Chapter three
A/N: Thank you to all who are reading and reviewing! The words in italics are straight from Wikipedia. Okay, I don't have anything else to say, sooo… here's the next chapter! Once again, the Parrs belong to Disney and others belong to me. Enjoy!
I yawned, padding downstairs in my pajamas for breakfast. I had spent the night in my old room at my house, my parents wanting to know more about what was going on. We had moved into a bigger house after our previous was destroyed by Syndrome and that huge explosion.
As I entered the kitchen, I saw my mom and dad talking(which really meant they were fighting) about something in the newspaper. I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, causing their argument to stop.
"Good morning, honey." My mother greeted me, setting a plate of eggs and bacon down in front of me. I pushed the soggy eggs around on my plate with my fork.
"What's the matter?" my dad asked. I glanced up at them.
"You only serve eggs and bacon when something really bad happens." I pointed out. They both glanced at each other quickly. "The last time we had eggs and bacon, you told us that grandpa had died. What happened this time?" I asked nervously.
"It has nothing to do with personal stuff, this time its super stuff." My dad told me, pushing the paper towards me. I glanced down at the front page.
The headline read: New Villain Steals Town Jewel. Underneath there was a blurry still image from a security camera where you could see a dark figure, and another picture of an empty glass case that looked as if someone had melted right through the glass.
"She stole the Blue diamond, the crown of the Metroville Museum. The police station said that they got a note, supposedly from this villain, which claimed her name is sundew." My dad told me as I looked up.
"But, how did this happen?" I asked.
"As far as anyone knows, her power has something to do with being able to disintegrate things. She melted right through that glass case with her hands." My mom jumped in. I looked up in surprise.
"She could be defeated easily." My dad dismissed the issue.
"You always do this; never underestimate a villain's power!" my mom cried at him.
"Guys! Don't start fighting again, please?" I asked, wanting them to stop. They both turned to look at me. I sighed. "I-I'm having trouble with my powers." I gazed down at my plate.
"What kind of troubles?!" my dad asked, concerned.
"I'm not completely sure. I seem to be… developing a new power." I glanced back up at them. They looked at each other.
"Are you sure? That almost never happens." My mom came closer. I nodded.
"Well, that's great!" my dad nodded. "Never hurts to have more powers."
"It does if you can't control them." My mom shot him a look. "I'll call Dr. Demmer and arrange an appointment." My mom headed for the phone.
Dr. Demmer is a doctor for supers and we've been using him for almost ten years. He helped us with Jack-Jack's powers and when Dash got sick last year and temporarily lost his power. He has gray hair and glasses and always seemed to act more like family than a doctor. This would be one of the first times that he would have to be seriously concerned with me.
Someone came through the front door as mom finished arranging an appointment for me.
"Hey everyone, how's it going?" Duke greeted us as he and Lindy entered.
"Oh, hey Duke, Lindy." My mom smiled, hanging up the phone. "Hey, what are you doing tonight?"
"Well, I was thinking about taking Lindy out-" Duke started.
"No, Duke." She replied almost automatically.
"Well, you can't blame me for trying." He shrugged. "I guess nothing."
"Could you two babysit Jack? We have a meeting with the head of security at the museum tonight, and Dash and Violet both can't babysit." She said.
"Sure." Duke nodded.
"I guess so." Lindy replied less enthusiastically.
"Great! Now, I made him promise to not use his powers tonight, so he should be easy to take care of. Bedtime is at nine." She told them.
"I'm sure we can handle it." Duke smiled. I'm so glad I'm not them.
"Jack! Get back here!" I cried, trying desperately to chase the laughing boy that was currently flying around the house. Every time we passed a window, I paused just long enough to close the blinds. I'm sure the neighbors would be thrilled to see someone chasing a flying boy all over the game room.
As I was running across the living room, I passed Duke as he was sitting in a chair, leafing through a magazine. I stopped, panting as Jack flew out of sight.
"Duke!" I gasped, "Why aren't you helping me?"
"Hmm?" he looked up, "Oh, sorry. Are you having trouble breathing? You know, I can perform CPR."
"No, I'm fine." I sighed, standing up. "By the way, why are you reading a plant magazine?"
"Because, as it turns out, Sundew is a type of carnivorous plant. Here, look." He pointed to an article in the magazine. I leaned over him and scanned my eyes down the page.
The Sundews comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with over 170 species. These members of the family Droseracceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface. Insects that become entrapped in the sweet mucilage usually succumb to death within one quarter of an hour, either by exhaustion or through asphyxiation.
"Wow." I breathed.
"Yeah… what's it mean?" Duke asked.
