Chapter Eleven – Not To Be Taken Lightly

Finally, a city block in sight! This was both a welcome and dreaded sight by the dark figure. Time to indulge in some… fun. To the people on the street, the new arrival posed no threat. Oh, how wrong they were… Nox’s eyes darkened until the pupil was nearly unseeable. Vanishing into thin air, the people FINALLY started to wonder what was happening. By then though, it was too late. A woman on the way home from work suddenly fell to the ground. Confusion sprout amongst those around her. Nothing seemed to be around her… until they viewed the sidewalk. While there was only one person, there were two shadows. Everyone watched, horrified as they merely witnessed the, well, undoing of the victim. Little did they know that it could soon be them…

Not long after Rebel’s comment, the TV flashed on, scaring the heck out of everyone but the heroes. “Why did it turn on by itself?!?!” “It does that when there’s breaking news…” The leader fell silent once her eyes hit the television. There was a report about a massacre of a town on the outskirts of the city… and the girl shown responsible was all too familiar. Gruesome images then flashed on the screen as their TV did its job: find out everything about the event. They all recoiled in horror. Someone grabbed the remote and shut the device off. Shock cycled throughout the room. Iridessa stood up after a minute, and went to the door. As her fellow teammates began sitting up to follow, Iridessa said, “I don’t want any of you to come with me.” As Venus opened her mouth to object the head hero held up a hand. “I want you all to stay safe… and not end up like the people on the TV…” Nodding her head, Iridessa left the base. Standing outside, she felt it. The darkness that was within the city. The light female began to walk in the direction of her opposite.

Images that would fill horror movies surrounded Nox. Snickering in success, he whispered, “That ought to drag ‘em out…” As if on cue, Iridessa had just arrived at the street corner. “Why there you are! I was beginning to wonder what took you so long. How have you been?” Nox mocked in greeting, arms spread wide. Iridessa said no words and merely shot a beam of light towards the sadistic killer. Instead of showing fear however, Nox smiled. “Unfortunately for you,” he began, disappearing from sight. “This won’t, be as simple as last time.” he finished, slamming into his opposition’s back. Easily pinning the surprised girl, he held up a hand with dark magic. “Now. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” Nox whispered in a low, menacing voice. “Now, I know you’re in there. Tell me, do you want me to do this?” he continued, leaning in towards Iridessa’s ear. “Of course not!” she responded. “I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU!!!” the dark one bellowed, scaring the trapped girl. “Now, don’t mess around this time. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to precious, what was it? Oh, Iridesssa.” To the hero’s own surprise, something surged within her, filling her with strength. This feeling had only happened once before, and from that, she trusted it completely. “Your fight is with me Nox, not her.” a new voice said, coming from Iridessa. A wide smile spread on Nox’s face. “There you are Lux! I was beginning to wonder.” he said. “What do you want?” Lux asked. Giving a mischievous chuckle, Nox whispered, “Isn’t it obvious? I want you gone. I want destruction!”  Lux pushed the dark one away and quickly stood up. Staring hard into the evil’s eyes, he whispered, “Then it’s seems nothing has changed…” Nox disappeared into the shadows. As Iridessa/Lux began to walk away, they heard a low whisper slide by, “Until next time…”

Walking down the path, Iridessa recollected on the events that had just taken place. She knew very soon that something awful was going to happen… Speaking aloud, she asked, “How do you two know each other?” Silence lasted for a few seconds, before, “I’ll save that for another time… But for now, we must always watch our back. One thing I do know, is when Nox wants something, he’ll doing anything to get it…”

Two separate minds, living in one body. Both fight for control, but in the end, he wins… How can I stop it? I can’t… But SHE can…

Back at the base, the heroes were discussing plans. They understood that Nox was not someone to be taken lightly. “We can’t do that! We have NO idea if they would actually be trustworthy-” Venus was arguing before Pacifica cut in, “What  choice do we have? We can’t do it by ourselves.” They all reflected on the option. “Then I guess it’s settled.” Spark said, standing. “Off to the prison!”

A man stood in front of multiple large monitors, each displaying different horrifying images from Nox’s massacre. Tapping one, he zoomed in on the girl held responsible. He narrowed his eyes in disgust. He grabbed the telephone that sat in the room. “Lieutenant? Get our troops ready. We need to stop this once and for all.” he announced. Hanging up, he walked back over to the monitors. Looking back to the image of the dark figure, he whispered, “Not this time.”