The Conductor {Black Lightning}{Wattys2018}

Ch. 34: Help Wanted

A/N: Sorry for the wonky spacing. Wattpad's being stupid as of now.

***

"I thought I told you to keep Black Lightning under control."

Raindrops slid down the windows of the van Eugene used for One Hundred business as she berated Gambi. Doing it in the One Hundred's van was risky, but she couldn't call him in his own apartment; that'd be dumb as fuck. And she couldn't use her own apartment because after the incident at the club with Joey, he was probably more suspicious and she wouldn't put it past him to track her phone.

"Well, last time I checked, I don't answer to you."

"He went after Joey Toledo, for fuck's sake!" Eugene puffed out her cheeks. Gambi's comebacks were poetic, but they didn't actually help anyone. "Tobias is gonna be on the warpath!"

"That's not my problem," Gambi said coldly. "Tobias is the one who's supposed to be in hiding, not Black Lightning. Why don't you keep Tobias under control?"

"If I hadn't shown up, Joey would've gotten him." Eugene's face flushed. She couldn't control Tobias. No one could control Tobias. Didn't he understand that? "And then Tobias would've had him and killed him and you wouldn't be such a blo - fucking smartass right now. I think it's your problem."

Gambi didn't answer.

"What was wrong with him, anyway?" she asked, swallowing her frustration. "Something was wrong with his head."

"That's none of your business!"

Eugene sighed. Of course he didn't trust her. Why should he? "Fair enough." She paused. "But if you want me to keep Tobias under control, you have to help me kill him because nothing will be fixed until he's dead."

"Wha--?" Gambi stumbled over his words. "Slow down for a minute, I'm not helping you kill Tobias!"

Eugene's mouth fell open. "Why the hell not?!"

"There are better ways to go about this. We could hand him over to the police--"

"The police are all paid off," she said. "You know that. And even if you do get him in there, he'll just break out. And anyway, why don't you want to kill Tobias? Judging by the way you tried to blow my head off the other day, you aren't above a little murder."

"Well, first of all, this isn't about Tobias at all," said Gambi. "This is about me not walking into one of your traps. Barely a month ago, you try to kill Black Lightning and now you wanna kill Tobias? Do you want to murder everyone?"

"Oh, shut up--"

"Also, do me a favor and lose my number."

He hung up and Eugene heaved a sigh. Starting up the van, she drove to the assigned parking lot, staring dejectedly out the window. She could tell him the truth - she'd gotten close to it. He was just too oblivious to connect the dots.

And at least telling him meant she had more control over it. The last thing she needed was for everything to come out in a near-death experience like it almost had during the Joey fiasco. That'd just be insulting to everyone including her.

That's what she'd do. She'd go home and tell them. If she didn't, Gambi would never trust her and Tobias would never get dealt with. If she didn't, Anissa would never talk to her again regardless of whether or not the truth came out.

***

On the way home, Eugene lounged on the roof of an abandoned building to catch her breath when a tingling sensation lit up her back. Someone was behind her.

Hands shoved into her back and Eugene plummeted, instinctively catching herself with the wind. Crouched on all fours, she turned on her attacker, whose glowing, blue eyes glowered down at her.

Mr. Pierce.

If not for the eyes, she wouldn't have recognized him at all. Instead of wearing his suit, he wore a ski mask and classic baggy, black clothes. Why wasn't he wearing his suit? If someone pulled out their gun while he was distracted, he'd be done for.

"You've got a new outfit," she remarked. "What do you want?"

"For you to get a taste of your own medicine."

He extended his arm and Eugene's arms gave out.

Electricity emerged from her chest and arched around her body. Eugene stared up at Mr. Pierce, her mouth agape as she gasped for breath.

He was taking the electricity from her body.

"No..." She broke off as a jolt of pain stabbed her chest. "Stop...you'll regret it. I-I promise."

Mr. Pierce jumped on the roof, landed on the lid of a nearby dumpster, and slid onto the ground to be at her level. "Did you regret it?" he spat in her face. "All the shit you did?"

Eugene tried to nod, but her body trembled so much he wouldn't have understood anyway. Every mistake she had ever made flashed before her eyes and she regretted all of it. Every murder; every lie; every selfish, cowardly moment. But most of all, she regretted not thinking of all this until now because now she was going to die and it was pathetic. It was so fucking pathetic.

"And even if you did," he continued, his hands crackling with her electricity, "why should I regret it, huh? Even if you have a family, they're probably better off without you."

Fuck. She couldn't die. She couldn't do that to Mom. Or Anissa. Or even Mr. Pierce. She'd choose to go to Hell for all eternity if she let them find out this way.

Black spots clouding her vision, Eugene fumbled with her helmet strap. "Take...take my helmet off."

"What?"

In one last ditch attempt, she reached under her helmet to turn off the voice modifier and realized Mr. Pierce had already turned it off by sucking out the electricity. If he hadn't noticed the voice change by now, he wouldn't notice later. Or maybe he just didn't care.

"My helmet. Take it off." A strangled sob ripped its way out of her throat. "Please."