Teleport after teleport blasted him through the air as fast he could possibly go. Each time he reappeared with a guttural roar of pressurized air, Rapid Recovery flowed through his body to restore him.
He’d tried calling his parents, but they hadn’t picked up. It had gone straight through to voicemail each time. His family’s faces kept flickering through his mind’s eye with startling clarity. Haunted memories clamped down on his heart. Every passing teleport it tightened its grip. This scene was far too familiar.
How many times would his family be in trouble and he’d have to swoop in to save them?
At last, Springridge Mall came into view. It was a long, squat complex that had grown over the span of several years and developmental phases. The first floor was where the food court was housed amidst a series of simple shopping centers, arcade games scattered about, and other cheap shopping delights. The second and third were a chain of department stores covered in tall, open windows. The roof was flat except for where the skylights dotted the mall's buildings throughout.
Eli’s last teleport hid him in the void above the mall. Police cars, fire trucks and several ambulances swarmed around the building below. The sight made his blood boil even more. His anger bubbled inside of him, itching to get out so badly he wanted to scream. Yet somehow, despite how angry he got, he couldn't move forward. Not yet. He once again wished he had some sort of sensory power, but this would have to do. Focused charged light vibrated from his fists as he stared through his teleportation target peephole.
Explosions boomed as a part of the mall's roof exploded open from the rising crash of a column of crystal that pierced all the way through before shattering in a hailstorm of shards. Glittering knives plummeted back down with the fury of a disgruntled god. Plumes of dust billowed out as the thunderous grating of rock reached a crescendo.
While he watched more cops arrived in a blaring phalanx of patrol cars headed straight for the food court section of the mall. Blockades were set up for the first responders to corral and usher civilians away from the mall and behind their barricades.
Something writhed in Eli’s gut at the scene. Emotion after emotion sizzled and spat through the synapses of his nerves down to the marrow of his bones. Fear. Horror. Rage. Awe.
But most overpowering, almost seductive with its sirensong, was the thrill of excitement.
Every one of his training sessions had a purpose now. He had been right. Justified. No one would have understood his obsession with improving himself and his powers. Every sleepless night spent honing himself. It all came to this moment.
Three powers radiated within the core of his being as he watched. And waited.
If he approached the food court, he’d be shut down instantly by the police. Seen as nothing more than an interloper at best or an accomplice at worst. No. He needed to come in from somewhere else. Hopefully he could find his family and save them. His phone buzzed and flashed from his pocket. It was probably Lana again. He slipped it out of his pocket and texted a quick message before turning it off and putting it away:
AT THE MALL. WISH ME LUCK.
Eli focused on a spot closer to the mall above it for a better vantage point above the settling cloud of dust and debris. A tug with Spatial Control pulled him through the void to his new perspective. Nothingness surrounded him as he peered into the storm of bullets, rubble, and flashes of light from various powers being thrown around what seemed to be the hallway leading from all of the rifraff stores to the food court.
Would his parents and sister be eating or shopping? They had been in the car for a long time, but Lyra’s favorite art store, Ars Imagina, was in there. He chewed on his lip while he watched. While he wrestled with indecision. Where would they be?
Fear clamped its sharpened jaws around his spine, gnawing against his resolve while he watched for any sign of his family. He had no idea what he was looking for. Who was in the right or who was in the wrong. Eli didn’t even know if it mattered at the end of the day. It was hell down there.
Shivers crawled up from his spine to his pounding heart. Every heartbeat crashed against his ribs like it was dead set on galloping his life away to an early grave.
Lightning crackled from somewhere inside as every light in a two block radius surrounding the mall flickered before crackling streams of electricity arced its way back inside the mall towards the sporting goods section of the store. He followed curiously until his viewpoint showed the glass wall on the third floor. Ars Imagina was up there.
Dad’s Storm Cloud could create lightning, it had been what had blown out the fence so long ago. Maybe they were up here.
People huddled behind tables or under clothing racks as six people in masks paced up and down the walkways with guns or various effects from their powers. It looked chaotic and desperate, which only served to make Eli angrier still. That rage boiled over as lightning struck a random woman who’d held up a glowing hand towards the group. She fell in a twitching heap as they convulsed. Lash after lash of lightning arced into her body.
Once, twice, thrice until they flopped lifelessly on the ground.
