Chapter Six: His Mistake
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When Lux walked into her home she wanted to scream. Knowing that her sister was about to have a fit, Morgan rushed to her side and placed a calming hand on her sister's shoulder. Closing her eyes, Lux silently willed the familiar stranger to leave but knew that the woman would not. Standing in front of her was the same scientist who had begun all those experiments on them, calling it research. All the pain she felt in the first ten years of her life came rushing to her at once and she took a threatening step towards the woman.
"Why are you here?" She ground out.
"Relax Lux, I'm not here for the reasons you think." The woman told her.
"Dr. Crane came to see how you girls were doing. Nothing more, which means you can calm down Lux." James stepped in, standing in between the deadly metahuman and the defenseless scientist.
"I see that your instincts still get the better of you Lux Aeterna. You should really learn to practice better judgment, think before you attack." Dr. Crane scolded.
"I am thinking, I'm thinking of what you'll look like when I rip your throat for lying to me," The pyro took a step back and gestured to herself and Morgan, "What do you really want?"
Dr. Crane chuckled as she adjusted her glasses, her eyes never leaving the girls, "You're a real treasure Lux. And you're right; I came here because I have a mission for you."
Lux growled as she watched Dr. Crane hand her father a manila folder. As James read the files, his face changed from worry to disdain and back to worry again.
"I don't want them doing this." James argued, handing the folder back to Dr. Crane.
"They don't have a choice in the matter James, you signed the contract. If we call, they must answer or they will be taken back." Dr. Crane narrowed her eyes at the family, "You don't want to be taken back do you girls?"
"We'll do it Daddy, we made a promise and we have to keep it." Morgan lamented while Lux simply growled and glared and Dr. Crane.
"Smart young ladies you both are, everything you need is inside that folder. Have a nice day." Seconds later Dr. Crane was gone.
James could only stare at the ground as Morgan took the folder from his hands and went upstairs to her room and read it. Lux stood at the window, watching the scientist leave before turning to her father.
"Next time, we'd both like a heads up before we get home that she's here. I won't be so…tame next time." Then she opened the front door and walked out.
Upstairs Morgan ran her hands over the file. They were going to track and capture a metahuman, her name was Shanice. She's just like us…Morgan thought sadly. Her parents had stolen her away to keep her safe. She wasn't granted freedom like Morgan and Lux had been. The mentalist felt empathetic towards the girl. Nevertheless, they had to do their job.
"Are you not talking to me either?" She heard from her doorway.
"It's okay Daddy, I'm not as angry as Lux is." Morgan smiled sadly at him.
"This whole thing is my fault; I should have refused to sign that contract. I never thought you'd be called in so early." He sat down beside her on the bed.
"If you hadn't, we would still be stuck in the military base, unable to do anything. You gave us a chance to be normal, Lux just hasn't realized that. She's so used to be a weapon…" Morgan trailed off.
"I knew she was still too young then. I wasn't thinking though, I was being a soldier, not a father." James' voice broke.
"She's forgiven you Daddy, I know she has," Morgan hugged him, "So please, stop feeling guilty. It was years ago."
James couldn't help but to feel guilty though. He had played a part in stealing his youngest daughter's innocence all those years ago…
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"Daddy, I don't like it in here. It's too dark." A young Lux whimpered as she clung to her father's leg.
James simply patted her on the head as he crept quietly beside her. Ahead of her, another soldier shushed her and she nodded, not entirely sure why she had to be so quiet. Up ahead, the tunnel they were walking was coming to an end as light came in.
"Look Daddy! The end of the tunnel!" Lux whispered excitedly.
James shushed her as he ran ahead and peeked outside. When he turned back and nodded, the rest of the soldiers hurried after him and ran into the light. Lux stopped as gunfire began to ring in her ears. Now she knew what was going on and why she had to come. Tears stung her eyes as she ran forward, looking out of the tunnel to see her father shooting various men and women.
"Daddy!" She yelled.
James turned and looked at her, "LUX! Get rid of them!" He yelled to her.
"Don't let them hurt your Daddy girl!" Another soldier yelled.
Her daddy was going to be hurt? This both angered and frightened her. She just stood there frozen as the fight went on. These people, they were bad, she had to stop them. Hearing her father yell, her anger won out and Lux found herself growing warmer and warmer as though she was on fire.
"Oh my god," A soldier gasped as Lux approached them, flames raging around her.
"Get away from my father!" She screamed the blaze extended and everything was aflame.
The white fire burned as pained cries echoed around her. The soldiers had backed away from the massacre the young girl had begun. Bodies lay everywhere, some still burning. Lux felt a hand on her shoulder and look up at her father. She smiled at him, not seeing the fear in his eyes.
"I did it Daddy, they won't hurt you now. I killed them all." She chirped.
"Yea…you did." James whispered.
He had never been so ashamed of himself in his entire life. That night, Lux sobbed in her sleep as the nightmare of that day began to haunt her. James cried as well because he realized that, even though she had saved a lot of people that day…his daughter had destroyed herself in the process.
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A week had passed since the girls were visited by Dr. Crane and received their assignment. Life had resumed as normal for them, or as normal as it could be.
"Lux, your boyfriend is on a rampage again." Static snickered as he pulled on his mask.
Nitrix glared at him before curtly responding, "He's not my boyfriend."
"He better not be." Matrix snapped as they flew to the movie theater where Hotstreak was causing mayhem.
"You call this a movie?! It was horrible!" The pyromaniac yelled as the theater behind him burned with as much ferocity as his rage.
