Final
Some vouch for the doors, some for the roof. Flying would be nice right now. Me? I jump out a window. I catch myself with springs. Who needs to fly when you can do this? They send me summersaulting through the street. By the time I stop rolling I'm up front. Those that are already in place, our initial stance being rehearsed in case something like this would ever happen, are behind me. They don't care I'm out of place; one more person protecting them. So much for being selfless. Great. Just what I need. Front-row tickets to Disastertown. 'Cause this isn't gonna turn out hunky-dory. The SRA butchered every feeling of trust, of friendship. People won't be making it out of here alive. That much is certain. How many, though, remains a mystery. And who. For all we know Hercules could go down. God, I hope he ignores me. I really don't want to be pounded by a demigod. He has the strength to smash me into pieces so small they would fit in a blender. Please ignore me. Same with everybody else.
Thunder booms. Dark clouds gather on the horizon. Lightning flashes. Wind tangles our hair. Storm keeps the storm clouds over us. Raindrops begin to fall. Uncle Tony talks to Dad. Dad lands the first punch. Chaos ensues.
The heroes I once admired-still admire-prove that years of fighting, winning, and celebrating together can disappear in a heartbeat. The best of friends break every promise they ever made, all in the name of defending their beliefs. Friends against friends, brother against brother. How they do this without turning away in disgust amazes me. Makes me doubt everything I thought I knew about these people. This will change things for years to come. Nothing will ever be the same.
I launch myself at Ticklehair. She's out before she hits the ground, thanks to a quick blast. Her wild hair doesn't even leave a mark.
Next I attack Lightmaster. She puts up a good fight, getting some hits in, even a gash across my forehead. It hurts, but I throw her against a wall. I can feel the glow around my face flickering. Pretty soon all the effort I put into keeping my identity a secret will be for nothing. I hope nobody's looking out the windows. I turn around only to hear Dandelion stand up and dive at my legs. I jump and create a wall several feet away. She crashes into it head-on. Ouch! I walk a bit closer to see her crumpled against the would-be wall. Armory flies past. It disappears as soon as I close my hand, but she still doesn't get up. "Ms. Maxwell?" I whisper, unable to be heard by anybody. "Lightmaster? Dandelion?" After she doesn't respond after all the different names I know she has, I give up. What if…what if I killed her? What if she doesn't wake up? I panic, then remember freaking out would only give me away. But there's no stopping me from worrying. I killed somebody! How am I going to live with myself? How?!
The fight goes on and on. When I face off against Venom, the nanites Iron Man used to control the villains (namely the Thunderbolts) having gone haywire, he dives for my head. No way in heck he's gonna bite my head off. Not now. There's still work to do. Still, I'm not strong enough to completely defect the blow. Instead of my head, Eddie's teeth are pushed down by a bar and instead connect with my stomach. A chunk of my flesh is now in Venom's mouth, being ripped to shreds. Eww. How gross is that? I almost throw up on him. I can sense the human inside retreating a little at my green face, but the symbiote pushes forwards. Luckily Nightmare comes to my rescue. Surprising, but needed. Poor Venom starts strangling where he stands. Whatever she's making him see better be nasty. I whisper a thank you to Myrandah Jones and carry on. The bleeding slows thanks to an internal energy bandage. It still hurts-a lot. How do people fight when they feel like this? I may never know.
Up next is Mysterio. Should be a piece of cake, actually turns out to be a problem. Proves that I've taken a beating. Spider-Man comes and finishes him off. He healed fast. Titania makes a move towards me. As I roll to the left, I see a burned body with bright red hair. Lying sprawled across a dumpster, I check it out. Reality sinks in a few seconds later, when I see her mangled face. It's Teri! No! God, no, why? Why would you take away my oldest friend? Why? Tears roll down my dirty face. Why? I check for a pulse. Nothing. Not even a single heartbeat. She really is gone… There's no way I can move her body. The most I can do is whisper a prayer and make the sign of the cross over her chest. She would appreciate it. I have to move on. I slink into a destroyed floral shop, staying in the shadows. I hope Doorman doesn't show up. The flowers droop as a sign of the damage this battle has done. I like to think they're mourning Teri. Some remain upright, hopeful something good will come out of this. Hoping for life.
Blood flows down the vibranium to the floor. It forms a puddle alarmingly big. How long will this go on? Can it go on? Out of nowhere Dad flies past, propelled by Iron Man. They keep punching each other in the face. Limping towards the spot they landed, I notice Uncle Tony pinning Dad down, threatening to blast his face off. His repulsor glows, preparing to do the job. Not on my watch. "No!" I shout over the bedlam, throwing an energy ball at Uncle Tony. After Teri, I'm not watching another person I care about die. I already lost my mother. I'm not losing my father.
