Darkness surrounded him.
It was a comfort, a blanket that warmed his bones and kept him safe.
Most people feared the darkness, shied away from it and swore that it would only absorb any light that came in contact with it.
He understood, though. He saw that the darkness wasn't evil, it was merely the frame that highlighted the sun. Yes, there was evil that lurked in the darkness, that used it to hide their misdeeds.
But while the dark clouded things, the light could blind you. Was not the Morning Star the brightest in Heaven?
Thus, while so many heroes wielded the light, Azreal wore the darkness, took it in him and used it to hunt those that hide in plain sight, the monsters that used greed and sloth as excuses for not doing what needed to be done.
The darkness surrounded him, shutting off one sense while he strneghtened his others. He could hear his mother and father just beyond the room, smell the flowery scent of fabric softener on the sheets, taste the medicine they'd given him during a period of lucidity, and feel…
"ARRRRGGGG!"
He could feel his shattered ribs quite well.
His father and mother were in the room in an instant.
"Damn it, he woke up too soon!" Gabriel growled, using his telekinesis to hold Azreal down. "Get some morphine, and hit the lights…"
"NO!" Azreal roared. "NO!"
Audrey shook his head. "The fever is making him delirious…we need to do this in the dark, before he completely snaps."
Gabriel nodded, forcing Azreal onto the bed and sticking the needle in his neck. The Slayer of Supers mumbled as the drugs took hold, dragging him back into sleep.
Audrey sighed, watching her son drift off. "When I get my hands on that Silver Streak…" She snarled.
^&^&^&^
Hiro glared at Ando as they drove along the LA backstreets in a 2001 Chevy Malibu, the color of strained peas and without a cd player.
[This is all your fault] Hiro said coldly as Ando turned a corner.
[I apologize, Mr. Nakamura] Ando replied.
Hiro scoffed. [Little good that will do. So much tension I need to burn off, and no limo in which to do it in…]
Ando said nothing, focused instead on trying to find where their hotel was. Hiro refused to ask for directions, or even take out a map, leaving Ando to go by street signs he barely remembered reading about on the plane over.
[Wait!] Hiro called out, grabbing the steering wheel and almost sending the car into a building. [Wait here, Ando…I have just found something to entertain me]
Leaping from the car, Hiro walked smoothly over to a young woman that was waiting at a bus stop she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt, her auburn hair done up in a bun. She wasn't overly pretty, like a super model, she was more of an honest beauty, a natural beauty.
And she looked like she would be fun in the sack.
Hiro quickly looked up what he wanted to say in his little translator book. "Today. I desire the fact that small-numbered time your service is purchased."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, don't quite understand what you're sayin'." She answered with a light Texas accent.
"I think that we would like to possess the characteristic where you have been attached. The cost of which rank?"
The woman laughed. "I'm sorry, I really don't understand."
Hiro fumed, talking slower. "I think that we would like to have sexual intercourse." He stated, though the woman got the feeling he meant a much dirtier phrase than he had spoken.
"Excuse me?"
"I insert my penis with your vagina. The cost of which rank, foolish prostitute?"
The woman narrowed her eyes. "Maybe they don't teach you a lot in whatever country you're from, but you don't talk like that to a lady." The woman made to leave, only for Hiro to grab her arm.
[I am not finished, whore.] He snarled in Japanese, shoving her against a wall.
"Watch it!" The woman shouted as Hiro dragged her towards an alley. "Stop that!" She screamed, struggling as Hiro roughly grabbed her breasts, squishing and kneeding them. "OW!" She screamed, kicking at him.
[You will do as told!] Hiro snarled, ripping off her shirt, spinning her around and cruely shoving her against the brick wall. He reached down, grasping her pants and made to pul, them down.
"NO!" The woman screamed, her hands growing cold as she fired a blast of ice at Hiro's left hand. He bellowed, stumbling back, allowing Charlie time to pull her pants back up. "Get the hell away from me!" She warned, holding up her hands.
Hiro grit his teeth. [Lousy bitch!] he shouted, darting forward and pulling a small pocket knife from his pocket, thrusting the blade into her chest. Charlie gasped, eyes wide as blood pooled in her hands. [That is what you deserve!] Hiro shouted.
