When Hell Runs Cold

Chapter Twenty One

Frostbite fell back onto the ground, but he quickly leapt up once more. When the sound of approaching sirens reached Alysia's ears, the man took off running, propelling himself with chilling blasts. He iced the roads in the direction of the cop cars, their wails like a hunting cries. Immobilized, Alysia could do nothing but watch as the police skidded, frantically trying to find friction on the smooth surface. When she looked back at Frostbite, the woman, who had made herself known as Azrael, had appeared next to him.

Nathan made eye contact with ehr from across the street, his eyes widening in confusion when he saw Frostbite and Azrael disappear from right in front of them. Nathan put the child he was holding down on one of the benches, before rushing over to her. "What the hell?"

"Blitz is here." She informed him, shaking the melted ice off of her.

Nathan's face darkened, and he looked away from her. "Of course that idiot came. Did he bring along the cops as well?" Nathan narrowed his eyes at the blur that was speeding around the streets.

"He got Frostbite off of me. I would've literally frozen to death, if it wasn't for him." Alysia sent another ball of fire towards the iced streets. "He mentioned wanting to help us."

"I don't believe him. Knowing him and his goody-two-shoes self, he'll rat us out to the cops the minute Frostbite is gone." Nathan muttered. He held out a hand to her, more of a demand than an offer. "Let's go back to the base, Monarch."

***
This has never been about you, little girl.

The words that Frostbite had said to her played on a loop in her head. He had spoken to her as if she was a child.

It had to be about her father.

Nathan waved a hand in front of her face. "Any ideas of who Frostbite is yet? He seemed like he had a lot to say to you."

Alysia sighed, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the mug of hot coffee Nathan had given her. "I don't know who he is. He wants me dead, as we both know. I couldn't even tell by his voice. He used a voice modulator, just like us."

She rested her elbow on the arm of the sofa, placing her chin on her hand, cup of coffee in the other one. "He doesn't want anything from me other than my death."

Nathan huffed, holding her eyes with his own. They were very blue, Alysia thought randomly. The same color as hope, or maybe dreams that had shattered on the rocky bluffs of reality. "I may not know you well, but I know when someone is keeping information from me. Which is exactly what you're doing right now. We won't be able to stop him unless you're completely honest with me."

Alysia sighed once more, taking a sip of her coffee. The heat burned a little, but she didn't really notice. "He said it wasn't about me. He talked to me as if I was a little kid, like I wasn't old enough to get what was going on."

"So you think you could've known him as a child?" Nathan inquired, leaning forward. "Maybe he's just not used to seeing you as an adult."

"I don't know." Alysia felt like a broken record. "He said 'But if hurting you will hurt him, so be it'. So it's not about something I did, or am doing. It has nothing to do with me being Lux."

"Then who is this about? Stop giving me vague answers." He ordered, his eyes locked on hers.

"It's about my father. Like it always has been, and always will be." Alysia muttered. When she saw the confused look on Nathan's face, she decided to clarify, "My dad's not just some random guy in a coma because of a car crash. He's Inferno. He went into a coma after the battle in Selcouth Park four years ago."
***
Nathan had been giving her the same shocked expression for the past two minutes. Alysia gave him an unimpressed look, taking another sip of her coffee, the burn of the hot liquid soothing in a strange sense.

"Are you going to say anything or not?" She demanded, getting annoyed at his lax jaw, so different from his usual, composed self.

"Your father is the Inferno?" Nathan asked.

There it was.

The awe that came from people just hearing Inferno's name. The awe, the reverence, and love, it was all she heard when people made up conspiracy theories about where the 'heroic' Inferno had gone.

If only they knew the truth. If only had known what kind of a monster Inferno was. What kind of monster he still was. If only they had known how much he had terrified his only daughter, how he didn't give two damns about her, or anybody.

"Yeah." Alysia stated. "He is. He mentored Ben. That's how I know his identity. I'm not a genius."

"Okay, so your dad was a hero. Meaning this villain is probably a villain he's fought before." Nathan stalked over to his computer set up, taking a seat in his computer chair, opening the document he had opened before they had gone to the cafe.

"We know it's not April or Eric. They were both at Busy Bean when the attack occurred." Alysia could see him delete the two names from the documents. "Who are people that hate your dad?"

"I don't know." Alysia snapped.

"You're his daughter, aren't you? Hasn't he told you anything about his fights with other villains?" Nathan inquired, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"No. If you want to know about him or his enemies, you should probably ask Ben. Henry was more of a father to him than he ever was and ever will be to me." She couldn't keep the spite out of her voice. "Maybe he'll actually have a use. Because I sure as hell know nothing about my father."

"Okay..." He trailed off. "So you don't get along with your father." He noted, more to himself than her. He turned towards her. "Do you really think that Blitz would be an asset to us?"

"As much as I hate the guy, he saved my life, and if anyone knows anything about Henry's enemies as Inferno, it would be him. He helped out a lot." She admitted. "And he's a good person, as much as I hate to admit it. Even if he did choke me in the bank."

Alysia watched as Nathan leaned back in the chair, something he seemed to always be doing. "Fine. We'll get that goody-two-shoes. He can help us, I guess." He said reluctantly.

Alysia groaned. "God, I can't believe we're letting him in."

Nathan shrugged. "If he tries to change anything in my base, I'll murder the guy." he muttered.

Alysia put her nearly-empty coffee cup down, stretching her arms above her head. A few of her joints pop, sounding like the brightly colored, fizzing, candy April gave out on Halloween. "Well let's go pay Benjamin Grey a visit, shall we?"

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you've all been having a wonderful day! I've been a bit stressed so sorry for the late update! Tell me what you guys think about this chapter! Any feedback is good feedback!

QOTD: What is your favorite movie?

I'm not a huge movie person, but one of my favorite movies would have to be either Thor Ragnarok or Avengers: Age of Ultron!