Chapter 3: Nightmare
The city of Dekota... Four days later...
Hotstreak lay on his pallet at the old abandoned juvenile detention center, his friends, Ferret, Sheve, Rubberband Man, Talon, and Ebon all fast asleep... Hotstreak was in a hot sweat, the nightmare had started earlier that night... That creep Replay was prowling around an ally when he suddenly set his sights on his prey... The most beautiful woman Hotstreak had ever seen... She had eyes as blue as the ocean and beautiful golden hair... She was dressed in a fine gown of silvery white silk... She turned her eyes to him and smiled, holding her hand out to him... He took it and the scenery suddenly changed... They were at the rec center in town where Mr. Edwin Alva had his high society ball to announce new buildings being built or other things like special guests coming to town or something like that as well... It was always a black tie occasion... As of right now, Mr. Alva has been trying to enlist the help of some of the strongest bang babies to help him on his latest project... Reviving his son... His son in a fit of rage, stole the bang baby serum in an attempt to bring his father to his knees and prove to him that he was a somebody... Unfortunately, he took in too much of the gas and it turned him to stone...
Like all bang babies, Hotstreak hated Alva and for that reason alone, refused to help him... Though he did feel a bit bad for the kid... That happened two years ago... There was probably no hope of saving him now any way... Suddenly, he saw a woman with long white hair in the same style as the other woman's, and her eyes were a purplish blue... She looked very kind... Suddenly, she spoke in a deep melodic voice...
" Save her... " The woman said sadly...
"Who... Who are you?!" Hotstreak asked in awe.
"It matters not who I am... You must save her... You must save my daughter... It is your destiny... " The woman said gravely.
"But... What am I supposed to save her from?" Hotstreak asked worriedly...
The woman pointed her long elegant finger at the other woman and Hotstreak watched in horror as a gunshot rang out and he heard the blond woman gasp in pain... Her beautiful sparkling silvery white dress had a large crimson stain blooming between her breasts... The crowd was frozen as the girl crumpled to the ground... Hotstreak ran to her and caught her just before her head hit and looked around helplessly...
"Somebody help me! Please! She's dying!" Hotstreak cried frantically...
Ebon and the others awoke to Hotstreak screaming in his sleep...
"Hey man, calm down!" Ebon said worriedly, " Who's dying?!"
"The woman... That woman... Please... She's dying!" Hotstreak cried in despair...
It took about an hour before they finally got Hotstreak to calm down...
" What's up man?!" Ebon said worriedly, " You sure as hell aren't normally one to be spooked by nightmares!"
" It's nothing... I just need to work off some steam is all... " Hotstreak said getting up.
Before his friends could stop him, Hotstreak left and headed down to the docks where the big bang happened... Once he got there, he unleashed all his firey fury... On the other side of town, Virgil was getting ready for school when he heard the phone ring...
"Hello?" Virgil said answering the phone.
"Hey man!" Ritchie said worriedly, " Get down to the docks stat, Hotstreak has gone bolistic, he's destroying everything Edwin Alva has down here!"
"OK Ritch, be there soon!" Virgil said and quickly hung up the phone...
"What was that all about? " Mr. Hawkins asked.
"Ritchie wanted to meet early before school so we can study one more time before a big algebra test... See ya pops!" Virgil said quickly running out the door...
Once he got far enough away, he quickly changed and flew up into the sky as Static Shock... It wasn't hard to pinpoint the location of Hotstreak... The entire warehouse owned by Alva industries was up in flames... Hotstreak wasn't very far away, screaming angrily and breathing fire at everything in the vicinity...
"Hotstreak!" Static Shock shouted, " What's your problem man?!"
"Mind your own damn business Static!" Hotstreak spat angrily.
Visions of that beautiful woman being shot was replaying over and over again in his mind, Hotstreak screamed and hurled fire ball after fire ball at Static and Gear who aptly dodged each one skillfully.
"What's wrong with you Hotstreak?! " Gear demanded hotly, " You need to stop destroying everything! "
"All I want is to be left alone! " Hotstreak growled angrily...
Hotstreak was about to throw another fire ball when static quickly zapped him, rendering him unconscious...
"What should we do now?!" Gear asked worriedly staring at Hotstreak.
" I'll send out an electric signal letting the police know our location. " Static Shock said.
Static raised both his hands and sent out a lightning like burst of power, lighting up the morning sky... Within a few minutes, police sirens could be heard wailing as three patrol cars screeched to a halt and several armed officers got out with weapons drawn... Thankfully, Hotstreak was still unconscious, making it much easier to apprehend him... Placing a special heat resistant metal handcuffs on his wrists, they quickly got him into the police car and secured him, then turned to Static and Gear...
' Great... ' Static thought to himself annoyed, ' It's Trina, pop's girlfriend! '
" Well, you boys had your hands full this morning huh?" Officer Trina said smugly.
