Lightning and Starlight

Back to Base... with David in Tow

"I'm going with you"

The pair got in the black car Neera had driven from the base to the warehouse, and Neera put in the coordinates.

When they arrived at the edge of the location Verena had given Neera, Neera parked the car and got out. David followed.

"So...What are we doing?" David asked, looking around.

Neera stared at the houses and storefronts on the street. "Um, I guess we just walk around and if we see something suspicious, we watch or follow the person or group until something happens. All the base leader said was that there was a man causing chaos. The file I got said the reported man is tall and lanky. He has quite a few tattoos. He has little to no hair. Not sure what abilities he might have because he doesn't rely on them. He likes swords and daggers. That's the extent of my knowledge."

"Oh. Okay."

Neera gave David half of the mapped-out area, and she took the other half. She was slightly worried about sending David out with no set-in-stone power, so she pulled an extra bottle from her jacket and let some energy flow into it from her hands. David took it gingerly and saluted before he started walking in his mapped area.

Neera walked around in the streets, keeping her stance casual. After a while, she saw a man dart from a store with a sleek, silver dagger. He ran with the dagger braced outwards. Neera followed him from a distance. The man didn't seem too worried about being seen roaming the streets with a dagger.

The man started going up to houses and knocking on the doors. Neera watched carefully, walking slowly. The man knocked on a blue door after multiple tries at other houses. This door opened. A man. The man Neera had been following immediately lunged towards the guy in the door. Neera started sprinting over to the house.

A piercing scream echoed through the walls as the sounds of a scuffle drifted from a back room. Neera ran into the house and to the sound. The suspicious--now proven criminal--man held a sword now. His sword was pointed at a woman's neck. The man is clutching his chest and struggling to stand.

The suspicious man was rattling off demands when Neera burst into the room. The last demand that came out of his mouth was "the baby."

Neera saw a baby in the woman's lap.

The criminal saw Neera and moved the sword in an arc towards her body. Neera moved swiftly out of the way, even though her built-in energy defense would protect her anyway. She went to blast the criminal in the chest to incapacitate him when he shoved his hands toward her. Water poured from them straight toward her. Shock and fear raged through her body. She yelled and blasted the criminal harder, letting pure, uncontrolled lightning strike him. The water hit her as her blast hit him. Neera was unaffected. The man's body was black and burning. His eyes were lifeless and dull, staring at her in shock.

Neera stood, panting. The man groaned, trying to reach the woman. Neera snapped out of her daze and rushed over to him, pulling the healing vial out of her pocket. She healed his chest gently, then shifted her gaze to the woman. The woman stared at the body of the man who would have undoubtedly killed her family. The woman shifted her gaze to Neera.

"I'm so sorry," Neera said, regret tinging her joy from helping the man, woman, and child. "I shouldn't have killed him that violently in front of the baby."

The man stood up, feeling his chest. "Thank you. Don't apologize. Without you, my wife and baby girl would be dead."

The woman sighed. "Daniel, you would have been dead, too. We're taking extra precautions in the future. Thank you, ma'am."

"Of course," Neera said, still a little shocked.

"Um, miss?" the man said, hesitantly. "I'm nervous about our baby. I... you're a hero, right?"