Despair clashed with rising hatred. That wasn’t his father.
A young girl barely fifteen or sixteen wailed as she lifted her hands up to form a sphere of water between her palms that she shot at the group from her hiding spot near a clothing rack. Water splashed off one of the masked terrorists with a hard slap square in their chest, knocking them off balance. Eli edged closer to the window and gritted his teeth as they aimed their guns and powers right at her. An innocent bystander.
She dove back into her cover behind the clothing rack as a volley of bullets, darts of fire, and shapeless energy flashed towards the girl. Eli gritted his teeth as the wave destroyed shelves and mannequins. Screams and cries rang out as the terrorist group advanced on the girl. Eli squeezed his eyes shut, unable to watch
buzzing phone heralding a living nightmare—
cool slick ceramic trembling in his grasp
door creaking open, lana screaming, shrieking—
He shook his head as he tried to clear the memories from his head. People scrambled away in a mad rush to escape the masked terrorists closing in on the girl’s last position. Charged light seared against his skin with a sharp yellow blaze like a forge fire. He wouldn’t be able to find his parents or Lyra in this mess.
If he rushed in there he could die.
But if he ran away, these people would die.
Like Lana could have. Or Lyra would have if they’d both gotten upstairs that night.
The drenched terrorist raised their gun again. Light burned against Eli’s eyes as charged volatile light flickered across every inch of his skin. He watched the gunman’s bare finger curl around the trigger of their rifle.
It’d be a slaughter if he did nothing.
Eli teleported with a thunderous crash. As he shot through his void, he carved out window after window. All of the glass shattered in his void where he twisted them into needles with jagged points.
He landed right in front of the gunman with his back straight. Every part of his skin radiant with scorching golden light. Teleportation point after teleportation point were set in a six-way chain as he portioned off his void into six tunnels full of pointy gifts for these terrorists.
A series of shattering cracks rattled as most of them were pierced by his volley. Only the one sparking with electricity remained untouched. They crossed their arms as they tilted their chest and studied Eli.
"Shit, fuck!" One of them screeched in an overly young boyish voice as he stumbled forward while clutching his bleeding shoulder.
"How did you do that?" Another asked as they raised their hands that spouted a hose of fire that streamed toward him.
Eli stared down the flashing fire that seemed so dim with his eyes shrouded in the glorious light of Photon Shot’s power. He lifted his hand as he drained and funneled all of the light he could into a sphere that he compacted right in front of him. Darkness crowded all around him as the fluorescent light diminished to nothing, as did the light from the fire, even as it slammed into his sphere and curled towards him.
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He vanished into his void with his overcharged Photon Shot and appeared behind the shooter. Hesitation threatened to claw at him, but he remembered Trenton Knight at the height of the stairs. Necessity didn’t demand murder. He was better now.
He thrust his hand forward. Golden light flared out into a crude blade that melted straight through the shooter’s back and out their stomach.
Skin sizzled and burned.
He vanished again as another gunshot cracked.
Eli appeared next to the young boy where he swung his light blade in a luminescent arc. Slag metal dropped from the boy’s limp fingers as he fell screaming where the metal of the gun had burned him.
He teleported again.
The four other masked terrorists were covered in a sprawl of polka dots oozing blood from glass crusted wounds. Except for one who was unharmed. The electric one who’d watched Eli the entire time. They pointed their finger at him right as he appeared in front of—
Lightning cracked through the air again, striking Eli dead center on his chest as he slipped fully out of the void. Voltage scrambled his nerves as he landed with a grunt. Space fluctuated and distorted all around him as electricity pounded into him. Black spots danced across his eyes as all of his light discharged in an explosive blast.
It stopped for a moment.
Eli rolled with a flop. Footsteps squeaked against the ruined tile as the unblemished figure from before stood over him. Another bolt lashed out at Eli, arching his back as his limbs flailed weakly beneath him. They reached down and grabbed his arm and hauled him upright so that he dangled limp in their grip.
Screams crackled and hissed in his ears at the cries of the other people. Electric blue eyes peered down at him through the eyeholes of the criminal's mask. Fear roared in time with Eli's heartbeat. His feeble struggles to escape amounted to nothing. They lifted their mask off with their other hand revealing the chiseled handsome face of an average man that could’ve been in his thirties.
