James Williamson was having a less than stellar day, though that was not an uncommon occurrence for him. Though his superhero identities weren’t exactly a secret, few went through the effort of discovering them, let alone acting on that knowledge. There were some however, some villainous punks with just enough power that they had delusions of grandeur, that would go after him. Such an incident was happening currently, a certain Super, known as Bruiser, had assaulted him as he left his classes for the day.

Most Villains left him alone, just due to the prestige of his grandfather’s Moniker alone. James had taken it for a time, wanting to make his grandfather proud. He was far less powerful than his Grandfather, Marcus, Phantom, had been in his prime was untouchable during the night. James could generate a fog of darkness, and he could control and tweak everything within that darkness. That was not the extent of his abilities, but one of the many things he shared with his Grandparents, on either side.

He was not the only superhuman at the school he was currently attending, but was one of the few that was not currently registered or active. Bruiser, also known as Bruce Donovan was a low level Villain who was heavily involved in the criminal activities within Darkholme University. He was once an up and coming boxer, but was fined and banned from any sporting events after his power manifested during a particularly brutal championship match and accidentally killed his opponent.

He acted as muscle for some of the more organized criminal organizations operating out of Cross Timber. That was not what he wanted to be doing though, as a boxer, he had tasted fame, greatness, and prestige. That was the reasoning behind the current attack Bruiser was directing towards James.

“Come on Bruce, you don’t have to do thi-?!?!?”

James’ last plea towards Bruce was interrupted by an attack from the larger man. James rolled out of the way, the ground being cracked by the force of Bruiser’s gravity enhanced punch. Moments after Bruiser removed his fist from where it was embedded in the concrete. He fully righted himself before gazing at James and speaking. His voice was surprisingly cultured and refined, despite his brutish appearance.

“I can’t do that James, You might be more skilled than I, but you are two engrossed with staying and appearing to be normal. I on the other hand, have been embracing my abilities. Now stand up and fight me, you pansy.”

James simply sighed; he stayed silent, not responding to bruiser. As the more muscularly built man threw another punch, this one was blocked, instead of dodged, the force behind the punch pushed James back. He wrapped an arm around Bruiser’s limb and tried to launch him backwards, but was unable to due to Bruiser’s power. James was then sent flying; he impacted with a thud against the brick walls of the alleyway. He picked himself up from among the crumbled remains of the bricks from the asphalt, which was cracked with old age and disrepair.

James closed his eyes for a brief moment, as he did so Bruiser moved towards him preparing to finish the fight. As the large fist inched closer and closer, time seemed to slow down, just as it was about to hit, James exhaled. At that point, everything changed, darkness flashed and the entirety of the alleyway was consumed by darkness. Just as soon as it appeared, it vanished; the scene it revealed was one rather different from what had been in the alley before.

James was standing, leaning against the brick wall, much as he had been, though the rest of the alley was very different. Bruiser was unconscious on the ground, his clothes were in tatters, numerous bruises and marks could be seen on his body. The more notable changes however, involved the alley itself, the wall that had been damaged when James hit it was repaired, even the asphalt covered ground was less cracked than it was, but still bore the marks of time.

He gazed down at the unconscious and barely breathing form of Bruiser before shaking his head. James had been breathing heavily; even such a seemingly casual display of his power was more than a bit taxing on him. For the past several years, he had stopped exercising his powers and had instead started to become more involved in more normal ventures. This had understandably caused degeneration in his skills, though he could handle over ambitious fools like Bruiser easily enough, truly powerful villains could potentially deal with him.

Even if some powerful villain did take him on, there were few who would go against his family; his Grandfather’s alone had contacts among many notable active and inactive Heroes and Villains. He reached into his faded pants to pull out his cell to call an acquaintance to deal with Bruiser, at that moment however, an enchanting voice called out from behind him.

“That will not be necessary James; I will have someone deal with this fool.”

James sighed before placing his phone back and turning around. He gazed at the familiar intruder and drank in her from. She was shorter than his 6 feet 3 height by a good half foot, though it did nothing to detract from her allure. She had short blonde hair just long enough that it framed her heart shaped face. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans that encased her hips like a second skin; she wore a colorful plaid button up shirt.

Altogether the get up matched with her hair and eye color, a mesmerizing royal blue, made her look very much like the stereotypical image many had of a country girl. Truthfully though, due to her very nature, she could wear a burlap sack and still look better than most women prized for their beauty. IT was just how she was made, literally, her powers had to do with beauty and maintaining it in a sense, this led to her being nearly immortal and surprisingly capable in a fight.

After a time, James finally spoke. “Hello Jess, last I heard you had left the group you grew up in, the Sins, and now joined some big shot Villain group, what was it called, the Society I think it was? Anyways, what are you doing here; I washed my hands of all of you when I left.”

