"Help!" a cry screamed through the air. "Oh God, somebody help me!"
Leni rushed as quickly as she could. The screams piercing her ears like knives. The voice was male, and it was coming from a dark alley.
She drifted down and saw two figures leaning over a bearded man.
"C'mon," he begged. "Please. I wasn't gonna do nothing. I swear!"
"We were watching you," one of the assaulters explained. He was hunched over, dressed in black. "Had your eyes on that rich family, right?"
"What? No!" he swore. "Lady had a nice necklace, is all!"
"Sure." The other one, mocked. He was wearing overalls. "Not thinking about mugging them at all, right?"
The man didn't answer.
"We're superheroes, you know," the overalls explained. He had springs locked around his shins. "He hurt bad guys."
"Oh god…" the man sounded even more terrified. "Please, man. I wasn't gonna…"
"I think that's enough." Leni called out.
The two muggers spun around, while the man on the ground scrambled up and ran away.
"You again." Springlocke recognized. "Buzz off. We're working here."
"No time for playing pretend, princess." The sickly Nox added.
Leni bristled, but put her hands on her hips. She managed to maintain a calm and imposing image.
"Surrender," she ordered. "And I'll see that you're treated fairly."
"Cute." Springlocke crouched down. "But I think we're going to decline."
He launched forward, firing himself like a bullet. Leni barely had enough time to step to the side when he zipped by.
She followed him, seeing him land in the street with cars. The stopped vehicles laid into their horns, screaming at the teenager to get out of the way. Springlocke just looked at the one closest to him. He raised his foot up, and slammed it on the hood of the car, completely crumbling the front of it into a V shape.
People shouted and screamed. Most of them ran. Springlocke freed his foot and took a step to the driver getting out.
"Stop!" Leni cried out. She zipped between the tall boy and the scared man. "What is wrong with you?! These people are just trying to live their lives!"
Having his full attention, the red head glared down at her. Leni heard the man she defended run away.
"They think I'm a freak!" he shouted at her. "Ain't none of them innocent!"
"They… did they hurt you?"
"Not yet," Springlocke answered, his tone never varying from anything but deathly serious. "I never gave them the chance.
"They already drag me through the mud for being a hick in the big city. Like I can afford to overhaul my wardrobe first thing! I go to school in what I got, and it ain't good enough?! Now I got this power, and I'm an even bigger freak! I bet you're thinking the same thing, ain't cha?"
Leni stammered. "I don't… I didn't even-"
"Well whoop-de-doo, you can fly! But you can't do this!"
He spun around, rounding his foot around his body and slamming his heel into Leni's stomach. She flew back, slamming into a different car stopped on the road. She fell to her hands and knees on the pavement, fighting for air. The pain faded enough for her to have a complete thought.
"Can't… do this… alone..." Leni heaved. She pressed the intercom in her ear. "Guys…? You there…?"
She got up to one knee and managed to shakily stand up. She leaned against the car she hit, catching her breath.
Springlocke was joined by his buddy.
"You didn't go crying about your backstory, did you?" the edgier of the two expressed. "I keep telling you; nobody cares where you're from."
"Hey!" Leni called out, grabbing their attention. "Not done yet!"
Nox sighed, and rolled the one eye Leni could see.
"I'll show you how its done," he told his companion.
He turned and lurked over to Leni. Leni stood up straight and took her stance, just like when she practiced with Lynn. He walked closer, and when he was in range, Leni took a step forward and threw a punch into his jaw.
And then, through his jaw.
The darkly dressed teen evaporated under her touch, turning into a green and brown cloud that washed itself over her before she had any say.
Immediately, her eyes begin to water. Her lungs started to burn. Her gut reaction was to cough and hack as she fell to her knees again.
"Leni?" Lincoln answered. "What's going on?"
"Can't-" she hacked. "Breathe-!"
"Fly. Up!" Luna suddenly ordered.
Leni braced one foot under her, kicking herself up off the ground and into the air. She rose up, higher and higher, until she was above the buildings around her. The air cleared as she got away from her assailant. She took a few seconds to catch her breath.
"Leni," Lincoln advised. "This might not be a fight we can win right now."
"What?"
"You might just have to leave it this time," Lincoln said again. "I know Lynn has more hockey pads. And I know there's a gas mask around her somewhere…"
"No, Lincoln," Leni argued. "They're right here. If I leave them now… I need to stop them."
"Who's Lincoln? You talking to a president?"
Leni spun around to see Nox reaching out to her. He could fly to?!
Leni fell back, diving back to the street. She watched Nox as she fell, watching as his legs were replaced by the same cloud that tried to suffocate her. He chased after.
She pulled up in time to not smack against the pavement, and flew away, circling up and down the street like a demented game of tag.
"You're all the same!" He shouted after her. "Us guys make the effort to be nice and compassionate! But you act like we're the bad guys!"
"Is he…?" Luan wondered.
"I mean, probably," Luna dismissed. "Leni, how do you plan on dealing with him? You can't let him touch you."
"Uh…" She tried to think of some ideas. "Give me a second."
She turned just in time to see Springlocke had joined them in the air, and was bringing his foot down on top of her.
She was slammed down to ground level; swatted out of the air like a fly.
Oh look, she landed on the same car as before. Cool. Cool…
As she groaned and rolled off of the glass and folded metals, she saw the two villains rejoining. She heard shouting in her ear, begging her to run away.
But she can't. That would be cruel. That would be cowardly.
"Failed…" she sucked in breath. "Failed too many… times…"
She planted her feet on the pavement and straightened her back. She stood as tall as she possibly could.
