Chapter Four: Like a Circus
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"So we've decided if you want to be, you two can be my partners against crime." Virgil chirped at lunch the next day.
Lux snorted while Morgan beamed.
"You can't be serious?" Lux asked.
"I'm dead serious. I can't handle all these bang babies by myself. I get tired after awhile, that's where two come in. You can pick up my slack." Virgil told her.
"So we're the last resorts?" Lux asked, her voice containing some venom.
"Not like that, jeez someone's touchy today. What happened that night after we went our separate ways?" Virgil asked, genuinely worried.
"Why is it any of your business?" Lux replied.
Morgan looked her sister, worry in her eyes. She knew of her sister's late night escapades. She had found out a few weeks after she and her father discovered the white-haired pyro had insomnia. She didn't approve of Lux going out after dark, but she couldn't stop her. She needed to sleep, Lux didn't.
"You are tense Luxy, did you get into a fight?" Morgan inquired.
"You could say that." Lux mumbled.
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Hotstreak smirked as he tightened his chokehold around Lux's neck. The white haired girl struggled to breathe as she kicked and flailed. She was not going to let him get the best of her. Thinking quickly she stopped moving around, closed her eyes, and became completely still. Her breathing slowed to a stop and she became limp under Hotstreak's grasp. Foolishly Hotstreak let her slump to the ground and grinned sadistically down at her.
"That's what you get when you cross me." He sneered.
"And this is why you fail." Was what he got in response before he was knocked off his feet.
Hotstreak snarled as Lux stood up and glared down at him, her face filled with anger.
"It's a shame, you're really cute. Now I'm gonna wipe the floor with that face of yours." He hissed as he got up and threw a fireball at her.
Lux easily ducked and the fireball flew right over her, "Who's wiping the floor with whom?"
Hotstreak continued his assault, firing fireball after fireball at her. She dodged them all.
"At least one of those should have hit you! What the hell?!" He gasped.
Lux merely charged him and delivered a hard right hook into his jaw. Hotstreak flew backwards and away from her, landing on his back. Lux kissed her fist before approaching Hotstreak and leaned down in front of him.
"That's going to leave a nasty bruise." She smiled, "Let me kiss it for you."
"Go to hell," Hotstreak groaned before pushing her away.
He began to flare back up in retaliation when he heard sirens in the distance. The fire he had started had spread through the park. Lux gasped and stepped back, watching the natural haven burn to the ground.
"What have you done?!" She demanded of Hotstreak.
"They're just a few trees. They can be replaced." Hotstreak shrugged. He didn't care but the fury in Lux's eyes told him that he should.
"Put it out now." She ordered.
"Hell no bitch, you don't tell me what to do." He snarled.
"I said NOW dammit." She snapped back with enough venom and anger in her voice to send even Superman flying away in terror.
"Alright, I'll put them out."
Moments later the fire was out and the firefighters were entering the park. Lux and Hotstreak searched for a hiding place. Lux climbed back up to the top of the oak tree, Hotstreak right behind her.
"Keep quiet hothead." She told Hotstreak as firefighters walked by, looking for the arsonist that had started the fire.
Finding no one they headed back to their truck while Lux and Hotstreak climbed down the tree. Lux decided she had had enough excitement for the night and it was time for her to go home. As she began to walk away someone grabbed her arm and she turned to face Hotstreak.
"We've got unfinished business to attend to." He growled, his hand began to smoke.
"You're right, but not tonight okay? Some other time?" Lux smiled at him, rendering the redhead pyro speechless.
Smirking, she walked up to him and placed a kiss on his cheek before turning and running off towards her home. Hotstreak could only touch his cheek, his mind wasn't up to speed on what had just happened yet.
She had just…flirted with him.
--
"I told you to keep away from him Lux!" Morgan scolded her sister.
"He's harmless Mo, just a little angry." Lux responded as she got up to empty her lunch box which was now filled with trash.
"A little angry? Next to the definition of anger and every variation of the word, you see Hotstreak's face," Richie laughed.
"Stop taking her side." Lux snapped at him.
"But he's right Luxy; please promise me you'll stay away from that psychotic pyromaniac." Morgan pleaded.
"Fine," Lux gave in.
"So back to the topic of superhero names, I think Morgan should be Good Cop and Lux be Bad Cop." Virgil teased.
Lux showed her appreciation for the names by kicking him in the shin under the table. He closed his eyes to mask the pain but the smile never left his face.
"Oh? So you want me to break it?" Lux asked in a perky but venomous voice.
"Okay so those names are out. I just don't know what you name you two." Virgil seceded.
"Why do we have to have related names?" Morgan asked.
"Well you said so yourself, Lux is the offense and you're the defense. You'll fight side by side so you'll need to let people know that." Richie explained.
"So we're like a two-for-one package?" Lux asked, annoyance flashing across her face.
"Yea," Richie and Virgil answer in unison.
And with that Lux left the table. Morgan looked after her before staring pointedly at the boys.
"One of you go apologize. The other can stay with me and discuss name, good names." She scowled at them.
Richie and Virgil looked each other, having a silent debate over who should go before Virgil gave in and left to go find Lux.
"So we have to have related names? Okay I'm good at this, so let me think." Morgan chirped.
Richie watched as she closed her eyes and seemed to fall into a trance. It seemed like forever until she opened them again and Richie spent the time wondering what it would be like to be a superhero. He was secretly jealous of his friends and their powers. Frowning to himself he looked up to find Morgan staring at him intensely.
"There's nothing glamorous about it Richie, having powers. It's more of a burden than it is a blessing." She told him, taking his hand in hers.
He watched as her pupils dilated and she seemed to be a million miles away. She was seeing a vision of him in the future. Morgan had told he and Virgil of that gift when they discussed powers. One touch and she could see into anyone's future, whether it be a few years, weeks, or minutes. She saw it all. And her mouth dropped open at what she saw.
Her pupils returned to her normal size and she cocked her head to the side, gazing at Richie just like she had the first day he had met her, almost a week before.
"You'll experience it firsthand soon." She told him cryptically.
"Experience what?" He asked but the subject was dropped as soon as it was brought up.
"Anyways, back to names. I think our names should be opposite each other because Lux and I are opposites. What do you think?" She asked, her voice back to its usual perkiness.
"I think that's a great idea. How about Fire and Ice?" Richie suggested.
"Gross, it's too generic. And they have to be in relation to our powers." Morgan responded.
Five minutes later Richie banged his head against the lunch table, "I got nothing."
Above them the bell rang indicating the end of lunch.
"It's okay Richie, we'll think of something later at the gas station." Morgan told him before heading out of the cafeteria and going to class.
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That night Richie couldn't sleep at all. His brain felt as though it was about to explode out of his head and he found himself tossing and turning all night. Morgan's earlier words came back to him.
You'll experience it firsthand soon.
Did she mean he was going to become a metahuman? If so, then why so late? Groaning he climbed out of bed, he needed something to take his mind off of…his mind. Without thinking he began taking apart various electronics and began building. Equations and formulas filled his head as he put piece after piece together with only one intention in mind, he was going to be a superhero.
That night, Backpack was born. And Morgan knew her vision had come true.
Gear…
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I'm sure you can guess what the next chapter is about, yes? That's right! We introduce Gear. I've got to go rewatch the episode to make sure I get everything right and my girls can fit into it. You'll learn their superhero aliases then too. So stay tuned!
Until next time!