Mandy v. Darknight

Who saw this coming?

Click.

I walked through the halls, alone, backpack slung over one shoulder, a bag in my left hand, fumbling with a carabiner in my right.

Click. Click.

No one seemed to notice me. I was tall, and strong, but invisible. I didn’t belong in these halls, a stream of preps, athletes, nerds, artists, pretty kids, and burnouts moving with the crowd. They were different, but the same. As in they went around me. I was just a stake in the ground. They didn’t care about me, I didn’t care about them.

Click. Click. Click.

Middle school was the good days. We were carefree, innocent, and most of my friends didn’t have powers. Or discovered them yet, anyways. It was before Kyndra got brain cancer and went off the grid, the last words uttered to me “f***ing leave me alone.” It was before Jules ran off on a honeymoon with her villain boyfriend, and before Morgan ran into Oblivion. Literally. They all went to better, more serious things and they forgot to invite me along.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

I had resisted. I stayed away from the temptation of becoming rich, or well known, or powerful. I stayed the ordinary kid with ordinary dreams and an ordinary life. I stayed me.

Click. Click. Click. Click. CLICK.

After I went into high school, I vowed never to be unordinary. Even if the weirdest things happened to me.

Click. CLIck. CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK�"

D****T!

There still have to be ordinary people, you know.

CRASH!

“D*** it!” I shout again, pulling my fingers away from a calamitous fate. I slide away from the car, cursing under my breath. Leaping up, I stomp to my toolbox, wiping grease off on my pants. Switching out wrench sizes, I slam the toolbox shut and roll back under the car, grumbling.

Half an hour and a replaced timing belt later the front door jingles, indicating a new customer. I roll out from under the car, wipe my hands on my pants and head out of the shop. I don’t look at the customer until I am completely behind the counter, and I almost fall back in shock.

What is Darknight, the worst villain on the face of the planet, doing in my shop?!

Instinctively, my hand falls down to a wrench almost the size of my forearm that always seems attached to my belt. “What are you doing here?” I growl, attempting to stay calm. “Sticking up a car repair shop? That seems kinda low, even for you.

“When I heard that you worked here, I couldn’t believe it,” he says, amusement evident in his voice. “Guess I was wrong.”

“What?” I know I should be scared, but at this moment, I’m only angry and confused. My grip tightens on the wrench.

“I mean, you have the potential to be so much greater and you choose this dead end job? It’s almost like you’re trying to be a normal. How disappointing.”

I step out from behind the counter, my anger smoldering. “What did you just say?” By now, the wrench is off my belt and over my head. A sword of darkness appears in his hand.

“Do you even know why I’m normal?” I growl, voice raising. “Because I want to be. So get your god**** villain a** outta my shop if you’re not here for anything useful.”

“Oo, sassy. Didn’t your adopted parents teach you any manners? Besides, is that any way to treat your old man?”

I lower the wrench. “Old man?... Are you implying you’re my dad?” I bark out a sarcastic laugh. “That couldn’t happen in a million years! I don’t even have powers.”

“Surprise, it happened already. Hey, do you actually know how to use that thing, or are you just playing at it?” he taunts. My grip tightens on the wrench. It feels like he’s goading me to something, but I don’t know what, and besides, I’m too angry to care.

“Oh, I know how to use a wrench just fine,” I growl, and thrust it between his legs. He steps back at the last sentence and flicks my wrench aside with his sword of darkness.

“D***,” I snort in frustration, and take a swing with the wrench again. He grins and parries, then flicks out his sword, gently resting it against my neck.

“I win.”

I lunge at him, using my gloves to grab the blade of the sword and pull it away from my neck. I bring my knee up between his legs and hit him this time. He stumbles back a few steps, holding his crotch and gasping. I grin.

“Oh, you will pay for that,” he growls, still recovering. He throws out his hand, and tendrils of darkness flow from it, grabbing me by my neck and slamming me against the wall. I hear a faint but distinct crack sound. Agonizing pain rips through me, and I cry out in surprise.