"It means that this plant has a kind of slime it secretes and traps bugs with, killing them in fifteen minutes by either them exhausting themselves while trying to escape, or suffocating them in the slime." I told him, studying the picture of the beautiful plant. "It also says that it attracts the insects by the sweet smell of the slime, so I'm guessing that whoever this supervillain is, she probably is able to produce this acidic slime and also generates pheromones." My large word made Duke give me a blank stare. "You know, pheromones…like how animals are attracted to each other, kind of like perfume." I sighed. He blinked, nodding.
"You can't catch me!" Jack cried, flying past my head. Duke leapt up, catching the little boy before he could get away.
"Gotcha! Time for bed, little guy." Duke carried Jack towards his room, the boy protesting all the way. "And don't even think about trying to go all 'intangible' on me…" his voice trailed off.
My phone rang and I picked it up quickly, glad that Duke had finally taken care of Jack.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hey Lindy." I heard Zach on the other end. I held my breath for a moment, wondering if I was dreaming. "Are you there?" he asked after a moment.
"Oh, yeah, I'm here." I spoke quickly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Duke coming back into the room.
"Well, I was just wondering, since I have to do a story over it, if you'd like to come with me to see the school's play on Friday. They're doing Little Shop of Horrors."
"Well yes, Zach, I'd love to go out with you on Friday." I said loudly, staring over at Duke. I saw his face twist in surprise.
"Alright, well, I'll meet you in front of the auditorium at six thirty, okay?" he asked.
"Okay, bye!" I replied cheerfully before hanging up. I laughed, dancing around the room.
"Yes! I got a date with Zach Sanders! Alright!" I cried happily, bouncing around Duke. He appeared speechless for once, which was nice.
"What's the matter Duke? Cat got your tongue?" I giggled. He shook his head.
"No-no, I'm just… you think you could do better than Zach!" he said disgustingly. He was back. I stopped.
"Oh, no! You are not going to annoy me this time! This is what I've wanted for months!" I laughed before heading into the kitchen. For that one second when he was quiet, I had almost felt sorry for him Almost.
Dad had assigned me to patrol a part of the city once a week, just to stay in shape with my powers and abilities. I loved just being invisible, sneaking around and getting a glance of what's going on in everyone's life.
This night everything was calm, and nothing much seemed to be happening. That is, until I reached 26th street. I heard a yell, and saw a young man down on the street as he was snatched up by a blue blur. It was Warwind.
Warwind was a villain that I had dealt with a few times. He could fly fast, but always overestimated himself and made it easy for me to defeat him. Tonight would be no different.
I followed him for about five minutes, the whole time the young man that had been captured was screaming. There was something vaguely familiar about those screams…
Warwind swept closer to the rooftop, and I jumped at the opportunity. I leapt up at him, knocking him from the sky. We all tumbled to the ground. He got back up, dusting his blue super suit off. He had dropped the young man about a few feet away. I got up, running towards him.
"Ah, Spectrum, ready to lose this time?" he sneered.
"You know I always win." I rolled my eyes, turning myself invisible. He glanced around, panicked. I smiled; I had him.
Then, he grabbed the man off of the rooftop, dangling him off the edge of the building by his collar. I gasped, giving away my location. He smiled, dropping the man. I became uninvisible, creating a force field around Warwind, and then pushing it off the side of the building. I could hear him scream as he fell, but then I let him go. He laughed as he flew by me.
"Maybe next time, Spectrum!" he crowed. "You better save that boy now!"
I ignored him as I ran towards the edge of the building, jumping off the side of it. As I free-fell I managed to catch the falling man around his waist, then created a force field around us before we crashed to the ground. We landed clumsily, but safely. I let us go and the young man fell onto his stomach while I landed gracefully on all fours.
He moaned as he got up, and then turned to me. I had my back to him.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Spectrum." I smiled as I turned around, flipping my hair. Then, I stopped.
The man I had saved was Max.
"Thank you, I thought I was about to die." He sighed, glancing up at the rooftop we had just fallen from.
"Oh, uh, yeah. Well, I just…it's what I do." I stuttered nervously, trying to back away. "Saving people, and all. Really, it was no big deal, Max." I grimaced, realizing what I had just done.
"How did you know my name?' he turned towards me.
I leapt up the building we were standing by, running once I reached the rooftop. I panted as I ran, nervous and scared.
"Wait! How did you know my name…?!" I could hear Max in the faint distance.
That couldn't have gone any worse.
A/N: there you go, chapter three! From this point on it's going to get good! More of that villain, and more on Dash in the next chapter. I drew pictures of all the characters in this story, but I'm not all that good at trying to convert those pictures into words. Oh, well, I guess you have a good enough idea of what everyone looks like. I command you to Review! Thank you!