There was a brief pause before Jess known in the Villain community as Lust, responded. Her voice was less alluring; it held a solemn vulnerability to it, hinting at the truth of what lurked beneath the shell formed by her powers. “I know why you left all of us, but I truly have missed you James. That by itself is reason enough for me to be here, but that is not the only reason. The Society has sent me here to keep an eye certain operations they have going on within Cross Timber.”

She then turned and started to stride away, her shoes tapping rhythmically on the hard asphalt. The tapping stopped as Jess paused and looked back over her shoulder to address James a final time. “Stay safe James, and don’t worry about the fool, I will send someone to clean the area up, least I can do for you.”

Just before she turned and continued walking away, James gave a sigh and nodded, Jess beamed in response before giving a final wave. James watched as she walked away, he gave yet another sigh before tearing his eyes from her form and stepping backwards. If anyone was watching, he would seem to fall through the shadows of the alleyway; this was one of the abilities he shared with the original Phantom, Shadow Walking. It was also called Shadow Travel, it was simply put, the ability to traverse and navigate one’s way through shadows and darkness to a destination.

Just outside the house he was staying at, his form emerged from the shadows between his home and his neighbor’s house. As the thin film of darkness covering his form melted away a cry of surprise erupted from somewhere behind him. He turned around to look, but his vision was obscured by a mass of shockingly red hair, as the person who gave the cry fell forward. James’ arms shot forward as he caught her, as he pulled her up she stumbled once more accidentally pushing her body against him.

As her body impacted against him, she, Candace Marie Clark, blushed, the pink hue spreading across her pale flesh at a rapid speed. She righted herself swiftly and pushed herself away from him, she hid her face from him in embarrassment. She recovered after some time; James just leaned back against the side of his house, keeping an eye on Candace as an amused smirk graced his features. This was not an uncommon occurrence with her, she blushed easily.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Although she was a rather powerful Super, her unique upbringing and her inherent clumsiness made her shy away from any sort of work Supers usually partook. She was one of the few from his life as an active participant in Hero and Villain affairs, that he kept in contact with. When he moved here, she followed after him, she had been planning on transferring to a different college, Cross Timber coincidentally happened to house Darksome, so it all worked out in the end.

The first time the two of them met, Candace was being harassed by a group of thugs working for the local organized crime group. She had been operating her parents floral shop, had been for a while since they were killed. In order to keep it running, she had to take loans; few legitimate businesses would finance such a risky endeavor, so she had to go to less scrupulous individuals. For a time she was able to keep up with the payments, as her powers aided her in making the shop carry unique and popular varieties of flowers and plants.

Unfortunately, a recent fight between two supers, one with fire and one with ice powers, ended up killing most of her plants. This caused her to have to dip into her emergency funds, but it only got worse from there, other incidents wore away at what extra funds she had. Eventually she began missing payments, which was what led to her current situation. Though she was powerful, there were limits, she was specialized in that, she could manipulate plants freely, altering them at her will.

However she could not make them do something out of their own nature, not so casually anyways. Had the harassed her at her shop, she could have dealt with them easily enough, but away from there, in an area bereft of soil and natural life, she was powerless, or nearly so. They accosted her just as she left a specialty store some distance from her house. It was an occult shop, ran by a powerful individual, who was a practitioner of magic and other things. The shop was a mysterious thing, when you needed to buy something it just appeared, but after you finished, it disappeared.

It was at this moment, that the 3 men came up to her, and started harassing her. The leader of the group was an enforcer for a local Italian crime family. His name was Luka Brasini; he was the illegitimate child of the local Mob Boss. His powers, seemed mundane, making him stronger than most humans could be, but also boosting his other attributes. That however was not the true effect of his abilities, he could control biology, simply put, he could shift his skin and bones, even blood around, and that of others as well.

He was arguably, one of the most dangerous Supers in the city, currently, it was one of the reasons he was considered the right hand man of his father. He was arrogant, ambitious, and cocky, but he also knew who he could and could not offend within the city and the country to a lesser extent.

“Sweetheart, you knew what would happen if you failed to keep up with the payments. You read the fine print; you knew this would happen that was why you were here right; you were buying wards to protect your shop? That is a no no Miss Clark, you see, it does not set a good example for us if we let someone indebted to us make our services obsolete. Though you do not take protection from us, the point is still the same; we must collect sooner than later.”

The man finished speaking, as he did so, he directed one of his cronies to grab her. A slimmer, lankily built man moved forward and mad movements to grab Candace; she pushed him away before he could get a good grip. As he regained his balance Candace tried to flee, but the other man moved into her path and blocked her way. Luka moved behind her, preparing to strike her, his raised arm was stopped by something, he froze and a chill ran down his spine as a voice most in the city feared came from behind him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Luka, Luka, Luka, see, we have a conflict of interest here. While I could care less what you do to people in your own territory, I am no saint after all, but for you to go so brazenly into a place belonging to your superiors, I am thinking maybe I should just make good on my threat to erase your little group. No you know what, I got an even better idea, I’m sure I could have some people take out the Syndicate, your protectors, how does that sound?”

