Super

38 - pt 2 - Light It Up

RECAP:

And then there was a gun aimed straight at my sister.

And then there was a loud, resounding crack as he fired.

And then Spectrum lunged.

And then she fell.

Blood seeped across her spandex, her pastel hair flickering once before dulling to an unsightly brick red. And she was dead.

"It felt like everything inside me had shattered: like I was made of glass and someone threw a cinderblock right into my centre, scattering shards of me in every direction." 

– Gold Thrush, Super

Gold's P.O.V.

Spectrum dropped to her knees. Everyone always talked about time slowing down during traumatic events... Nothing about this seemed slow. The red stain seeping across her spandex exploded outward like a bomb and her limps flailed as she went into shock. She convulsed once, twice, then fell still, flopping face forward into the mud.

Electro dove forward, skidding to his knees as he pulled her limp body into his lap and wiped some of the mud off of her mask. Everything about her was frozen except her eyelids which fluttered faster than a butterfly's wings. 

Slowly, as if in a trance, I stumbled forward, sinking to my knees next to the two of them. Nearly a perfect stranger had just sacrificed her life for my sister's. Sure it was part of the job description, but... Well that's just it: But. 

With mud dripping down her face from her mask, Spectrum must have been suffocating and uncomfortable in her final moments. The mask covered most of her face and tied around the back of her multicoloured hair, which for some reason was now reduced to a dull shimmer. No longer was it bright and ambient; now it just looked grave like its owner. I figured that must be because her powers of camouflage used to disguise her hair were weakening now that she was dying in Electro's arms.

Gingerly, I touched my fingers to her face. Peeling the mask off was hard. A combination of blood and mud made it slippery and hard to grip in my gloves, but I gently pried it off her face, tossing it aside with a gasp. 

This time, the world did slow down. My throat closed up and it was as if gallons of thick, slimy oil were being poured down it. My heart kept faltering and I took shuddering, ragged breaths as I struggled to process it all. Spectrum... was Karla!

It felt like everything inside me had shattered: like I was made of glass and someone threw a cinderblock right into my centre, scattering shards of me in every direction. Bat Boy stared open-mouthed at the bloody, unconscious girl in Electro's lap, unable, like me, to wrap his mind around it all. Tears pricked his eyes and I saw one spill over, dampening his mask and probably making it awfully scratchy. I, on the other hand, couldn't bring myself to cry.

Karla was struggling to breath too, her chest heaving with the effort of the quick, shallow breaths moving almost as rapidly as her closed eyelids. Thank God she wasn't dead. Not yet, anyway.

"Karla," I whispered through cracked lips, a tear finally spilling over, and then another, and then another. "Karla, wake up," my voice cracked on the last word and I broke down, sobbing these loud, ugly, body-wracking gasps that had me shuddering as I buried my face in my fists and pressed my palms into my closed eyes.

When had everything fallen apart? Was it when all of this started: when I met Annie? Or was it when I fell in love?

"Gold–" Bat Boy whispered, laying a hand on my trembling back. He still couldn't believe I was alive – I could see it in his eyes – and frankly, I wished I were dead. Surely I did die in that explosion. Surely this was hell. "Gold–" my best friend tried again.