Super Mess Ch 2

A violet light skirted just out of Sydney's reach. He tried to move towards it, but his arms wouldn't respond. Or rather, they didn't seem to be in their right spots. When Sydney tried to figure out what this meant, the light started to change. As he watched, an unnamable fear engulfed Sydney.
Then he began to wake up.

I'm alive? Didn't see that coming. I wonder what's the catch.
Well, it's not me getting caught, unless jail cells now look like dilapidated warehouses with me-shaped holes in the ceiling. Which of course means…
Yep! That was pain! All over!
Guess we'll leave 'trying to move' for a later stage. On the plus side, there don't seem to be any injuries. On the other hand, the fact I'm able to tell this by looking down makes me wonder: What the hell happened to my clothes?!
…Aw hell… What happened to my armor?! Did I just expose my 'secret identity' to the world? Smooth move, genius. Any other plans you want to act on? Ok, Nero, just calm down… Let's just use our darkness powers to make a temporary costume so we can leave. We'll deal with the details later when we know more. Ok, so reach out, grasp the shadows with your mind, and…
…fail to do anything? What the hell is this?! What the HELL IS THIS?! I've been trashed, smashed, bruised, drugged, drunk, beaten, stabbed, hung-over, sick, and even tired and these powers have never once failed me! The only time they ever have was when I was testing…
…Oh no.
No. Just… no! Hell no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Don't tell me the Black Sphere… No! This can't be happening! Please tell me that my powers aren't gone…
Great job, Nero, you've just screwed up everything. Damn you, you goddamn IDOIT!
…Why didn't that hurt? I just smashed my fist against concrete, and it only caused my aching back to act up? It should have…
OHMYGODMYHANDISGLOWING!
Ok, this is weird… even for me… It's like my skin just became a red glow-stick. Hell, it's like my skin is another material all together. It has this liquid like sheen to it, but it's not transparent and it still seems to move like skin when I flex my fingers.
…I smell burning hair.
Ah, the slight amount of hair on the back of my hand and the part of the forearm that is glowing seems to be on fire. Doesn't seem to hurt but I'm hoping this doesn't mean I can end up hurting myself on accident. Got to test this… unfortunately. Hello small strand of hair in my eye! How would you like to help?
Ok, it doesn't seem to do anything to the hair on my head, or even the rest of my skin considering I accidentally touched my face trying that. Yet it clearly burned off the hair on my arm and seems to have melted the concrete when I hit it before. I wonder what the rules are.
Let's see if I can… Yep! I can fire red blast things! Very nic…
Crap, that was load bearing, wasn't it?

