Chapter 6

Flashback

John’s hands felt numb as he stared at the sky falling further away from it. The air pushing him downward making him feel as if he weighed a ton. Why didn’t he save her when he had the chance? He could hear their voices even as he fell. He could feel the pain growing inside. He could feel the…darkness. Something had changed inside of him…maybe even broken. Why was he still falling? Will his fall ever end…..is this what it means to…. die? He wondered as the darkness slowly consumed him.

Present 

John awakened from his dream-like memory as he began to look around. His vision was slightly blurred causing him to rub his eyes until he could see clearly. He realized he was somewhere else which felt like a prison. He looked down to see these strange things on his wrist. Slowly, he reached up toward his neck to feel a collar. John looked across the room to see Diane with the same things on. 

She appeared to still be unconscious and was badly wounded. John stood to his feet and walked toward the door of the facility. There wasn’t any way for him to look and see what was going on. He turned to see Diane sitting up as she held her head. She sighed as she looked around as she stood to her feet.       

“I couldn’t beat him and now were somewhere else.” She said as she tried to pull of the cuffs on her wrists. 

John turned away and began examining the room trying to see if he could find a way out.  He continued to examine the room as he heard footsteps at the door. They waited silently until the door opened. Two guards dressed in Drex-corps uniforms appeared. John lunged forward tackling the bigger to the ground. Diane managed to knock out the other one as they both stood to see a dozen more.   

“Shit…” John said as he lunged at another one as he continued to push forward. 

Every time an agent went down another appeared. John was growing agitated as he smashed a guards head into a wall. Another ran at him with a taser as ducked down and knocked him over. John pulled the keys off of him and backed away. He fumbled with them in his hands as he tried to unlock the cuffs. Unfortunately, none of them worked on his locks. He threw them at a guard before kicking him to the ground. They all stopped moving when Dr. Lee appeared.  

“Finally, you’re awake.” He said as he approached John. He noticed the man’s skin glowing vibrantly. John was confused as the man walked around him slowly. He felt as if the man was trying to examine him.   

“Where are we?” Diane asked as she stepped beside John. Dr. Lee barely looked at her as he folded his arms and began to examine John.    

“You going to answer your daughter?” John questioned as he began to notice the tension. He wondered why Dr. Lee refused to acknowledge his daughter.   

“This failure of a child? She’s not worth my acknowledgement.” Dr. Lee said as John grew angry and swung with all his might. Dr. Lee disappeared as a cloud of energy remained in his place. John looked over his shoulder to see him smiling.  

“Why does everyone have that lame power?” John questioned as he turned around to face Dr. Lee. He glanced at Diane who appeared angry. She had this look in her eye that made her seem deadly.     

“Listen John… I’m not the villain everyone wants me to be. I’m trying to save the world from a dark age.” Dr. Lee said as he approached John. He had this look in his eye that John couldn’t trust.       

“You say that yet a murderer was made into a superhuman. Now he’s an arsonist and nearly killed two girls.” John said in a serious tone as Dr. Lee stared at him confused for some time.

He finally nodded as he looked away.      

“I lost funding for my experiments a few years after going public. I resorted working with criminals in order to continue research. At the time… I was hoping the experiment would make Jason better.” Dr. Lee said sounding regretful as he stared at the ground briefly. 

He sighed as he stepped passed John. Diane began to follow Dr. Lee causing John to do the same. John needed to figure a way out of the cuffs and out of the building. Unfortunately, he had this feeling they were in a location far from Darko city.      

“You going tell us where we are?” John asked a few feet behind Dr. Lee who stopped and turned. He sighed deeply before spreading a grin on his face.    

“Don’t worry I’ll send you back to Darko city soon. I wanted to show you something.” Dr. Lee said as he turned to a door and pushed it open to reveal a highly advanced lab filled with unusual technology. In the far side of the room John saw a young woman floating in a vat.

“What are you doing to her?” Diane asked as she started to walk over to the woman but Dr. Lee appeared in front of her. John became tense as he continued searching for a way to get the cuffs off him.     

“Like John here, her DNA is something I’ve never seen before.” Dr. Lee said as he stared at John with an intrigued look on his face. The expression on Dr. Lee’s face made John uncomfortable as he began walking around the room. John felt Dr. Lee’s eyes watching him as he continued to look around the room.    

“Mind taking this collar and these cuffs off of me?” John questioned.

Dr. Lee nodded before disappearing with a set of keys. This hadn’t been what John expected but he decided to use the time to plan. He figured if these tools were used to negate powers it meant his powers would take time to return. John wasn’t fully sure if he controlled his powers. It felt like something else was using them most of the time. 

