Crossover Earth '98
Out Like A Light
I floated in the air, a thousand feet above the city I'd called home my entire life. The air quality was improving, but Los Angeles was definitely not a sight for sore eyes. And yet I couldn't help but feel a reluctance to leave. You don't spend your entire life protecting something only to turn your back on it.
Get over it, I told myself. The Guardians have things well in hand. Anomaly is shaping up into a terrific leader, even without his ability to make events happen the way he wants.
I half expected Golden Gate to come after me, if not to keep me from going, at least for one last goodbye. But I was the only flying man in the sky today, though down in the city I caught a glimpse of a running blur. See, there are yet others stepping in to fill the void.
Feeling like I'd overstayed my welcome, I turned and flew eastward, a nimbus of light glowing around me.
The rumors about New York were true; they'd offered a penthouse apartment, full police powers, a personal liason with the police department, and a healthy stipend. Hardly satisfying, though, to move from the shadow of Golden Gate into a cushy position as the protector of New York. There should be more to life than that; Beguile had shown me that.
As I flew over Phoenix, I swooped lower. People in parks looked up and waved at me, and I waved back. Somehow, being surrounded by a slight nimbus of white light tended to lend an air of goodness to you. Must be the superheroic equivalent of wearing a white hat.
As I flew over downtown, I caught sight of a group of police cars lined up in front of a bank. The officers were crouched behind their cars, occassionally peeking over the hood or the trunk. I flew lower and found the officer carrying the bullhorn. He'd be the one in charge. I landed beside him and let the nimbus of white fade.
"Officer, my name is Photon. Can I help?"
The man looked relieved. "Thank God! The SWAT team has lost half their equipment already. Luckily nobody has been killed, but I don't know how long that will last."
I gestured toward the bank. "Who's inside?"
"A guy calling himself Hadron," the officer said. He continued speaking about how Hadron had tried to rob the bank, but I tuned him out and stared at the door to the bank. Hadron had killed Crystal, a member of the Guardians and a very good friend. We'd lost track of him after he escaped from prison, always arriving at the scene too late to catch him.
I started walking toward the bank.
"Hey, where are you going?"
I ignored the officer and closed the distance to the bank. I opened the door and flooded the inside with brilliant light, blinding everyone inside. Hadron crouched behind a teller's cage.
"Stay away Photon! I don't want to kill you." Hadron's voice quivered.
"Like you didn't want to kill Crystal?"
"She was going to capture me and put me in jail; I can't stand to be confined!" Hadron's voice became frenzied, and he lashed out blindly with one hand. A ten foot portion of the counter disappeared. I continued walking toward Hadron, slowly.
"I'm going to put you in jail, Hadron, and this time you'll stay there."
"I won't go back! I'll kill you first!" Again his hand flailed, and a chair disappeared. I noticed that it was the tips of his fingers on his right hand that did it. As soon as they made contact, poof! Could it be that he had no control over what he disintegrated?
"You don't want to kill anybody," I said. "They were all accidents, weren't they. You were trying to warn Crystal off, and accidentally hit her with your fingertips." Hadron slumped to the floor, nodding. He was blinking, as if his sight were returning. I started walking faster.
"I can't help it," he said. "Anything I touch disappears." I closed the last of the distance between us before his sight returned and grabbed his right hand. His arm was limp, as if the will to fight had left him. Slowly, I turned his hand so his fingertips were pointed at his face.
"My dog, my friend Molly, everything disappears."
I stood, poised over Hadron, holding his hand inches from his face. I remembered Crystal's voice as she would sing in the Guardian's headquarters. I remembered her smile. And I remembered her compassion.
Sighing, I grabbed part of the wooden paneling on the counter and wrapped part of it around Hadron's hand. He didn't seem like he would be causing trouble, but he also didn't seem to have a good sense of where his hand was in relation to everything else. I pulled him to his feet and led him out of the bank.
"Make sure you get him into a disintegration nullifier before too long," I told the officer as I turned Hadron over. Hadron turned to me.
"Will they put me in jail?" I nodded. "I guess I deserve it, don't I?"
I nodded again and took to the air. I headed east again, out into the desert. Once out of sight of Phoenix, I hovered over the desert floor. The heat rising of the ground seemed to form Crystal's face, smiling.
I guess New York would have to wait. There's a lot more to this business than busting up the villains, and a lot more to life than knowing right from wrong.