"So you're the traitor," he snarls, focusing his attention on me. "Eventually you will pay."
"Yes, I'm the traitor. Yes, you're supporting an act that places good people in jail. Yes, you turned the Land of the Free into a living hell. Yes, you will lose this fight."
"Well, if that's the case…"
Before Iron Man can continue, Dad tackles him, saving me. They go careening off into the house across the street. I don't have to deal with this anymore. Thank you, Dad! Glancing up, I see Magneto flying overhead. He seems to notice me. God, no! He lowers himself a bit and sneers.
"I may never understand why you younger heroes make the decisions you do. You appear to be registered. My dear child, mutant or not, you have to pay for the crime of embracing chaos." With a flick of the hand he pulls me into the air. I can't do a thing. Erik makes me slam against the walls of two buildings, treating me like a rag doll. Then, once he's finished, he drops me to the ground. Fall would be the better word.
Oh my God, did that hurt. Breathing hard, my heart can't keep up with my body. I've already lost so much blood. There's no way I can get up and fight. By now everyone probably knows I'm the traitor and will be gunning against me. Uncle Tony's because I'm a turncoat, Dad's because they'll go after anybody with a file. What should I do?
Before I can make a move, Power Gem skids to a halt on the sidewalk. She looks up, notices me. Shoots purple jewels at me. At the same time a shadow blast ricochets off a window and connects with my body. They send me flying into a crumbling building. It's almost enough to make me pass out. I lay still, recovering enough strength to make a run for it. When I do, I move a piece of rubble off my leg and stand. I lean against a wall to catch my breath. Before that happens, the already unstable building shakes from the upper levels down. Someone must have been knocked into it. The building slowly collapses. I barely have time to notice the shadow ball looked exactly like Miguel's.
Weeks later…
Ding. Beep. Ding. "Mmm…cut it out," I say sleepily to the dinging noises. "Stop it." Finally annoyed enough to open my eyes, I discover it comes from a heart monitor. Wires come out of my chest. Thin sheets cover my naked body. Bandages are wrapped around my chest. Heavy casts surround my left arm and right leg from knees to toes. A thick metal collar is strapped around my neck. It makes my head hard to lift. What the… Dad! No no no no no! I get out of the bed very slowly, still incredibly sore and unused to two casts and stiff bandages restricting my movements. There's no clothing lying around, so after I pull the wires out of my skin, I wrap the thick blanket around me. The room is nice but sparsely decorated, stiff and lacking that homey feel. No windows at all. Just the bed, some ceiling lights, a chair, and a bookshelf fully stocked. Medical equipment surrounds the bed. Everything from heart monitors to dripping IVs. What the heck?
I hobble out, searching for somebody. Where the heck am I? I've been in the Avengers Tower med bay plenty of times, and this looks nothing like it. The closed door leads to one other room that must be used for everything else. Only a tiny bathroom leads out of it. There's a coach and TV, desk and stool. No paintings, just red striped wallpaper. Nobody's around. The place is dead quiet. I see a newspaper on the coffee table. Eager to know the date, I try to use my powers to grab it. Surprisingly nothing comes out of my outstretched hand. I try again. Still nothing. Did I…lose my powers? No! The collar. I try to force it open, claw it off, but nothing works. That thing's never coming off. Teri's dead, Lisa is a villain, Miguel is God knows where… Where is Dad? By now I'm spazzing. Nothing calms me down, so I settle for pacing the floor. Even that barely works.
o8o
It could be minutes or hours later. I don't know. There's no clock. But swishing metal interrupts my rapid pacing. The wall opens next to the desk. Must be a door that only opens from the outside. I fumble for the blanket as a couple doctors walk in. Before the door closes I spot robots patrolling the hallways and another cell block. "Who are you?" I ask quickly. "Where am I? What's going on? Is this a prison?"
"One question at a time, young lady," the man replies. "We're part of the medical personnel. You're in the Negative Zone. They brought you in a few weeks ago with severe injuries. Broken radius and Achilles, shattered kneecap, numerous lesions, possible brain damage. A coma made you dead to the world. We thought you wouldn't make it, especially since they said you have a healing power neutralized by the collar. And," he gestures around the room, "welcome to Project 42."
Wha…? Coma? Negative Zone? No powers? All the while the two other doctors remove the blanket and inspect my body. Naturally I try to cover up. I don't know these people, and here they are, checking out my naked body. How much wronger can it get? "What's going on outside?"
"I can't tell you that, Nikki," he says. "What I can tell you is you need bed rest for the rest of the day. After that you'll be closely monitored."
Stalkers! is the first thought that runs through my mind. Since when were we on a first name basis? Since when does he know who I am? What the hell is going on here? None of my objections make a difference other than annoying them. Eventually they leave. I sink onto the coach. Normally I'm always on the move, but I'm just so drained. By now my injuries would be healing themselves, but no. They just had to take away my powers. This sucks!