A tall somewhat familiar man approached with one of the four he’d blasted with glass leading him. Shadows and darkness curled around his body from the hidden folds of his tasteless suit that darkened as a cold dark metal combat armor conjured around him. He flicked his hand out in a flourish turning darkness to a three foot long blade of cold dark metal that corrupted and devoured the light. Deep black mist steamed off the wake of his every step.
Eli drew on Rapid Recovery and as strength surged back into his limbs he—
Lightning.
He came back to himself on the floor with the scent of charred flesh pungent in his nostrils. Agonizing heat seared through his arm where he'd been held. Copper coated his numb tongue. He flopped as he tried to get up only to be pushed back down by an immense crushing weight. Past the flashes of black spots, he saw the… the electric man's black denim jeans and his dirty shoe as he leaned his full weight onto Eli's chest. A flash of white teeth gleamed between smiling lips where sparks of electricity jolted across his teeth.
Sounds fizzed and popped as Rapid Recovery restored his broken hearing. "—h him. We're wasting time here. Our main targets aren't up here."
"Huntress said he’s downstairs near the food court, boss."
"Good. Find him. Take his family hostage to get him to cooperate. I'll deal with his fucking son." Darkness writhed as the man's shadow-turned solid hair danced. He poised his sword over Eli's chest as his lackeys scurried away. "Hello. Remember me, Eli?”
"No." Eli croaked as he focused the entire brunt of his will on restoring himself with Rapid Recovery. Numbness gave way to boiling agony as his nerves repaired, his charred skin sloughed as fresh skin slowly knitted itself together beneath the blackened burns.
"I used to be your godfather. Or should I say my wife and I were your godparents. Before your parents betrayed us.” Tendrils of darkness lashed out from the tip of his blade to press against Eli's chin. An icy chill sliced against his skin as the man's power wriggled into the wound.
"You’re after my family?” Eli replied hoarsely. The pain had faded enough now to let him think clearly again. He looked up at the man and met those familiar gray eyes head on. He squinted at what he could see of the man's face as his mind replayed what he’d just said. “Dave?”
Dave threw his head back in uproarious laughter. Shadows danced with his enthusiastic glee. "Well, well, the boy does remember. Tell me. How has your life been while I’ve been locked away in prison?”
Eli's eyes widened as tendrils of shadow wrapped around his body so it could hoist him up to his knees. Rapid Recovery cycled through him again and the dizzying fog in his mind lifted.
"Isn't this rich." Dave pulled back with a sneer as he flicked his blade away from Eli's throat, the tendril of shadow squirming inside of his skin rasped free with a squelch. He wailed as Dave unwound his shadows so it pulled Eli closer to Dave’s face. "I only came here because one of my fellow prisoners told us that your parents had been seen with a young girl. Your sister?”
"Leave them alone.” Eli snarled as he strained against the ropes of darkness spun around him. Photon Shot tried to grab at any light it could, but he struggled against the veil of darkness shrouding him. Space buckled and bent all around him, but the shadows touch became agony whenever he started to try and teleport. It felt like he’d get cut into bits and pieces if he tried.
"Your parents tricked us. Wheedled their way into our companionship and friendship then begged us to fund their little business idea. We decided ‘why not, we’re all good friends’, let’s mix business and pleasure. Then they started asking questions. Digging. Searching for secrets that weren’t theirs. We were happy to give them the money they so desperately needed, but they turned all squeamish when they found out where they came from and reported us." Dave snarled as he leaned closer. Darkness crept up from the shadows under his clothes to caress his cheek. "You look just like them. The mere sight of those hazel eyes and black hair makes me want to maul you with razor sharp shadows. Break you open like a pinata. I’ve thought about how to make your parents suffer every day since then. For fifteen fucking years. And then you show up gift-wrapped by Jack’s lightning!”
Eli roared wordlessly as he fought and struggled with all of his might. Skin twisted and tore from his furious attempts to free himself. Teleport after teleport ended in nothing but pain from where the shadows tightened around him. He spat right at Dave’s eyes as he dipped his spatial field down into the floor and sheared free as much concrete and tile as he could before blasting it at Dave.
Stone crunched then exploded in a ricocheting rattle as numerous displays were buried. His bonds loosened momentarily. Eli gathered light into his soot stained hands. Then he collected more. And more. Until the light drifted up past his wrist, then his elbows as he willed all of the light nearby to him. Darkness devoured all of the light except for the golden charge of Photon Shot. Eli twisted free from the shadowy ropes as he teleported up to his feet and glared at Dave with glowing eyes.
