Zero

Chapter 26

Luke's POV

"Fuck," I moan, resting my head against the bar top. I briefly consider getting up to call an Uber, but then Molly flashes in my brain, making anger start pumping through my veins again. I lift my head up and down another shot, barely feeling the burn in the back of my throat.

"Rough day?" The man next to me calls, a small smirk on his face. I lazily look over at him, my vision swimming.

"My stupid sister returned from the dead after five years," I slur. His eyebrows raise, showing he's interested. I watch as he waves the bartender over and orders us two more rounds of shots. I don't hesitate before downing one.

"So how'd your sister just re-"

"She has superpowers," I answer, anticipating his question, "She, uh, I forgot what I was gonna say."

"She does?" He double checks. I nod, trying to ignore the pounding in my head.

"Do you? Since you're siblings?" I shake my head no. "What if I told you I knew how you could get powers of your own?" I hesitate, something nagging at me in the back of my mind. He notices and pushes forward, "Come on. I bet you're mad at her, right? I bet you always have to rely on her to protect you and the people you care about. This way, you could protect them yourself." I feel my anger at Molly continue to grow until my hands are curled into fists and my teeth are gritted together.

"How?" I demand, leaning closer. He flashes me a toothy grin, then helps me to stumble out of the bar and over to presumably his junky car.

~

"Maxima!" The man screams, making me wince. We were at some random warehouse, I'm not sure where. I passed out after getting into his car. I glance around at my surroundings until a woman walks into the room. She's dressed in a pantsuit that's an ugly shade of purple. A smiliarly colored mask covers her face.

"Anger," she notes, stopping in front of me, "From what?"

"His sister just came back from the dead," the man pipes up before I can answer, "He says she has superpowers." This information catches her attention.

"Is that so?" I nod. "What's your name?"

"Luke Hemmings." Both of them whip their heads over to face me, disbelief on their faces.

"Molly Hemmings is your sister, and she's alive?"

"She's Blaze," I respond, my jaw clenching. Maxima moves closer to me, and I feel my rage intensify. Her lips curl upwards into a nasty smile.

"Perfect. So Luke, you want me to give you powers, so that you don't have to rely on your flakey sister to protect you anymore? Is that right?" I nod. She grabs my chin, her face inches from mine, "Are you willing to surrender control over to me?" I glance over to my left and see the man holding a syringe in his hand. There's a red liquid inside of it. "Luke?" Maxima calls, her green eyes glowing brighter.

"Yes," I answer, my brain fuzzy and head pounding.

"Perfect." Her eyes close. I feel my heart start to pump faster as my fury grows and grows. I feel a tiny prick in my arm and glance down to see that the needle attached to the syringe is now stuck deep into my arm. I watch as the liquid gets pushed into my bloodstream before my eyes roll back in my head and I collapse to the ground.