A Celebrity and a Hero

Chapter 25

Jaces POV
I came home to find Carter, in her dog form, laying on the couch next to Crystal. I put my stuff down. "What's going on?" I asked. Crystal smiled at me. "Come here baby" she said, patting her lap. I shifted into my dog form and ran over to her. I jumped up on her lap and stood against her chest. She laughed a bit and scratched my neck. "Carter told me" she said. I looked at her confused. "Told you what?" I asked. "I told her I was the Ruff Ranger" Carter clarified. I sat down in Crystals lap. "You... did?" I asked confused. "And everything else too" Carter said. I looked at Crystal and she smiled. I shifted back to my mutant form and wrapped my arms around her neck. I mouthed 'thank you' to Crystal. She nodded. Carter really needed to get it off her chest. She seems a little more at ease now. My watch blinked and Crystal and I looked at each other. I looked at Carter. "Carter?" I asked. "I know" she sighed. I stood up. Carter jumped off the couch and changed back to her mutant form. "Lets go" She said.

"How are we gonna catch her?" I asked. Maddy's having fun with her mischief. "Remember what you did at the party months ago? I need you to do that again" Ruff said. "I don't know Ruff. That's the power of darkness. It takes a lot of energy. If I'm even the slightest bit distracted, Ill lose it" I said. "Don't worry. Ill make sure that the Mad Magician doesn't get to you while its happening. Ill do this as fast as I can. Hopefully, you wont have to do this for long" she said. I nodded, shook out my nerves, and looked down. I closed my eyes and focused really hard. I opened my eyes again and they were pitch black. I created a cloud of darkness and waved my hands around it, making it grow bigger and bigger. I kept waving my hands as it grew faster. Soon it was covering majority of the city. "Hold in there Wolf. Ill be right back" Ruff said. She got on her Bark Bike and bolted off the roof down into the street. I can see and hear everything that's happening, but I'm struggling to hold this together.

Maddy stopped her chaos when the darkness overtook the city. She looked shocked. Like she didn't know what to do. I fumbled in my stance a little and the darkness flickered with a blue light. I held it together as much as I could, but the flickering had already started. There's no stopping it now. The Bark Bike came to a screeching halt next to Maddy. "Hey! You wanna see some real magic? Catch me if you can!" Ruff said bolting off again. Maddy zoomed after her. "You think I cant catch you?" She asked. "You have to be able to see me to catch me!" Ruff said. I focused my darkness on Maddy. I made it so that she could only see Ruff, and not where Ruff was leading her. Ruff jumped up and her bike starting climbing the wall of the building I'm standing on. I fell to my knees. I cant hold it much longer. The bike leaped over my head and created a smoke cloud when it landed. Maddy followed right after and Ruff used her magic to strap her to the roof when she crashed into the bike. I couldn't hold it anymore. I collapsed onto the ground, out of breath, and my whole body aching in pain. The darkness cleared in an instant as I took deep fast breaths. "Are you ok Wolf?" Ruff asked. "Yeah. Ill be fine" I panted. Ruff helped me up and led me to sit on the air conditioner. I slouched over as Ruff walked to Maddy.

"Mad Magician. We finally caught you" Ruff towered over her. Maddy struggled under the magic straps, but it was no use. "Now, under hero law, we have two options. We turn you in to the feds to go to prison... or, we turn you to the good side and you can walk free. Make the right choice" Ruff snapped. "This is bullshit!" Maddy yelled. Ruff raised an eyebrow. "Rude people deserve to be punished. People like that only respond to violence. Talking has done nothing to sooth them over. I'm trying to help dammit!" Maddy yelled. "You're not helping! They don't respond to violence anymore then they respond to talking. You cant fight fire with fire. The only way to face people like that is to ignore them. Continue on with life and if they're stupid enough to try anything on you, you go to the police like you're supposed too. Show them that they cant touch you" Ruff fought back. I looked at Ruff. She's not telling that to Maddy. She's telling herself. "Yeah? Well some people let it touch them anyway. They plaster on a smile everyday and then cry their eyes out at home. I'm doing it for those people" Maddy snapped. Ruff stayed silent. Ruff did something with her hands and that's when I noticed she had the gold ring on. She took it off and dropped it on Maddy's chest. "You left that" she said. Maddy stared at it and then looked at Ruff. "I'm sure whoever you're doing this for, wouldn't want you to do this. You're hurting yourself" Ruff said. "How do you know that?" Maddy asked. "The veins in your neck are turning red" Ruff pointed. Maddy looked to the side. She's in pain. "Coloveins right?" Ruff asked. "What would you know?" Maddy snapped. "I know a lot. Harlow" Ruff said. Maddy looked over shocked and Ruff closed her eyes. She breathed out heavily. I walked to her and put my hand on her shoulder. "Breathe" I whispered. She's gonna cry. "How do you know my name?" Harlow asked. Carter huffed. "You're not very good at hiding it honey" she said. Harlow's eyes widened. "Carter?" She asked. A tear ran down Carters face as she nodded. Harlow's jaw dropped to the floor. Carter released the straps and Harlow stood up. "Why would you do this?" Carter cried. "I did it for you!" Harlow exclaimed. Carter gripped her ears and pulled on them. "I'm sorry" Harlow said. "You hurt yourself. You hurt all those people. For me? You know stupid I feel?" Carter asked. Harlow looked down. Carters breath is shaky. "Deep breaths Ruff" I said. Harlow looked at me. "Who are you?" She asked. I turned my ears black for a moment and then back to blue. "Jace?" She asked. I nodded. She sighed and wiped her face with her hand. "Does Kai know?" Harlow asked. Carter nodded. They stayed silent. They need to talk. "Heres what's gonna happen" I started. They looked at me. "You two are gonna go home and talk this whole thing over. You're both gonna explain why you lied about... this" I said, gesturing to them. They looked back at each other. "Go home. Talk it over. I hope not to see that Harlow's been fired in the morning" I sighed. Carter looked at me. "Thank you... Wolf" she said. I nodded. She held out her hand and I gave her a gentle high five. My hand slid off of hers. Then I jumped off the building and flew home.