Chapter 11

Arc 1

Sunstone City

It was an early sunny morning in Sunstone City as the birds were chirping as they flew around. The sun was slowly rising up as the man known as Cedric Harvey stood on a balcony looking out at the city he spent his whole life in. It was the city he loved. The city he met his best friend in. The city that he went to college in. It was the city, he planned on living his life in. It was the city he wanted to be the hero in. He wanted to save the world but he NEEDED to save his city first. He needed to save his city from The Monarchy. They were cancer. A cancer that needed to be wiped out and he was the man to do it. The only thing stopping him was himself and his fear.

He leaned up against the balcony with his glass of scotch wearing his same outfit from last night. He exhaled as he took a sip from his glass.

"I know you weren't about to leave without saying goodbye." He heard making him smile as he saw Madison Maverick standing at the door in her same outfit from last night.

"I wasn't leaving yet. I just wanted to come out here and think."

"What's on your mind?" She said as she walked over to him standing next to him.

"A lot. I got a lot of pressure on me. I'm just wondering if I can live up to it."

"I know what you mean. One of the cons of being a maverick is everybody expects you to make the world a better place but how can I make something better if it doesn't want to be better?" She rhetorically asked as she shrugged her shoulders. She then looked over around the city taking in the scenic sunrise over the city skyline. To say that Sunstone City was beautiful was an understatement. The city had a passion for taking your breath away and making you believe that beauty does exist.

Cedric turned his head and looked at Madison with a smile. He turned his head and reverted his gaze back to the city. There were very few women in his life that Cedric could say that he honestly trusted. There was his mom, Kala, Dr. Hart, and in a short amount of time, Madison was added to that list. She knew exactly what he was going through. The pressure of saving the world and making it better. In Cedric's case, he had the power to do so. It was just the fear that was holding him back. He had donned the suit before but then it was easy. It was easier to be a hero since no one knew he was back. It was easier to just be the hero and not Cedric but now he had to be the hero and Cedric.

"Hey-" They both spoke simultaneously making them chuckle as they turned to glance at one another.

"You go first." Madison spoke.

"You wanna maybe go on a date? Friday Night?"

"Sure, I'll make sure I have my schedule clear for Friday night."

"Great. I'll see you then." Cedric then turned and started to walk away but Madison grabbed at his wrist before he could walk away. She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"See you on Friday." He smiled as he walked away with the thought of her on his mind.

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Harvey Family Household

Cedric stood in front of his home now with a frown on his face. He exhaled as he prepared himself for the intense round of questions that were going to be asked. Mostly by his mother and maybe some by Kala if she was there, which he was hoping she wasn't. If Natalia was there, she might even ask some of the questions.

He walked up to the door and before he could even put a hand on the door to knock, it swung open, and there stood Kala.

"I take you out with me and my friend and when we prepare to leave, we find out you left already with a woman. Care to explain?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Answer my question."

"You first."

"You can't answer a question with a question and besides I asked first."

"Well, you if answer mine I'll answer yours."

"Just answer the damn question."

"Fine, I did leave the club early with a woman. And what she and I did is our business. So now answer mine."

"Natalia and I came here last night looking for you and your mom invited us to stay."

"Yep, that sounds about right."

"So did you like her?"

"What?"

"Did you like her?"

"I do like her." Kala's face turned into a sly smile as she playfully slapped her best friend's chest.

"When are we gonna meet her?"

"When I feel like it. Now can I come in my house?" She rolled her eyes and stepped to the side allowing him to walk into his home to see his mother sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hand and a newspaper in her other.

"I-"

"Don't need to hear it. You're a grown man, you can make your own decisions. I just hope I get to meet her."

"Maybe if it all works out. Now I'm going to go shower and take a nap in my room if you guys don't mind."

"Actually I'm still laying there."

"Actually you're not, you're here messing with me." Cedric said making Kala roll her eyes as she walked away from Cedric and made her way back up the steps. He exhaled and turned to look at his mother who still had her attention set on her newspaper.

"Are you mad?

"No."

"Then why are you so quiet?"

"I'm reading the newspaper son. People still do that."

"I think only you." Cedric said as he walked over to his mother and sat beside her on the couch. He surveyed his mother looking at her with a smile. His mother was only in her 40s yet she looked like she was in her 30s. She had short dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes with dark brown eyebrows. She turned and looked at her son with a confused smirk on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing just looking at my mama."

"So when will I met her?"

"I don't know mom. I don't even know if things are gonna get that far between us. It was just a night that led to a date with her next Friday."

"Who is this girl?"

"I'm not giving you a name just so you could find out everything about her."

"Or maybe it was a he?" His mom joked making Cedric look at her with a frown. She chuckled as she saw his reaction.

"That's not funny."

"It was to me." He rolled his eyes as he stood up and walked to the kitchen to get something on his empty stomach. He looked around the kitchen until his eyes set on a stack of Waffles she cooked this morning for everybody. He grabbed one and started to munch on it until he heard his phone ring in the living room making him walk out of the kitchen to the living room.

"You better not be eating yet." His mother said looking over at him.

"Relax. It's just 1." He said as he then answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cedric, it's me, Dr. Hart. How have you been?"

"Good just adjusting to life again."

"Well, that's good. Hey, I got something you might want to see."

"I'll be there shortly. Where we meeting?"

"My apartment. And hurry, I think you're gonna want to see this. Also there's a man claiming to be your father here."

Alright, I'll be there." He said as he hung up his phone and dropped it on the couch sighing.

"Who was that?"

"Dr. Hart, she says she got something I need to see. So I'm gonna get down there and see what she's talking about."

"Alright, just make it back safe."

"Mom, I'm bulletproof. I'm pretty sure there's nothing that can hurt me." He confidently said as he walked towards the door while she rolled her eyes. He turned back taking a look at his mom before he closed the door and took off running away in a blur.

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Downtown Sunstone City

Cedric stood outside of Dr. Hart's apartment. He frowned up as he heard some commotion making him frown as he turned around looking for the source of this noise. The extensive abilities of his hearing helped him a lot when it came to looking for trouble. He looked around until his sight finally fell on an alleyway across the street. He ran across the street to see a tall, bald guy with his hand wrapped around the throat of a short, petite girl with brown hair and blonde highlights with chocolate brown eyes and caramel skin in the corner of the alleyway behind the trash can.

"Hey leave her alone."

"This has nothing to do with you! This whore picked a fight with the wrong guy!" He turned to look at Cedric but kept his hand around her neck.

"It does now." Cedric said, taking a step forward. The man loosened his grip and pointed a gun at Cedric making him smirk as he bolted in front of him and grabbed the gun from him breaking into pieces and lifted him up by the neck.

"Now that I got you to listen. I'm gonna put you down and I want to run and don't look back. And if you tell anybody about what you just saw, I will hunt you down and I don't give up." Cedric threatened, making the man squirm in his grasp. Cedric let him go and watched as he scurried away from the scene while Cedric turned to look at the girl.

"It's okay. I"m here to help."

"I know you are. And you just made a big mistake." She said, making Cedric look at her confused. She grabbed a hold of his wrist and Cedric felt an intense rush of pain hit his body as he watched her eyes start to glow blue much like his eyes when he used his powers. The pain was unbearable and Cedric passed out dropping in the alleyway. The girl looked up at the sky as her eyes were glowing blue while she gave off an evil chuckle before she bolted away leaving him there on the ground unconscious from the extensive drain on his energy.