“I hope you don’t plan to attack me.” Dr. Lee said as John shook his slowly. He wasn’t planning to attack him directly. John was looking for a way to cause a small explosion.

“I’m ready to go home.” John said as Dr. Lee stared at him for a long time. It started to annoy John at how much Dr. Lee stared at him in a curious manner.   

“Do you truly have a home?” Dr. Lee asked sounding curious.

 John stared at him taken aback by his sudden question. He didn’t know how to answer. He sighed as he shook his head and looked down at his torn and ragged clothes. Diane came over to them with a serious look on her face.   

“You do have a home…” She trailed off as she stared at John for a long time. Dr. Lee laughed causing her to look at him. John was getting fed up with Dr. Lee at this point.

“Look I’m hungry… do you mind feeding us?” John asked. 

He didn't really care for food, but he figured he could distract Dr. Lee a bit. If he pestered him enough maybe he could get him to make a mistake. Dr. Lee sighed as he walked over to a table where John saw a walkie talkie. He watched as Dr. Lee ordered someone to bring up food for him. John nodded gratefully as he glanced over at Diane. 

He was buying time as he hoped she may have a plan as well. John walked over to Dr. Lee accidentally bumping into him as he examined the table. He was looking at a vial that had this purple substance in it.   

“This is the super serum. I’ve been testing new elements to add to it. I’m hoping to make a stronger dose.” Dr. Lee said as he turned away from the table causing John to follow him.   

“Are you going to take these restraints off me as well?” Diane asked.

 Dr. Lee raised his hand as it began to glow blindingly bright. John stepped in between Dr. Lee and Diane. He felt a powerful blast of energy that sent him hurdling into the wall. He winced in pain as he felt his ribs break. Dr. Lee sighed as he briefly disappeared before appearing over John.       

“Tell me…why do you choose to help people?” Dr. Lee asked as he knelt down beside John.

John was leaning against the wall as he noticed his wounds weren’t healing yet. The pain felt excruciating as he sat there struggling to breathe. John sat silently as he sat long and hard wondering why he chose to help anyone.   

Flashback  

John stood beside his guardian as they watched a small town burn to the ground. His guardian was paid to kill a man that was terrorizing the townsmen but he didn’t stop him. The man had managed to set fire to the town.    

“We’re not heroes boy…can’t save everyone.” His guardian muttered as he turned away from John. John stood with his fist clenched tightly as he stared down at the village on top of the hill. He felt the rage growing in his heart turning into dark abyss of inextinguishable fire

.  

“Why didn’t you help that girl?” John asked as his voice cracked as he spoke. He didn’t understand why he always cared but he didn’t want to see people die.    

“I’m not a hero… she tried to save you and died because of it. Heroes always die, boy.”  He said from behind John who still faced the village. His hands trembled as he breathed heavily. 

Present 

 John sighed as he slowly staggered to his feet breathing heavily. He slammed his hand against the way caused it to crumble behind him. The rage that boiled in John was unfathomable as he glared at the scientist. Dr. Lee’s expression changed as he stumbled back.   

“I’m not a hero but I can’t just let someone die for nothing.” John confessed as felt immense power. He raised his fist to deliver a devastating blow. Dr. Lee appeared horrified as he stood frozen. The impact seemed weaker than before. John surprised as Dr. Lee barely moved.  

“That’s it? All that power and that’s it?” Dr. Lee laughed. 

Diane appeared next to them. She came at Dr. Lee with unstoppable force and barreled her fist into his side. He cried out in pain as he hit the wall and she continued to deliver massive blows. John sighed with relief as he stepped back and watch her beat her father. She yelled angrily as she stomped on his side. Dr. Lee began coughing up a strange fluid. John assumed it was his blood despite it not being red.      

“I got your keys when I bumped into you. I managed to give them to Diane when you were charging your blinding ray of energy. Clearly, using it means you can’t see either.” John said triumphantly. 

He turned away and walked over to the young woman floating in the vat. He had to find a way to get her free and get her somewhere safe. Diane appeared next to him as he examined the layout of the controls that were connected to the machine. John watched her press a set of buttons causing a strange sound to occur. John had a nervous look on his face as he stared at her slightly worried. Diane kept her eyes forward as John noticed the liquid draining. John turned around to check and see where Dr. Lee was located. He managed to see him getting to his feet causing John to sprint over to him. Dr. Lee collapsed to one knee as he looked up at John. The smile on Dr. Lee’s face made John uncomfortable.   

“Your journey doesn’t end here John. This only the beginning.” Dr. Lee said as he disappeared leaving behind the strange cloud of energy. 