Suddenly, instead of white spots dancing around my eyes, my sight sharpens. I can read a calendar that’s across the room, even the tiny footnotes I scrawled in the margins. The fabric on Darknight’s cloak is suddenly much more detailed, and I can almost see his facial structure behind the mask. Everything is louder, too. The sounds that reverberate through the shop are now much more noticable: the rumblings of the fridge in the corner as it keeps food cool, the AC system adjusting the temperature of the shop, even Darknight’s breathing. Darknight straightens, releasing the tendrils of darkness and looking at me with an expression akin to worry, I think, underneath his mask.

“Are you ok?”

“What?” I choke out, gasping for air. “You were choking me to death and now you’re asking if I’m ok?”

“You kicked me between the legs! What did you expect me to do? Pat you on the back and walk away?”

“What did you expect me to do when the most feared man on earth walks into my shop and claims he’s my long-lost dad?!” I retort.

“Oh, come on, you attacked me first. I didn’t even hurt you."

“Well, if you didn’t hurt me, explain the agonizing pain I felt when you pinned me to the wall.”

“That wasn’t me, I did not use that much force.”

“Well then, what was it?” I demand. “You would know more than me.”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? Maybe you’re just really sensitive to pain. Must’ve gotten that from your mom’s side of the family.”

I glare at him. “I’m about done with you. Ya know what, I’ve been done with you since you walked into this shop. If you’re not here to have something fixed, or sell me your spiked villain pot, or rob my shop, I suggest you get out of here before this wrench connects with your filthy metahuman skull.”

He grins at me, unperturbed. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Hold still,” I mutter, anger smoldering. Hefting the wrench up again, I advance towards him, ready to swing. I can see the surprise on his face as I bring it up over my head, like he didn’t think that I’d actually do it. He forms a weapon of darkness, this time a wrench about the same as mine.

“Make fair, eh?” he says, throwing it in the air and catching it again.

I take that moment to swing. His wrench disappears in mid-air and reappears in his hand, just barely in time for him to block. With all the force behind my swing, as they clash, he stumbles back, grunting. I aim my next swing for his head, which he catches. He looks into my eyes, and I can tell that he’s pissed. At least that makes two of us. I sweep my legs under his feet, and he falls to the ground, landing hard. As he gets back to his feet, I swing my wrench again, and he barely swipes it away. It grazes his arm. He swears. I attack again, this time jabbing with the tip of the wrench and making direct contact with his ribs, probably leaving a nasty bruise. When his head comes up, I can see that darkness is starting to spill out of his pupils and into the rest of his eye, but then he blinks rapidly and it goes away. He throws his hand up, and I fly backwards off the ground and hit the wall of the shop several feet behind me, courtesy of his telekinesis. The impact knocks the breath out of my lungs.

Darknight gets to his feet, holding his ribs slightly. He brings his hand up and pulls his mask off, yelling, “I didn’t realize how difficult this would be. Maybe I should have just sent one of my agents to capture you, then interrogated you from in my base! But no, I thought that maybe if I talked to you...” he trails off.

I just lay there, a little bit shocked, and a little bit more angry. I look over to see his face underneath the mask, and I stifle a gag. The face behind the mask is completely malformed, a jagged scar cutting across his face. I’ve seen some pretty nasty stuff, but by far, this dude’s face is the worst.

I continue to stare, unbelieving. His face may be brutal to look at, but there is definitely something hauntingly familiar about it... “You can’t be my dad,” I growl, shaking off the feeling.

“And why is that?” his voice sounds a bit impatient.

“If you were my dad, then why didn’t you raise me so I could be a villain like you?” I shoot back.

“Adira... You don’t understand! I wanted to raise you, but they took you from me! I have been trying to find you ever since!”

I flinch at my real name. No one knows my real name. Except… my parents. That is, my real parents.

I struggle for an answer, something snarky or sarcastic, but I come up with nothing. I just sit there.

“They took all of you from me. Your mom, your brother, you...”

“Wait. Stop there,” I hold up a hand, frowning. “You said… I have a brother?”

Darknight nods. “His name is Alex and he’s been raised by the people who took you guys away from me. He’s two years younger than you.”