"Yeah, a little... But Hotstreak has been apprehended, so we better go... See ya!" Static said raising into the air.
" Hey! " Officer Trina said, "Wait!"
But static and Gear were already out of sight...
Once they cleared the police officers, Static and Gear got back into they're street clothes and hightailed it to school, making it to class just as the second bell rang... School was pretty uneventful, a news event here, a current even there... But later after school let out, Virgil went the back way to go home when he suddenly ran right into Ebon...
"Hey!" Ebon said angrily, " Watch it kid!"
"Uh... Yeah... Sorry man!" Virgil said, turning to run when Ebon grabbed a hold of him...
"Hang on a sec... You know anyone named Hotstreak?" Ebon asked.
"Uh... I heard of him... He's a pretty strong bang baby... Why?!" Virgil asked a bit taken aback...
" Something's up... He won't say what it is... But something's got him really upset... " Ebon said worriedly. "He's not a hard guy to miss... If you recognize him, will you give him a message for me?"
"Uh... Sure... I guess, if he doesn't beat me up first... " Virgil said under his breath...
" Tell him we need him back... His friends are really concerned about him... Ok?" Ebon asked.
Virgil nodded his head and Ebon handed him a piece of paper with an address quickly scribbled on it...
"This is our new hang out so Static can't find us... Let him know where it's at... Ok? It's in the nastier part of town though... " Ebon said.
"Alright... I'll be sure and let him know. " Virgil said turning to leave...
"Hold on man... " Ebon said, " Give the paper back for a minute... "
Virgil gave him a puzzled look before handing the paper back to him... Ebon jotted something else on the paper and then handed it back to Virgil...
"What's your name kid?" Ebon asked.
" Virgil Hawkins... " Virgil said without thinking.
" Thanks for doing this Virgil... I'll have your payment later... " Ebon said turning to leave.
"No, you don't have to do that. " Virgil said in shock...
" I want to... Your helping me get my friend to come home... So I really owe you one... " Ebon said turning, " See ya later... "
After saying that, Ebon disappeared into the shadows...
" Man... What did I just agree to?!" Virgil said to himself...
Virgil went straight to the police station against his better judgement and ask the receptionist to talk to Hotstreak alone... The receptionist looked at him as if he had a death wish, but permitted him to be alone with the prisoner... Hotstreak sat up the minute the guard unlocked the cell door allowed Virgil to enter... When the cell door was shut and locked back into place, Hotstreak was the first to break the silence...
"What are you doing here Virg? " Hotstreak asked somewhat surprised.
Back when Hotstreak was known as F- Stop, he beat Virgil up pretty often... And every time, it was particularly for no reason... So why the hell would he risk getting beat up to come here?!
"I was on my way home from school when a friend of yours stopped me and asked me to give you this... " Virgil said turning the paper over to him, "He said to let you know that your friends do care about you... And you can talk to them if something is bothering you. "
" I'd rather talk to someone who's... You know... Like a counselor? " Hotstreak said. " I kind of already went bolistic on my crew and scared the shit out of all of them... I'd rather not go back right now... "
" Well... I do know someone you might be able to talk to. " Virgil said hoping to be of some help, dispite they're past.
"Who?" Hotstreak asked
"My Pop's. He's counseled kids before for all sorts of reasons... I'm pretty sure he might be able to help you. " Virgil said as he called for the guard to come back.
When the guard appeared and let Virgil back out of Hotstreak's cell and disappeared with him, coming back a few minutes later. When the guard unlocked Hotstreak's cell and stepped aside, Hotstreak didn't know what to make of it...
" I got us a ride to my house. " Virgil said smiling.
About ten minutes later, Mr. Hawkins showed up and escorted them to his car... The ride to Virgil's house was quiet and a bit awkward, but not overly so. Virgil seemed a little nervous about sitting next to Hotstreak in the back seat, but tried not to show it...
"You don't have to be nervous around me you know... " Hotstreak said closing his eyes, " I wouldn't do anything to upset you... Not after you've helped me like this. "
Virgil looked at him in shock, but Hotstreak kept his eyes closed and stayed that way until they arrived at they're house. Unlike Virgil and his father, Sharon was visibly upset by Hotstreak being with them and didn't hesitate to voice her opinion of him... Very loudly...
" I can't believe you let him in our house after all he's done to Virgil!" Sharon said angrily.
"Sharon... " Mr. Hawkins began.
But Sharron quickly cut him off.
"No pop's, when Virgil called, saying he had a friend that needed someone to talk to, I thought he meant Ritchie, so I called him to see if he was OK. Ritchie told me that they don't hang with anyone else most of the time, but that they had on a police scanner about a bang baby going bolistic for no reason and destroying stuff! Then Ritchie told me about F- Stop bullying Virgil and even hurting him on a daily basis?! Uh-uh, no way am I putting up with having a thug like you in our house!" Sharon yelled angrily, "You need to leave! Right now!"