With nothing better to do I turn on the TV. Half the channels are gone, leaving the basics and ones they must deem harmless. National Geographic, the History Channel, the Nature Channel, one news station. Probably so inmates are as removed from the outside world as they can get. How do they get a signal? Nothing is on, so I try keeping the TV off. Without the noise the room becomes eerily quiet. No sounds except for my breathing and my brain coping with the sudden silence. My thoughts take over, showing images of Teri's dead body. She can't be dead. She just can't. Kids don't die. No matter how many times I tell myself that the images keep coming back. I turn on the TV again for background noise and let my brain zone out.
With no way of keeping time except for the clock on the news channel, I turn on the TV often. Eventually I keep it on. As I'm getting ready for bed, a reporter comes on covering the Registration. I immediately move from the bathroom to the coffee table. He starts with bits and pieces of the last fight I participated in. Miguel teleporting a group in, Sunset blasting everyone in a circle around her with radiation, Permafrost warding off attacks, Magneto slamming me around. Quite a few people watch my final fight. Dad has Cloak teleport everyone away. Then he skips ahead, explaining camps set up to train recruits without experience. Uncle Hank is one of the instructors. Do they really expect it to work? Holding that many teens in one facility, honed to perfection, only to be released to a team protecting a specific state? They're crazy. That will never work.
I go back to the shower. The hot water relaxes my tight muscles and relieves the skin beneath the bandages, but it shuts off five minutes in. I punch the button a few times. Come on. Why can't we take long showers? Stupid! I step out to dry myself. A small closet holds just enough clothing, including pajamas and the tattered remains of my costume. My costume. Funny, how they keep that as my only possession from the outside world. I slide beneath the covers, tossing and turning for a few hours, sleep refusing to come. Being comatose for weeks entitles me to an all-nighter. I check out the bookshelf. They must have studied my profile, since most of the books are historical fiction and all my favorites are there. I find a series and skim the titles, but notice two are missing. Thinking back, I remember one of them deals with the Invaders and the other was written with the help of Royalty, covering possible alternate universes and making up stories based on the glimpses she sees. The only two with superheroes directly involved with the plot. Their attempts at censorship are obvious. Absolutely nothing having to do with heroes can make it into the prison, a prison holding powerful heroes already. They may keep us isolated, but they can't take away who we are. If we're heroes, then so be it. Someday we'll get out of this prison and carry on our work.
For breakfast they open a slot in the door and slide a tray in. By now I've figured out how they work. Everything is regulated. Showers, TV, how many calories we eat in a day. Must be how they control us. The rest of the day they keep me on lockdown.
Over the next few days I am slowly weaned of the meds and the bandages can be removed. The one time they tried to remove the boot I almost broke the doctor's nose, so it stays on; I wonder how long it takes a broken Achilles to heal. I lose track of the time. Finally I'm allowed outside my cell. A robot leads me to an exercise room and removes the power neutralizer. The skin feels tender and raw. I step onto the field to see Sandman and Marvel Girl tossing a football. Rachel still wears her collar. I opt for a bench press instead. Even with the lightest plates, the bar proves to be almost too much. Proves I came to rely on my powers too much and my muscles had an especially long break. My arms scream. I almost quit when I picture Dad standing over me, yelling that I'm lagging behind and need to get a move on. This will just have to be slow.
I get up to add another plate when a group of prisoners is herded in. Some head straight for a basketball court. One approaches me. Is that…Patriot? He got captured? I thought all the Young Avengers joined Uncle Tony!
"Hey," he greets me.
"Eli? What are you doing here?"
"They brought me in. We were doing a raid. Musta been a big haul."
I'm talking with Patriot, and he's not spitting in my face for Registering? "What's the situation outside?" I whisper.
He glances around for any nearby guards. "You've been in here for over a month, right?" I nod. "That last fight everyone saw your face. There were multiple casualties. Seems like we got some hits in."
"Great! Did you see what happened after I got taken out? What happened to Lightmaster?"
"I was sniping nearby. Cap tried to dig you out but had to retreat. Dark Force-you're friends with him, right?-came to get me. He had to know if you were okay. The rescue workers came in after Iron Man's forces cleared out. No one wanted to help dig you out. Said you were a 'traitorous bastard.' Permafrost was the only one, besides Dark Force. They just loaded you into an ambulance with the other prisoners and took you to the Negative Zone. As for Lightmaster, she's okay. Crippled, but okay."
I pause to let that sink in. "Did you hear anything about someone called H2O?"
"No, sorry. Was he important?"
"She. And no."
"You can always ask Daredevil. He was just brought in yesterday." He points to the court.
