cheek. She smiled as both Kala and Cedric both walked out of the house to go have fun.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Local Bar

Cedric and Kala were both laughing as they both were drinking at the bar. Cedric missed this the most. He missed being able to go out and have fun with his best friend. This was what drove him to come home the most. Her smile, her laugh, the way she looked at him. Those butterflies he got in his stomach he got whenever she was around him.

"I'm happy to be back." He said as he took a sip of his beer. He watched as the smile on her face faded away. "What?" He asked.

"I'm happy for you to be back, I really am but I gotta know, where the hell were you?" She asked, making him exhale as he looked her in the eyes. He had to think about what he wanted to tell her. If he told her the truth, he could be putting her in danger. If he lied, he could keep her safe.

"When the Fusion Reactor exploded, all the rubble fell on to me. All I could see was dirt and rubble everywhere I thought I died for a minute." He said with a pause. "But I was pulled out by a man. I was unconscious for 3-days and during the time, we somehow got to the Northwest part of the country like Oregon or Washington or something. I stayed there for a while until I could leave and I did. I came back for you. I came back for my mom. I'm not done living." He said looking at her now noticing the tears starting to build in her eyes. He raised his hand and wiped away the tears.

"You know last year, I thought you were dead the whole time. I went to your grave site everyday just talking to you about whatever. And the whole time to think, you were alive."

"I was and I was fighting everyday to come back to you."

"And you did. You were the reason I decided to take Journalism. I figured that I could live my dream in your honor. I could do what you never had the courage to do." She smiled as she joked making him chuckle.

"That's gonna change. Life is too short for me not to take advantage of it. I'm gonna use some of my ideas and maybe start a future."

"That's great." She said, giving him a hug as he chuckled.

"Yeah, I-" Cedric was saying but Kala's phone rang making her turn her attention to the phone. She picked it up and looked at it before looking back up at him.

"That's Joey, he wants me to come home. I'm sorry."

"No, your fine. Go home to your boyfriend. Speaking of which we'll have to talk about that, I want details. And I got this round." Cedric said as Kala smiled giving him one last hug before walking out of the bar completely. Cedric put down 3 $20s and took his phone out of his pocket. He heard the sound of gunshots from a far distance making him frown. He made a beeline out of the bar keeping his frown on his face. He quickly turned and walked down an alleyway making sure it was empty before he closed his eyes and exhaled as his suit started to materialize on his body while he opened his eyes as they glowed blue.

"Somebody's gonna get their ass kicked." Cedric said as he then bolted up into the air leaving a blur.

Casting:

Adam Pierce - Joel Kinnaman