Luka and the other two men started shivering and trembling, knowing full he could make good on the threat, and that it wasn’t truly a threat, more a description of what would happen if they went against him.

“T-that won’t be necessary Mister Williamson sir, we will get out of here, but she owes us money.” Luka stammered in reply.

“No, I think not, you see, now that I got a good look at this one, she seems to be quite my type. Yeah, I think I shall keep this one for myself. You can go back to Giovanni and tell him that he can take her worth out of what he owes me.”

Luka and his goons nodded and fled swiftly, stumbling all over themselves as they did so. James walked closer; Candace started trembling at the sound of his shoes tapping on the ground. He reached out and started tilted her head up, so he could look at her more closely. Despite the fear she was feeling, the gentle and soft tone in his voice, a far cry from harsh cold tone it possessed before, calmed her down somewhat.

“Do not fear me Red, I mean you no harm. Fools like that, only understand a certain tone, a certain way of doing things. Though I am no saint, I am not enough of a sinner to take advantage of a fearful lady such as yourself. Come, follow me, you will want to get those magic doohickeys of yours set up in case some fool tries to go against me and those I represent.”

He looked into her eyes for a brief moment before removing his hand from under her chin and turning away. As he started walking, Candace picked up her bag of good and followed after him. Though she still felt fear, he had saved her, and she would give him the benefit of the doubt in this situation, regardless, she would be safe once she reached her shop.

After a while James broke from his reminiscence and appraised her once more. She was wearing faded overalls that were perpetually stained with dirt and smudges. They hung loosely off her hips, being baggy enough that her figure was somewhat hidden, but tight enough in the right places to hint at what lay underneath. Her face was bare of makeup and nearly unblemished but for some dirt smudges here and there. Many would consider her plain, not cute, or beautiful, or alluring, just plain, though others would be attracted to that plainness and even consider a type of beauty.

His voice was dripping with amusement as he spoke. “So, have you recovered Sweet Candy?”

At his voice and the words he spoke she looked up, her blush deepening. Her voice was meek, but pleasant and quite audible as she responded. “Yes, James, you know I get easily surprised, and don’t call me that.”

At her response he ran a hand through his short hair as a sheepish look crossed his face. “Yeah, sorry for that, didn’t expect you to be back here, forgot your classes were rescheduled for another day. I was also not in the right mind when I travelled back he-“

He was interrupted as Candace spoke. “Sorry, James, but could we take this inside? I have been working in my garden for quite a while and from how it sounds, this might take a bit.”

James nodded and followed her as she walked through her back door into her house. As they passed through the garden a few of the plants leaned towards him. He let them pass over him briefly before they snapped back to the same positions they were in previously. Candace turned around as they entered her place; she made a sweeping gesture as she spoke.

“You know where everything is; make yourself at home while I clean up.”

He nodded absentmindedly as she glanced at him a moment before wandering off, losing clothes as she went. Meanwhile James glanced around her place; it had been some time since he had last been here, several weeks at the least. She had many plants scattered around the house, the area around the backdoor lead to an open kitchen area. He moved towards the table there and pulled out a seat. He was about to sit down, before he thought better of it, he moved to a set of cabinets above the sink and searched around for what he needed.

He pulled out a bottle of cognac, something he had gifted her awhile back once. He pulled two snifters, brandy glasses, out of an adjacent cabinet. He sat them down on the table along with the bottle before pulling a second chair out and sitting down. He sat there in silence for a time, thinking of things, he went into motion as the sound of the shower in the distance stopped. As Candace came out of the shower, she was dressed in a pair of faded dark blue pants that were much like the overalls she was wearing previously in some aspects, she wore a red tank top, which emphasized her curves.

James gazed at her for a bit, his eyes lingering on her, as she blushed he looked away and gesture towards the chair. She dropped the towel she had been drying her hair with onto the back of the chair before lowering herself into the seat. She gazed at him worryingly as he poured out a sizeable amount of Cognac for the two of them in their respective glasses. Neither of the two of them were such casual drinkers, usually they drank alcohol only on special occasions or when there was bad news.

He caught her gaze and responded with briefly. “You’re going to need it, trust me.”

She nodded in acquiescence and accepted the glass he held out to her. She had just taken a small sip as he spoke once more.

He spoke casually, but with cautiousness in his voice. “So, I ran into Jess today.”

Any further words he was going to say were interrupted by Candace exploding into a series of hacking coughs as the cognac spewed from her mouth. Moments later she yelled in between fits of coughing.

“WHAT?!?!?!?”