"One last thing. What about Dad?"
"He's fine. They're planning a break-in sometime this week. When most of us are in here."
"Alright. Thanks, Eli." A break-in… That could be my ticket out. And Lisa… She must have gone AWOL. I wonder if she's still a criminal. Her home life must be a lot worse than I thought. Miguel is fine, I hope. Teri… No. Do not think those thoughts. Not here. I go over to the court and lean against a bench. Daredevil rotates out. "Hi, Uncle Matt," I say.
"Nikki!" he smiles. "It's been awhile. Is your ankle and arm any better?"
"They'd be a lot better if I didn't have to wear the stupid collar."
"We all have to. Just hope we will be out of them soon."
Everybody is really riding on this jailbreak. It better work. "Believe me, I'm hoping. Have you ever heard of someone named H2O?"
He thinks a minute. "Yes. She joined the Resistance when Tony's thugs came knocking on her door. Very powerful, very angry young lady."
At least she's with Dad. She and Miguel are protected from the authorities. That's the most I can hope for. "Good. She's one of my best friends. I already lost Teri…" My voice splinters. Even with plenty of time to mourn her and lock away the memories, I still crack when her name comes up.
"Nearly everyone has lost someone, whether it be a friend, lover, sibling, or even just fought with once or twice. You're not alone. Tell you what." He places his hand on my shoulder. "When we get out, if your father is unable to, I'll take you to her grave. You can say goodbye. Is that alright?"
"Perfect. Thank you, Uncle Matt. It means a lot." A hug later and he's back in the game. I go back to lifting weights. Slowly but surely my strength comes back. Once or twice I try to make plates of light. As my powers return I realize they aren't nearly as strong as they were before. Could it be from misuse? Being hooked up to life support? Getting neutralized? Anything?
Quickly the rest of the time passes. Another robot comes and replaces my collar, leading me back to my room. I debate using my five minutes of hot water to calm down my screaming muscles, but decide to save it for later. The pain will probably be worse by then. I lay down on the couch, watching reruns of Ancient Aliens, wishing they would allow me to have some music. Music is the one thing that keeps me sane. Take that way and who knows what will happen.
Over time I slowly grow bored of the cell. All the shows watched, all the books read. The silence grows louder every day. And with each day, it presses in more, creating a smaller and smaller bubble keeping me safe. I take to constantly moving, hoping the quiet stays in check. I even resort to singing to banish it. I don't even remember the last time I sang Mom's songs. Probably years ago. Whenever the silence gets to be too much, I sing, straining my vocal cords at first. For the first time in years, the lyrics bring a face with them.
o8o
I enter the recreation room, prepared to win our latest match. When everybody gets there we start. I play defense, pushing for the ball, letting the better shooters score. Our resident clock calls halftime. Collapsing on the bench, I create a fan over us. We file back onto the court. As Masque passes the ball, an explosion rips through the hallway. The break-in? I sprint to the door, shoving past robots. Eli reaches the door first. Someone tosses him his shield and others their weapons. Fighting breaks out between inmates and the swarms of robots that rushed to the scene. The Resistance pours in through a portal that shows the Baxter Building. Dad must have finally broken in. Outside more fighting takes place, this time with Pro-Regers and the Resistance. I turn around and punch a robot in the face. It crumbles, then rebuilds. Come on. Now they regenerate? This time I plunge my fist straight through its chest, effectively killing it. I turn around and send a spike through another one's. I continue to fight the robots and any of Iron Man's supporters.
Finally the crowd around us dims. Dad's people were forced onto the street a while ago. I run towards the portal and, with one last glance over my shoulder, I jump out. The fresh air disorients me. It's been months since I was outside. I breathe deeply, enjoying the natural oxygen. I move out of the way so others can jump out, then move to the window to watch the battle spilling through the streets. Could Dad's forces actually stand a chance? The fight seems to be in his favor when a mob attacks him. He fights them off, but something changed. The light in his eyes disappeared. Dad raises his hands in surrender. "No! What are you doing?" I shout, preparing to jump off the platform.
Strong arms wrap around me from behind. "You can't," Starliner says. "Something feels off down there. It isn't safe for you."
Still I try to shrug her off. On the street, the fighting slows down. Nearly everyone stops to watch what comes next. Before Iron Man can accept or deny, a red dot appears on Dad's chest. Everything slows down. A gun shoots. A single bullet cuts deep into his skin, in the exact center of the star on his chest. I beat back Starliner and jump down. A small crater is left in the pavement. I run to Dad and crouch over his body. Blood seeps from the tiny wound. Tears long unshed leak out of my eyes. Sobs form in my throat, held back by a large knot. Only one thought manages to push through the haze.
Whoever did this, I hope you know I'm out for blood.