Black Lightning and Static #3 (of 5)

[Earlier that day...]


“Virgil, we need to talk.” Robert informed his son as Virgil was walking past the kitchen. Virgil walked in to see his father sitting at the table eating breakfast.

“What's up?” He replied.

“How are you holding up, son? You've been through a lot this week.”

“I'm fine. I...think I'm about ready to forget about all of this.” Virgil said this nervously, and Robert could tell, but did not want to say anything.

“Well, that's probably for the better. I and your mother have decided that we should move to another neighborhood. This one is too dangerous. We'll be moving into the new house this summer, and then you'll be going to the school there in September. Does that sound alright to you?”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“I'm glad to see you're handling this so well. Just remember, I'm always here if you need someone to talk to.”

“Thanks dad.” Virgil walked away regretting that he hadn’t revealed everything to his father. This weight on my shoulders is mine, I can't dump it off on anyone else he thought to himself, and besides I’ve got somewhere else to be.

In another part of town, Virgil was standing in a hallway in front of an apartment door. He let out a sigh and knocked on it a few times. He had his costume in his backpack just in case. He didn't want to fight him if he came to the door, but he wasn't sure what to expect.

“I’ll be just a second!” A muffled yell came from inside. Virgil could hear the footsteps getting closer. He knew that voice. He hadn't seen her in years, yet, when he saw her excitement as she opened the door... “Virgil! Oh come here and give me a hug, I haven't seen you in so long son!” ...he was filled with that feeling he had when he and Chris used to be good friends. Before the gangs, the violence back in the innocent times of their lives.

“Hello Ms. Carter. It's really good to see you.”

“Would you like some peanut butter cookies? They're fresh out of the oven.” Virgil smiled; Chris' mother always had some sort of dessert just finishing up when he came over. Either she was constantly making food, or she was psychic. The smell encompassed the room as she opened the oven almost made him forget why he was there. Then he turned his head to the TV playing in the room and saw one of the reports that played nonstop coverage of the Big Bang.

“I actually came by looking for Chris. When was the last time you saw him?” After Virgil asked this, he heard her set the cookie sheet down. She came walking into the room and her look of joy had been replaced with one of worry.

“He isn't in trouble again, is he Virgil?”

Her concern was too much, he couldn't bring himself to tell her the real reason he was looking for him. He clenched his fist and mustered up the courage to lie to the sweet old woman.

“No, he's been on track for a while as far as I know. I was just looking for him because we were going to go play ball and I think his phone is off. I figured he might have come back here.”

“It's so nice to hear that you're keeping these boys in line Virgil. I don't know what they'd do without you.”

Virgil winced as if she had ripped out his heart right there. He couldn't even respond to her. At that time, a news flash caught their attention.

“Hmm, I wonder what this is about. More of that Bang Baby nonsense I'm guessing.” She said, turning up the volume on the TV.

“...group of three Bang Babies have been rampaging through the streets of Star City, making their way through the Suicide Slums. The police have not been able to put any sort of halt to the trio's path of destruction. It is advised that all inhabitants of buildings on the West side of the slums stay in their homes...”

“I should probably get going. Thanks for the cookies--” Virgil stopped himself. “No.” He looked at Ms. Carter who met him with a look of confusion. “We need to get out of here now!”

“Virgil what are you talking about?” She questioned him. Virgil ran over to grab her hand when the outside wall of the building came crashing in. He couldn't see anything through the large cloud of dust, but he wasn't about to stay and find out. He quickly grabbed the frantic Ms. Carter and ran out of the door. On the way out he picked up the cookie sheet. After shutting the door, he could hear three people talking. He listened as he directed her to another room and unzipped his backpack.

“I don't see him here, do you think he left town?” A feminine voice said. Virgil couldn't recognize who it was.

“Who knows, but if we find his moms we can keep her hostage. That'll get him mad.” This one was Split a guy who had been known to kill for fun. And if Split was here, that meant...

“No, he isn't running from this. One way or another, we'll find him. Then he's dead.” Hot Streak said.