"Still a mewling child crying for his parents." Dave snickered as he dusted his suit off needlessly before crafting another suit of dark armor.
"Who fucking talks like that?" Eli narrowed his eyes as thunder cracked and shook the mall from over by the food court. He hoped it was his father and not that fucking electric man, Jack. He drew himself back up to his full height as he folded lines of space outside and drew in even more light with Photon Shot until his whole body shone gold. Then he forced in more light. His bones felt like they were burning, melting in the flood of radiant white light. His powers sizzled and clashed together as Photon Shot overwhelmed his frail, normal body even as Rapid Recovery healed him. “I won’t let you get my parents.”
"Looks like Jack already did," Dave smirked as darkness streaked across his body until he was shapeless. Endless spindly legs of shadow ripped out of his armor to lift him up. The darkness flowed through cracks between tile floors and walls and burrowed its way into the ceiling.
Rapid Recovery steadied Eli's heart as he sliced his spatial field across shelves, mannequins, clothes, stone, glass. Anything he could find. Until his void was full to bursting with enough junk to fill a warehouse… or to smash this fucking pest into paste. Before he could do anything else, Dave already made his move.
The black mass erupted outwards in a cloud of shadows.
It flooded towards him while Eli tried to teleport to escape. But his void refused to accept him, his void stuffed too full for him to travel through.
Darkness grew thicker by the moment. It grabbed onto his arms and legs and dragged him down under its weight. A strange gray mist sputtered where Dave's darkness pressed against his light. Eli fired a beam blindly, his spatial field so swollen he could barely sense around himself. Shadows swirled around before dissipating, leaving nothing behind. There were only pieces of broken wood and dust.
Then silence fell over the empty sporting goods department once again. Eli stared blankly at the spot where Dave had stood moments ago.
An immense impact crashed into Eli's back with the untold strength of thousands of tiny tentacles. Dark matter sprayed in every direction as he spun sideways. As soon as he regained control of his balance,
Eli skidded across the floor before he released a flash of light to land on his feet. Dave surged towards him on a wave of darkness, shadowy legs pulled him forward in a matter of moments. Eli lifted his hands and fired a beam of blue light that exploded into gray mist where it carved through the endless folds of shadowy armor. Dave drew closer, his sword drew back—
Green light crackled as he tore open his void, compressed his light into the collected mass inside of it, and tightened the tunnel through its line straight into Dave's chest as he pinched space closed as much as he could. It was barely wider than a needle. Light flashed as molten stone and metal, burning wood and everything else exploded into Dave like a battering ram sent by Heaven or Hell.
Right as Dave's sword cleaved into Eli's shoulder and sliced clean through his left arm. An intense pain raced along Eli's nerves as blood streamed from the wound. His hand went numb and his vision blurred. He stumbled backward, trying desperately to maintain his concentration as his blood spurted in a misting rain all over the floor. Eli wobbled as he collapsed, his right hand pressed into the wound in his left shoulder... then clawed at the stump.
He whimpered as his fingers found bone and muscle. Slim filaments of ruddy red light beaded along his right hand as he tried to use them to stem the flow of blood. Rapid Recovery was spent, empty. It'd kept him going as long as it could. Light flickered then vanished as his hand shook over the raw torment of his wound.
People screamed all around him. No one came close as tried to croak for help, tried to stop the bleeding. But it was an endless tide of red that—
"Are you okay?" A woman knelt beside him. Her skin was pale enough to show her freckles and she wore thick glasses. She reached out and gripped his good shoulder. Cold clarity broke against Eli's mind as energy flowed into him. "I'm a nurse at New Faram General Hospital. My powers are Serenity and Healing, so they should help..."
They both watched as skin wriggled in a flap that tightened into a stump from his ruined limb. He winced at the sight until relief flooded into him. He lifted his head up to look for Dave, but all he saw was a massive mound of wreckage that bled molten tears. Halfway between him and the destruction was a pulped arm that was putrefying before his very eyes as Dave’s shadows dug into it until it dissolved.
Eli’s eyes fluttered as exhaustion, revulsion, and peace slammed into his consciousness like great sweeping waves of the ocean that dragged him into sleep in a giant undertow.