"I already know what you want to say," Karen sighed.
It had taken awhile, but Elaine had finally cornered her. Karen had been slipping through the crowd, brushing her off all night. She was surprisingly quick for a hero who was known for practically being a human tank.
"Really, then what do you think I'm about to say?" Elaine barely got out before panting for breath again.
The streets were full to the brim with people. It was even worse at the Brink Guard HQ, which the two of them had escaped from. The celebration of Nero's demise was quite possibly the biggest event Icari had seen in a long time. It wasn't often someone of his level was taken down, especially by only one Hero Guild. The entire afternoon had been full of suspicion of his survival, with people barely wanting to go outside for fear of a surprise attack, but when the Detective confirmed that there was no way he could have survived the blast and when the Brink Guard tore apart the tower he'd been using to direct his Black Sphere, the city had begun celebrating. There were still some skeptics, but most of them were out celebrating as well.
Karen had pulled Elaine out to enjoy the festivities (under the excuse that they would be helping to keep the peace if things got unruly). All this time, Elaine had been struggling to overtake her friend and pull her aside for a word, it had been utterly exhausting.
"You want to say how reckless it was to have tried to shield you from the blast, and that I shouldn't put my life at risk, and give me the whole 'you're not invincible' spiel," Karen rolled her eyes, settling them on a food stand behind Elaine.
"Because I care about you!" Elaine tried to get through.
"Enough that you were trying to do the same thing?"
This struck Elaine hard.
"Look, I know how much you care, and you have to understand that I'm the same. I acted first because I knew you were going to try to absorb or deflect the blast from me since I couldn't really move. However, I was more certain that my armor would protect at least you than I was you could channel some immeasurable amount of power without going critical yourself," Karen explained softly.
"You don't trust me?"
"I didn't trust your powers, there's a difference. Yours are much more complex than mine. We don't know how they'd react to something like that. My only concern with my powers would be if the front of my armor would hold up should the blast get through me."
"It still feels like you don't trust me," Elaine pointed out.
Karen sighed, "We still don't know much about powers in general. All we know is that most people get 2, and that sometimes it's hard to tell what exactly those are. Remember the guy who thought his power was just glowing in the dark and lucid dreaming?"
"He could reflect light to shoot lasers and go invisible and had slight hypnotic powers."
"Yeah, it took a laser to the eye for Dream Eater to be born. Who knows if an explosion could change you? I know it feels like I didn't trust you, but I really do. I knew you were going to do the right thing and that you were brave enough to stand up against the unknown. However, I couldn't let you do it. Think about it for a moment: how would you feel in my shoes if your best friend is attempting to stop an explosion by trying something that she knows is risky on a smaller scale?"
It didn't take long for Elaine to think up that scenario. Karen herself had done something like that not too long ago. Karen herself realized it a second later.
"Yeah, ok. I'm sorry. But I'm saying it won't happen again. However, feel free to help out yourself if you're able to," an intoxicating and contagious smile crept on Karen's face and soon onto Elaine's. "Now, how about we get around to relaxing?"
Elaine finally glanced over her shoulder to the street vendor, "Really? Hotdogs? Aren't those more dangerous than Nero?"
"But much more satisfying to beat," Karen pointed out.
A loud crash stopped them before they made their way across the street. They, along with the rest of the crowd turned towards the small ruined building scheduled for demolition across the street. The dirt lots where a few other buildings had stood had a few partiers gathered around some small bonfires, but none seemed close enough to have caused the noise. A horrible metal groaning filled the air, matching the volume of the music pumping through the streets.
"Don't tell me someone was stupid enough to go in there!" Karen smacked her forehead.
"I think we're required to find out."

Damn it's hard to move! Stupid red blast thing! Stupid crappy roof! Stupid Zorb with his stupid name hitting me with his stupid punch! Stupid word "stupid" which doesn't even sound right after awhile!
Ok, the building is collapsing… and sinking. This is not good. The front door is gone, and I'm only halfway across. There's a giant pit behind me that's sucking down the large, rather pointy debris from the ceiling into a large hole… quarry… place. Oh hell could this be any wor…
Oh come on! I didn't even say it fully!
The ceiling has just collapsed in front of me, nearly taking part of me with it. All the dust is making it hard to breath. Let's see if I can't clear this wreckage with my "Red Fist!"
The blast connected with the clump of metal and knocked a hole in it that I was able to get through right before the small arch it made collapsed. On the other hand, the smell the rust metal made when it connected is making it even harder to keep going. I can make out the doors at the end though.
They're opening? It's… White Knight?! What is she doing here?! Crap, I'm almost considering going back to the pit.
She's asking about celebrating or something. Hard to make out over the sounds of metal and concrete breaking apart. Does she think I'm actually celebrating my "escape?"
There's another woman at the doorway now. At her feet is a pool of water. Both the water and Knight are rushing at me. I'm still not sure where I should go.
The water whipping aside a falling girder settles that issue. I'm headed in the direction where I'm wanted "alive." I get maybe ten feet before the white giant scoops me up in one arm and begins dashing back to the door.
The warehouse floor at this point decides it's tired of being level and from a large crack in front of us begins to tilt much more upward than I feel comfortable with. The water behind us pushes up against my armored savior, propelling us across the gap this creates. As Knight lands, she rolls herself along the ground, which I notice halfway through the roll is to avoid the last chunk of the ceiling as it makes its way down.
We crash into the door frame, going clear through it before settling on the soft dirt outside. Knight unfurls and I find myself looking up at the night sky. I hear the other woman talking to Knight before her head appears in my eyesight. It's one of the heroes from the Brink Guard, but I can't remember her name.
"Are you ok?!" She yells. As I try to respond she moves onto the more obvious question, "What the hell were you doing in there?!"
Thankfully she stays away from the "naked" issue. In any case, I can't answer her, I'm too busy spitting out whatever crap was filling my lungs in there.
"Give him a moment, Con," her partner tells her. "I think it's pretty obvious he needs it."
'Con' shoots me a glare that tells me exactly what she thinks of me. Thankfully it isn't "You are the supervillain who we fought today." Her gaze eventually wanders lower and I notice the eye bulge. Either she's never seen a man without clothes or my red powers gave me a "bonus" because…
"You're hurt!"
Oh, would you look at that. It seems that I've got a large bit of metal in my stomach. I wonder when that got there.
"Quick, call MedNet," Knight tells someone. I can't tell who. "You're going to be alright. We're getting you to Treble Hospital."
Great… Hero Hospital. Now I know I'm screwed.
"Come on, stay awake! Do you have a name or anyone we should contact?"
…They're asking for my name? Wait, that means… Oh this is too great.
"My name is… Sydney Briggs," I tell them truthfully. I don't want an investigation when I get to the hospital after all. I try to tell them to talk to Gabriel Book, but it seems my injuries are catching up to me as it is at this time my consciousness decides it's had enough. Oh well, I'll contact my friend when I wake up…

