Lightning and Starlight

One Woman Resucue

"I have a confession," Sydney said softly, pulling her hands together. "We know where Vincent is. Verena didn't want to tell you because she was still worried about you joining the villains. You swapping sides would doom us all. But you love him. You need to go save him, Neera."

Neera threw her blankets off. "Where?"

"Don't be hasty," Sydney warned. "Think this through. You need a plan."

"I don't need a plan. I have intense rage and love and determination. I'll kill anyone to get to Vin."

Sydney pursed her lips and opened a drawer in her nightstand. She took out a pen and a piece of notebook paper. "Here's the villain group's base address. Neera, be careful. Please. Get him back and bring him here."

Neera took the paper and ran to the door. Sydney blew a sharp gust of wind straight at it, surprising Neera with Sydney's powers. "Not yet. Wait until tonight. I know the guards on watch tonight, and I'll explain everything. They'll let you through."

Neera took a deep breath. "You're right. That doesn't make it easier to wait around, though."

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Neera watched the clock in her room hit midnight. She hurried out of her room and silently marched through the main room and to the prep room. She grabbed her suit and pulled it on quickly.

Then Neera approached the guards on duty. One handed her a set of keys. The other took off his sunglasses and gave Neera a steely glare. She assumed it was meant to be threatening, what with him not having eyes and having deep expanses in the pits of his face replacing them, but Neera didn't care. She'd seen scarier monsters than him. She had been a scarier monster than him.

Neera went straight to the heroes' cars in the garage. She clicked the button on the keys and smirked when a sleek black car's lights went off. She wondered if she even needed the car. She set the keys on the hood of the car, contemplating. If she took the car, which she was half-sure was Syd's, it would make a lot of noise. That would alert the heroes. Verena would come to stop her. She couldn't waste time like that.

Neera pulled her energy to the surface. She still had a lot of stored-up energy from whatever had happened to her that morning. She looked at the paper and focused on the address. The energy was calling to her, dying to escape. She let it loose.

And she was gone.

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Neera opened her eyes. She was in an alleyway. She glanced around cautiously. Things were too quiet. Neera tried to take a step forward and grunted as she almost lost her balance. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the dizziness. She slowly exited the alley and looked at the paper Sydney had given her. Neera reached into her suit pocket and pulled out her tracker, typing the address in as fast as she could. She was a few minutes away.

Pretty accurate. Not bad.

As Neera walked through the streets, she saw evidence of fear. Barred windows, security cameras on every light pole, and graffiti of different gangs were spread around the town. The city had obviously been heavily influenced by whatever group of villains was controlling it.

She walked for a while longer until the lights disappeared and the houses became scarce. Then she saw it. The villain base.

It looked like an old, abandoned warehouse that the villains had discovered and redone. A huge gate stood at the entrance, and four guards lounged there. Their heads jerked to her when they heard her footsteps echo. The villains assumed a defensive fighting stance, but one stood up abruptly.