Charlie looked up at him from where she sat, shuddering as she struggled for air. "You…you just made…the stupidest mistake…in your life…"
"Charlie!" Another woman called out from the end of the alley, forcing Hiro to flee. Had he looked back, he would have seen Claire Petrelli rushing forward, cradling Charlie in her arms. [Ando, to the hotel]
Ando drove away without looking back.
^&^&^&^
"I done, Angella."
Angela Petrelli looked up at her husband, setting her book to the side as he began to pace. He was frsutrated, agitated, flapping his arms but not saying a word as he fumed.
"And what seems to be the problem, dear?" Angela asked calmly.
Arthur grit his teeth. "Our lying son, that's what."
Angela raised an eyebrow. "Nathan is a politician…what else is new?"
"I'm referring to the doctor." Arthur said, throwing a scrap of silver fabric at Angela's feet.
It was the Silver Streak's mask.
"Found that in the kitchen this morning." Arthur was shaking with anger. "I knew he was the Streak! I knew it! And he dared to lie to me, to deny it…"
Angela finally held up her hand. "It is to be expected, after all. Peter has always had his head in the clouds…the question is, Arthur, what shall we do about it?"
"We will confront him…we'll make him stop…"
Angela shook her head. "No no…if we want to stop Peter…we will need to be a bit more sneaky."
"You have a plan?"
Angela merely raised her wine glass and took a sip.
^&^&^&^
"What happened?" Tina demanded, taking Charlie's prone form from Claire's arms. The Amazon Base was in an uproar, as many of the of the occupants were hurriedly apply the spirit gum to their masks and removing their wings, wanting to go out and hunt the man that had hurt the Amazons' trainer.
"Charlie took me out for our second lesson…it was about locating targets. She went ahead…I got lost on the rooftops, so I climbed back down…I found this little Japanese guy trying…trying…"
Madrid ground her teeth together. "She's bleeding bad…her body is losing heat fast."
"We need to get her to a hospital!" Claire shouted.
Tina shook her head. "We'll never make it…" She hurried through a door to a gargage, laying Charlie's beaten body down in the backseat. "Come on, I know someplace just as good."
^&^&^&^
"How is he?" Audrey asked as Gabriel entered the living room, flopping down on a chair and grabbing a box of jujyfruit.
"Awake, but staying calm. I convinced him to stay still…had to give him his damn mask to do it."
Audrey shook her head. "I didn't sign on for this when we let him move him." She sighed. "We completely skipped the cute baby years and got grumpy 20 year old."
Gabriel nodded. "I know…but its not like we can stop him…literally, he could kick both our asses."
Audrey gave him a dark look. "But look at what he is doing…this damn mission of his is killing him." She sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "I thought he would get better…but he's getting worse. You know he asked a guard to become a super? He's handing out business cards…" She shook her head. "I swear, his brain was damaged in that…"
The calm of the house was shattered as the front door was kicked in.
Gabriel was at his feet, hands out and ready to fling the intruder away, when he noticed exactly who had darted in. No, he had never met them…but he remembered his adopted son's descriptions quite well.
And it helped that they were famous.
"Madrid, Tina…" Gabriel began, only to notice the wounded girl in Tina's arms. "What?"
"We need your help." Tina said simply, setting Charlie on the floor, Madrid hovering about while Claire stood away, watching with surprise as Audrey and Gabriel sprung to work. "We know we arne't suppose to be here, but she'll die…"
Gabriel nodded. "The knife punctured her lung. I'll have to inflate it and then hold it shut." Audrey quickly jammed a tranq she had planned to use of Azreal into Charlie's arm, before nodding to Gabriel. He held up his finger, pulling it down slowly. Claire gagged as Charlie's skin was cut open, pulling away to reveal her lungs. "Ok, we need to seal this up…"
"What the hell is going on?" Azreal demanded, stumbling into the living room. He was bare-chested, tape wrapped around his ribs…
…and his mask in his left hand.
Claire gapped like a fish.
"Carter?!?"