"I'm not running away," she declared.
With a shared look, the two villains grinned wildly. Nox turned into a cloud again and charged forward. Springlocke crouched down low and sprung himself at Leni with frightening amount of speed.
Leni couldn't explain why she did what she did next. She only knows that, for some reason, it worked.
She sucked in air, until what she thought she couldn't take in anymore. She held her breath as she just barely sidestepped Springlocke's assault. She managed to dive forward, flying under Nox's cloud body. As she bypassed the both of them, she turned back around and released the breath she'd been holding, like she was blowing out a birthday candle.
Except… it wasn't just like blowing air out for a candle. When she blew the air she'd been holding, it came out sounding like a howling wind. It hit with the force of a hurricane. It tipped over the car closest to her. It pushed others, making their tires skid across the street until they hit the curbs on both sides. Springlocke, who was just recovering his sense of balance from his attack was caught up in the winds and, though he tried to fight it, was blown off his feet. He was flung into the side of a building at the end of the road, pinned to the wall.
Nox's body, which was a little less than solid, got blown apart immediately. He evaporated, no trace of his gaseous form to be seen.
"What... just happened?" Luna sounded befuddled.
"Super Breath!" Lincoln cheered. "She's got super breath!"
It was hard to how long the winds lasted. It felt like there was more air in her lungs than what she actually took in. Eventually though, she ran out, and heaved to get the air back in her system. After she recovered, she looked around. Some people who were hiding in the buildings nearby, were sticking their heads out to see conclusion. Leni quickly flew over to the redheaded boy, who had fallen to the ground from the wall he was slammed against. He groaned on the sidewalk.
Leni reached into her pouch, pulling out a prototype version of the handcuffs Lisa had made. According to her, this should suppress his abilities.
She pinned his arms to his back, and snapped the device around his wrists.
She hesitated, and addressed the teen.
"You know," she stated. "I was told that Superman was a farm boy who moved to a big city. You could have been just like him."
Springlocke just laid there with a sneer across his face.
"…Shut up," Was his only response.
Leni stood up and scanned the area.
"Where'd the human fart go?" Lincoln asked.
"He'll turn up again," Luna answered. "I don't think that was enough to actually... get him."
"Yeah," Luan agreed. "He'll show up again, alright. Like a bad bean burrito! It'll be a gas when he does!"
Leni shook her head and picked up the defeated criminal. Off to the police with you!
One down, four to go.
Luna held her chin in her fingers. March? What happened in March? A restless night of staring at the ceiling with a young toddler clutching to her shirt gave her no answers. Nor did this day; featuring the villains "Fart boy" and "Spring-Heeled Jack." Leni was referencing something, but she just couldn't think of what.
She walked down the stairs, deep in thought. She was only brought back to reality when her mother called her from the kitchen.
"Luna!" she called out, "Come help with the dishes!"
Luna blinked and obeyed. She grabbed a towel on the rack and set to work.
"I'd call Leni but…" Rita sighed. "Honestly… That girl doesn't want to do anything."
Luna didn't answer. She just did her part, drying the plates one by one.
"Hey Mom?" she then wondered. The woman perked her eyebrows and hummed. "Do you…" She hesitated. She was seriously reaching here. "I was wondering… Did something happen, like back in March?"
"Hmm," Rita furrowed her brow. "Something… like what?"
"I don't know," Luna shook her head. "I'm reaching. Leni's been… I mean… I don't want to say depressed but…"
"She just needs time, sweetie." Her mother reassured. "She doesn't like the changes happening in her life, and she needs to find her own ways to cope with that."
"No, that's just it," Luna explained. "I think something's really bothering her. She mentioned something happening in March and… for the life of me, I can't remember what she's talking about."
"Well, what did she say?"
"It was a conversation," she told her. "She said she was eavesdropping on-"
Luna froze. Realization struck the base of her skull and ran down her spine like lightening.
She tried to argue with the point. No, that couldn't possibly be it. She wouldn't have taken it seriously. There's no way!
But the argument did nothing to dwindle the thought. If anything, it made it grow in the back of her mind like a flood.
"No…" Luna uttered, leaning on the counter. "She couldn't have held onto that for so long."
That day, Leni was getting ready to go with their dad to go get her driver's license. Luna was chilling on the couch, envious that the family ditz was going to get the freedom that she would have to wait a whole year for. Leni, being Leni, forgot her purse, ran upstairs and…
Luna said some things she shouldn't have.
She went on this tirade at her parents. All about how Leni shouldn't be driving. She threw in how often she struggles with the simplest of tasks. How she's not doing well in school (something she knew nothing of, but said anyway). How she'd never be able to actually take care of herself.
Yes, she actually said that.
She justified it, in her own mind, that she would stop the second she heard someone at the top of the stairs. And they might even take her along to bend the rules and get her own license.
Naturally, her parents scolded her. Saying that she should be supporting her sister. Even Lori gave her a disapproving look. Like she had any room to judge.
Luna was being bitter. She was being irrational. Because she wasn't going to get what she wanted at that very second. The conversation ended with the decision that she wouldn't be allowed to get her license for another year, on top of the one she was already sitting through.
She relented, flopping back on the couch, and thoughtlessly picking strings on her guitar. She would get over it, eventually.
But with hindsight, she didn't see Leni as she walked out the door with their father. She had certainly taken her time searching for her purse upstairs…
The more she thought about it, the more she realized the older girl must have heard every horrible word she said. Her room's right above the living room, after all.
"Oh my God," Luna finally accepted the awful truth. "I did it. I broke my sister."