"That is enough young lady!" Mr. Hawkins boomed angrily, " I'm well aware of what this young man has done in the past... But it obviously wasn't that bad, otherwise, Virgil wouldn't have asked me to help him... Right Virgil?"
"Right pop's." Virgil said smiling nervously.
" Why don't you go ahead and start, son... " Mr. Hawkins said addressing Hotstreak...
" OK... " Hotstreak said nervously, " All this started about two weeks ago... I started getting flashes of a blond haired woman with ocean blue eyes... That's all it was... Just a glimpse of her here and there... I didn't think much of it when I first started seeing her... Then I saw her more frequently... Just about every time I closed my eyes... I still thought it was nothing until about four nights ago... A white haired woman with purplish blue eyes came to me and begged me to protect her daughter... That's when my dreams became nightmares... I saw her get shot... Every night, I saw her bleed to death in my dreams... I don't know what to do! I don't even know her name!"
"Is that why you were down by the docks?" Virgil asked, " You just wanted to be alone so you could figure out what your dreams mean?"
"Yeah... What do you think Dr. Hawkins? Could they really mean something? " Hotstreak asked.
" I honestly don't know... But if your having them as often as you say are are... They definitely could mean something... " Mr. Hawkins said thinking.
" Oh please. " Sharon said irritatedly. " You can't seriously believe him! He's obviously playing both of you..."
Hotstreak started to protest but suddenly, the flashes began again...
Hotstreak saw a blinding light, then the scenery changed. No longer was he in Virgil's house, but was instead in the large dance hall at the town red center... There were glass crystals hung here and there, giving the place a sort of out of this world ethereal beauty... Suddenly, the whole town was there, dressed in they're finest to honor Edwin Alva and his latest achievement... Then there she was... A vision of angelic beauty in the silvery white gown and knee high warrior style silver sandals... She had a glittering silver and crystal necklace she was wearing on her head like a tiara and had silver crystal berets in each of the buns she wore... God she was beautiful... Everyone gasped and got out of his way as he slowly walked towards her...
" What's your name?" Hotstreak asked as if in a trance...
"Serena... " Serena said blushing.
" Serena... May I have this Dance?" Hotstreak asked as a soft melody began to play...
Serena smiled and offered him her delicate hand and they slowly spun out on the dance floor...
'This is so strange... I don't even know how to dance... Yet... Here I am... And to think I used to hate dancing... ' Hotstreak thought as he continued to dance with the enchanting woman he knew only as Serena...
Though in his vision, he saw Serena, in reality, he was in fact, dancing with a very flustered Sharon! Sharon raised her hand to slap him when her father stopped her.
" No Sharon... Look at his eyes... " Mr. Hawkins said to his daughter...
Sharon looked at Hotstreak's eyes for the first time and gasped... His irises had turned pure silver and were glowing...
"What is wrong with him?!" Sharon asked in shock.
" I believe he's having a vision!" Mr. Hawkins said in shock.
"Serena... Your so beautiful... " Hotstreak said suddenly kissing Sharon's hand.
Hotstreak was entranced by Serena's radiance and beauty... She danced as if she were floating, and it took all his strength not to lean in and kiss her... Suddenly, Hotstreak spun her close and whispered to her...
" I'll protect you... Beautiful Serena... I'll guard you with my life... I'll never let you go... " Hotstreak said holding her in his arms...
Suddenly, Sharon flew out of her body and watched as a horrific scene took place... Her body transformed into the woman Hotstreak had described before her very eyes! Shocked at seeing this, as well as the decorated dance hall of the rec center where everyone was dressed elegantly... She watched Hotstreak and the woman as the music stopped and her mouth dropped as he leaned in to kiss her when suddenly, the sound of a gunshot rang out... Sharon gasped as she felt the pain of the bullet between her breasts as her body below had a stain of blood between her breasts... Sharon watched as her body crumpled to the floor, though it still looked like the woman named Serena... She watched as her eyes turned blackish blue as the life drained out of her... Then she was falling... Sharon slammed back into her body so hard that it threw Hotstreak backwards...
When both came to, Hotstreak was the first to speak...
"What happened to her?! I remember... Having that dream again... Are you OK Sharon?" Hotstreak asked worriedly.
"Yeah... My chest hurts... But I'm OK... " Sharon said a bit shakily, " I... I saw the woman... I saw myself transform into her... And I saw her get shot... I felt her pain as she died... "
End chapter...
Authors notes : I'm sorry this was such a long chapter, but I had a lot of focus on Hotstreak and how he and Serena will eventually meet, so it turned out to be quite long... But the next chapter will have more on Hotstreak's visions of Serena and her fate... Until then... See ya😉😘💖💖💖