John turned around as an explosion caused the ground to shake. Diane was hurdling across the room as she hit the wall. Broken glass was everywhere near the vat as the woman floated out of it. Her long dark hair floated and waved wildly. Her eyes were completely gray. She had no pupils and this midnight blue shade of energy surrounded her. John began to wonder what he had let out of the vat. She wasn’t making her rescue an easy task.  John sprinted toward her and grabbed the woman. He saw fangs appear as the woman tried to bite him. John kept at a distance as he looked around for something to calm the woman down. Diane appeared with a chair and hit the woman over the head with it. John watch as the woman fell to the ground causing him to look at Diane.     

“Was that necessary?” John questioned as Diane shrugged while throwing the chair to the ground.  John sighed as he knelt down and picked the woman up. He threw her over his shoulder as he looked around to see where they should go.     

“Follow me.” Diane commanded.

She took off running toward the door. She tore the door off its hinges then threw it behind her. John followed her silently with a surprised look on his face as they stepped out into the hall. Drex-corps agent were running down the hall with weapons. A cloud of energy surrounded Diane’s right arm as glowing blue veins appeared. Her arm began to morph into a pulse cannon. Energy surrounded her left leg as she lunged forward causing a draft of air to nearly knock John down. John sighed as he watched her release an explosive ray of energy. 

He ran at a distance as she blasted her way through the agents. John wondered where Dr. Lee had gone. Diane made a path for knocking out a great number of the agents until they began to retreat. John followed Diane as she descended down a flight of stairs.  John continued running with the woman on his shoulder. After a while he caught up to Diane, now standing at a door breathing heavily. She sighed as she pushed the door open to reveal daylight. The sun was shining bright causing John to squint his eyes. He realized they were nowhere near Darko city because that sun was visible.  

“How do we get back to Darko city now?” John asked as Diane pointed to something in the distance. 

John looked over to see someone approaching them. He sighed when recognized her to be Celina. As he stepped forward he felt the young woman moving. He set her down on the ground as she began looking around with a frightened look on her face. John noticed that her eyes had changed. The sclera of her eyes were gray while the iris was light blue. Her skin had turned to a pale brown shade. She looked at her skin and began touching her face. John held out his hand causing her to look up at him. He helped her to her feet as Celina appeared before them.   

“You could have come in to help us.” Diane said annoyed.

Celina frowned in an apologetic way. John returned his attention to the young woman. He felt she had been in the vat for a long time.    

“What…year is it?” She questioned as she looked around at the barren area. There was nothing but dead trees and fields of dead grass. John looked over at the others who all looked reluctant to speak.    

“The year is twenty-twenty.” John said slowly as the woman began to seem shocked. She placed her hand on her head as she turned away from John. Diane walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.   

“What’s your name?” Diane asked as the young woman stared at her for some time.  She sighed as she rubbed her arm appearing to be nervous.    

“Rena Roseburg…I have nowhere to go.” She said unhappily as she stared at the ground. Diane sighed as she placed her hand on her shoulder.    

“I’m your family now. Come on.” Diane said as she wrapped her arm around Rena. John began to admire Diane and respected her deeply.    

“I found Celeste and Shane’s sister. I also found superhumans prisoners and took them to Hyper city. ” Jazz said sounding more enthusiastic than usual. John glanced at him wondering who they were.  

“What’s in Hyper city?” John asked as the others looked at him. He waited patiently as they remained silent.  

“A group called the resistance. They’re trying to stop the crimes of Dante’s followers. The leader is also managing to organize peace in that city. In that city there are no such thing as zones.” Celina responded as he turned away and began walking. 

John watched as they all walked away from him. It surprised him to know that someone managed to make a difference. For years humans refused to work alongside nonhumans. The group walked silently as they got to a helicopter. Two teenagers were sitting inside with the pilot. One of the girls looked like a younger version of Celina. Main difference was that she had black but with silvery streaks in it. Her eyes were a shade of gray like her sister. The other girl had long blonde hair like Shane but lighter. She appeared to be around five foot six while the other girl appeared to be five foot two. John assumed that they were at least around the age of fifth-teen. John sighed as the helicopter engine roared as the pilot got ready to take off.  

“I’m guessing you used a tracking device to find us?” John questioned as he looked at Celina. She slowly nodded her head to answer John’s question as they both climbed into the helicopter.

John still needed answers and the only person capable of giving them was Dr. Lee. He realized he would have no choice but to find him. John stared at the building as they lifted off floating high into the air. Darko city was their next destination which John realized he’d have to stick around for a while.