“And who might be the unfortunate souls that took me and my brother away from you?”

“S.W.O.R.D,” is his shocking reply. S.W.O.R.D is the most well-known hero organization around. No way they could have done this…

“Is this some sort of hoax?” I spit. “All of this?”

“You think I would lie to you?” he spits back.

“Well, given your reputation, I wouldn’t be surprised!”

“Yes, but... I don’t care about those people. I care about you. I would never lie to you, I swear.”

“And how many people have you said that to? Just to deceive them? To hurt them, to kill them?”

“If I wanted to kill someone, I’d just kill them. Why would I need to deceive them? That takes too long, and is a rather faulty method. When I need to make someone trust me, I promise to give them something. Much more effective.”

“And I suppose you’re going to do the same to me. Give me an empty promise.” I stand up abruptly, my anger reaching it’s limit. “And you don’t think I’ve fallen for that ruse before?” I shout. “You don’t think people have pretended to be my friends and then deserted me?! You think my life’s been all sunshine and rainbows?” He tries to butt in, but I continue, talking over him. “That’s what you think, don’t you? That’s what everyone thinks. ‘Oh, it’s Mandy, that one normal person, let me just butt into her life and ruin it.’” I bark out an empty laugh. “I’m sorry, Darknight, but if you think I’m your long-lost daughter, you’re dead wrong. Goodbye.”

He opens his mouth, and then closes it. I can see in his eyes that I hit a nerve, and he just sits there for a moment, studying me. “Ever wonder about that nick in your left ear?”

I frown, reaching up for my ear. No one really notices it, so I’ve kept it to myself. “What about it?”

“Ever wonder how it happened?”I stare at him, confused, not sure where he’s going with this. “No,” I finally say.

“When you were a baby, I cut a nick in your ear so that if I ever lost you, I’d know if I’d found you for real again.”

“Prove it.”

He pulls his long, unkempt hair back from his left ear, which has a nick in the exact same spot as mine. I can tell that it’s old, like mine, and not recent. “I made the same nick in my ear.”

My frown deepens. I feel the small divot that the knife made, and I can tell he’s telling the truth. He couldn’t have gone this far to deceive one person. Could he?

“Fine,” I mutter. “You got me. I am your long-lost daughter.”

He looks at me as if he can’t tell whether I’m being sarcastic or not.

“What’cha gonna do about it?” I continue. “You just came out here to tell me?”

“Uh... well, my original plan included telling you and trying to figure out what your powers are, but it didn’t get this far... Guess I was so excited at actually finding you, I didn’t really think this through.” Smiling almost bashfully, he runs a hand through his long hair.

I huff, frustrated. “That’s it? You just came out here to trash my shop and convince me that I’m your daughter? I’m just supposed to kick you out and just go on with my life?”

“First off, I did not trash your shop. Second... Adira, you’re my only daughter I’ve been looking for you for twenty three years! Excuse me for being excited about finding you! And why would you kick me out? Why would you just go on with your life? Come with me, we can unlock your powers, we could do anything, we could be unstoppable!”

I freeze. Memories flash through my brain. Jules taken away by Darkling. Kyndra going off the grid. Morgan running into Oblivion. No. I wouldn’t let that happen to me. I had promised myself, and I’m not one to break promises.

“No,” I say.

“What!?”

“I said no,” I repeat. “Is that clear enough for you?”

“What... Adira... I don’t understand. Aren’t you sick of being around all of these stupid normals? Aren’t you bored of being so ordinary? I mean, even your friends got sick of that. Why haven’t you?”

“There still has to be ordinary people, you know,” I murmur.

“And you aren’t one of them!” he practically yells. “Besides, like the daughter of the world’s greatest supervillain could ever be ordinary.”

“No,” I say. “That’s final.”

“Fine, then. You leave me no choice.”

That was the last thing that I remembered for a while.

Author's Note

Written by Peregrinator7.

Reviews

[Peregrinator7]

what happened to all the italics? and that question mark box is supposed to be a dash
ugh writerscafe and its formatting

[Locke Redwyne (night sy..]

YAY
I also contributed in the form of writing all of Darknight's parts