"He's insane." Nitrix commented.
"And yet you like him." Static grinned.
Nitrix ignored him as she landed in front of Hotstreak. He gave her a scrutinizing look before lighting up and Nitrix did the same.
"The movie couldn't have been that bad." She told him to which he scoffed.
"It doesn't even deserve to be in theaters." Hotstreak remarked.
"Maybe you didn't like it because you didn't have anyone to enjoy it with." Nitrix sneered.
"You offering?" Hotstreak smirked before he attacked.
Nitrix blocked his fireball and charged him. She delivered a wave of fire that knocked him into the building behind him.
"I never said I was." She growled as the fire raged in front of her.
"Nitrix, put the fire out! We'll take care of Hotstreak." Gear yelled to her as Matrix separated the redhead from the flames.
Nitrix nodded as she ran into the building. While she was gone Matrix, Static, and Gear took on Hotstreak. Matrix kept his flames at bay while Gear threw an electrically charged zap cap on him. Though it restrained him for a moment, the pyro unleashed a powerful field of fire as he broke free, successfully knocking the heroes back.
"Dammit." Gear hissed as he hit the wall and slid down.
Matrix and Static joined him as Hotstreak began walking toward him. Suddenly a he was knocked back by a flash of purple. Staggering backwards, the pyro came face to face with a girl.
"Ooh, you need to pull your pants up hothead." She commented before she spun herself into a tornado and sent Hotstreak flying into a nearby fountain.
With Hotstreak taken care of, the mystery heroine approached the other heroes and smiled at them, offering Matrix a hand.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yea, thanks. Who are you?" Matrix answered.
"I'm a bang baby, just like you. That's why I call myself She-Bang." She-Bang smiled.
"But I'm not…" Matrix trailed off as she looked at her comrades who were brushing themselves off.
"Where's Nitrix?" Static asked.
His reply was the theater flames disappearing and Nitrix appearing with a group of civilians who had been trapped inside.
"Now that's a girl who knows how to get the job done." She-Bang remarked.
"You got that right, and who are you." Nitrix questioned, crossing her arms and glaring at She-Bang.
"I'm She-Bang, and I just helped your friends." She-Bang explained.
"Uh huh, did they ask for your help?" Nitrix's voice was cool and unfriendly.
She-Bang didn't reply but instead nodded and backed away. Off in the distance, sirens blared and the newcomer decided to take her leave.
"See you around." She said before leaping onto a nearby balcony and disappearing.
Matrix glared at her sister once She-Bang was gone, "Could you have been anymore of a bitch?"
"Actually, yes I could have. I don't like her." Nitrix commented.
"Why not? She just helped us Lux, what's so bad about that." Matrix demanded.
"Everything," Nitrix hissed before turning and taking off, soaring out of sight.
Matrix groaned and shook her head. She knew exactly why Lux had acted the way she did. She had felt threatened. And when she felt threatened, she didn't care who she hurt.
"Let's go Matrix," Static said placing a hand on the mentalist's shoulder.
Matrix nodded and they left just as the police were putting Hotstreak in the back of the car.
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The next day at Burger Fool, Lux was staring at Virgil and Richie in disgust as they devoured their cheeseburgers. Morgan laughed at her sister's face as she sipped her vanilla milkshake.
"Those poor cows," Lux remarked as Richie wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
"It's your own fault, we told you were coming here and you decided to come anyway. It's not our fault this place isn't vegetarian friendly." Virgil smirked.
"What are you talking about? You begged us to come here." Lux scoffed.
"What are you talking about?" Morgan put her head in her hands as the two began to argue.
"Hey guys!" The four turned to see Daisy, Frieda, and a girl that Virgil and Richie didn't recognize but Morgan and Lux did.
Shanice…Morgan thought looking at Lux who nodded.
"What's up Daisy?" Virgil asked, his intention to flirt with her becoming obvious.
"We wanted you guys to meet Shanice, she's new to Dakota. Shanice this is Virgil Hawkins, Richie Foley, Morgan Willows, and Lux Aeterna." Daisy responded, blushing as she did so.
"Nice to meet you Shanice, how are you liking Dakota?" Richie inquired, standing up and shaking the newcomer's hand.
"It's pretty quiet here actually, but I'll get used to it."Shanice smiled as her eyes scanned over Virgil, Morgan, and…Lux.
Shanice immediately felt wary under the white haired girl's gaze. She managed a small smile which Lux returned, but hers had hidden malice within it.
"Nice to meet you Shanice," Morgan beamed.
"Same here." The following silence was heavy as Shanice sat down with Frieda and Daisy, beside the other four teens.
"So we wanted to have a rematch at the bowling alley." Daisy said, breaking the silence and looking at Virgil.
He and Richie laughed, "What? Last time's beating wasn't good enough for you?"
"Well this time we have a secret weapon, Shanice." Frieda pointed out.
"You bowl?" Virgil asked Shanice.
"A little bit, I'm not very good though." Shanice admitted.
"Some secret weapon you got there but if it's a rematch you want then you'll get one." Virgil snickered.
"Okay, see you Friday then." The three girls stood up, Daisy smiling at Virgil, and walked out.
Lux chuckled under her breath, her eyes still on Shanice.
"You guys sure are being quiet." Richie commented.
The sisters just smiled in response.
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Yea, I'm leaving out the fight they have where She-Bang comes in. Only because I have something better in mind. You'll see what it is next chapter. Until then, later!
Don't forget to review!