There was no light here this time. Sydney searched for it, feeling it close by, but couldn't find it. He'd lost it. There was something else faint that was close by. Not close enough for him to find in time, but still close.

"Glad you're ok."
Sydney's eyes flung open, instinctively responding to that voice.
"Woah, calm down, it's ok."
Phalanx, the leader of the Brink Guard, backed away from the hospital bed. The man was completely out of place, even in the sparsely decorated hospital room. The only part of his normal costume he was wearing was the robotic looking helmet that looked exactly like Nero's old one save for the eye holes in it that displayed the screen used to see through (Nero's helmet looked completely blank), the color, and the few extra details such as rivets or grooves cut into it. He was wearing a heavily decorated uniform instead of the matching armor, though he'd worn gloves and a scarf to cover any skin. Phalanx was one of the few heroes where no one knew even his skin color, and he preferred to keep it that way.
"I take it you're still a bit shaken by whatever you went through. Can you remember what happened?"
"A bunch of superpowered assholes knocked me out, stripped me, and put me in that death trap." All of that is technically true too.
"I figured as much. After all, I doubt someone like you could be taken down by someone without powers."
…Someone like me. Shit.
"Don't worry, your powers didn't cause too much damage, but they did surprise the nurses when your glowing arms put a hole in the wall in the lower ward."
…Oh. Wait, arms? As in, plural?
"Can you tell me more about these people who did this?" Phalanx went on with his little inquiry.
"I don't know much about them. They were wearing masks."
"I still can't believe they did this last night, of all nights."
"Oh, they did it in the morning, I just woke up at night."
"I see…" he trailed off.
He wants to ask me something.
"Do you mind if I ask you something?"
Called it.
"I'd like to talk to you about joining the Brink Guard."
"I- What? I don't-"
What is this? I don't even…
"It seems pretty clear that you've got talent, and that you obviously know a bit about some areas in our region that we clearly should be focusing on."
What the hell is going on?
"We could always use new recruits. Besides, there's great benefits to joining…" he's going on a whole rant about job security, retirement, plans, and such.
I know there's this whole "defeat means friendship" thing in pop culture, but I can honestly say I've never once seen this happening. I'm currently being recruited by the very person that yesterday I was going all cliché villain monologue over. Did I miss something when I was asleep?
"You interested?"
"…Sure?" I drag out the word as if I'm trying to see if he expression changes at all while I say it.
"Great! I'll send over someone later today. Try to get some rest until then."
It's only once he leaves that I fully realize what I just agreed to.
Oh, Gabriel is going to laugh his ass off at this one… If he doesn't kill me for this.