Virgil took off his shirt and had part of his outfit on underneath. He took his gloves, mask, and jacket from the bag and put them on. He then stepped onto the cookie sheet he had grabbed and using his powers he raised himself up into the air.

“Maybe she ran, I’ll run outside and take a look.” Split said. In less than a second, the door was open, and Split had a surprised look on his face. “What the--”

Virgil charged at him, picking him up, and preceded to carry him through the building and into the building next door.

As Split fell into the alleyway, Static hovered in front of the opening in the apartment. Hot Streak stood there with a smile on his face, next to him was Puff, who had now taken the form of some sort of gas.

“What are you waiting for Hot Streak? An invitation?” Virgil yelled out. “You don't need to RSVP to get at me, I'm right here.” Without even replying back, Hot Streak shot an enormous stream of flames at Static. To dodge the fire he jumped off of his cookie sheet into the alleyway. Once he hit the ground from the short fall, he noticed Split was missing. In a blur, he saw a fist in front of his face. The next thing he knew he felt a sharp pain in the jaw and he almost stumbled to the ground. Once he had time to get his footing back, Split appeared in front of him.

“So, you got a little bit of speed there Split? I always thought you were--” Static tried to joke to buy time; instead Split caught him off guard and hit him again.

“Actually, it's Lickety Split now. Nice try with the small talk and witty banter.” He ran in for another hit. “I'd suggest making this quick and painless, but if you wanna fight back I'd be more than happy to try it the other way.”

As he ran in to punch again, Static covered his body with a short range of electricity. Split connected his hand to Static's face and immediately went flying backwards and onto the ground.

Static looked up to see Hot Streak watching the fight. No words were exchanged as Hot Streak jumped down and began engulfing the alley in fire. Static quickly grabbed a trash can lid and jumped onto it. As he got into the air, puff flew up in front of him. She took the form of a dark smoke, blinding his vision more and more until he was completely surrounded by the smog. He tried shooting electricity out, but it had no effect.

“Can you make something poisonous, or maybe some sleeping gas?” Hot Streak shouted from the ground to her.

“I don't even know what I'm doing baby.” Puff replied.

“So what are you even doing up there? God you’re both useless!”

“Stop yelling, I'm trying my hardest.”

“I guess it might not be a total waste, maybe it's flammable.” Hot Streak shot flames towards her causing a small explosion. Static fell onto the roof nearby and Puff flew down to Hot Streak.

“You could've killed me Francis!” Puff screamed.

“Oh shut up, I figured it probably wouldn't have hurt you. Split! Get up so we can finish this!” Hot Streak yelled to the alley, but Split was gone.

“Way ahead of you boss.” Split appeared behind Hot Streak with Static and dropped him on the ground.

“Looks like you had a pretty short career hero.” Hot Streak smirked and stood Static up onto his feet. He could barely stand, but still tried throwing a punch. Hot Streak caught his hand and began burning through Static's sleeve and into his skin.

“Aaaagh!” Static shouted out. When Hot Streak let go, Static's arm had smoke coming off of it and a deep burn in the shape of a hand going around it. Split ran at him and punched him again. Static wasn't able to concentrate enough to put up an electric barrier.

“Are you done playing around Split?” Hot Streak asked. “Puff, you can finish this. He's not even worthy enough to die under my hand.”

Puff flew up to Static and turned completely into gas form. She started flying into Static's mouth until he started coughing her out and closed his mouth. She then went through his nose and he began to suffocate.

“You know what they say Static. If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

“Yeah?” Static said in a raspy voice, struggling for air. “Just remember, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.”

“What?” Hot Streak scratched his head. Static reached his arm out. With a jolt of electricity he grabbed a car door off of a vehicle and pulled it all the way to Hot Streak, knocking him on the ground. Puff jumped out of Static's body and flew over to Hot Streak.

“Are you all right honey?” She comforted him.

“Get off me you idiot! We had him!” He shook her off. Static was coughing and getting much needed air into his lungs. “So you're gonna play like this Static? Let's play!” Hot Streak shot a wave of fire directly into Static's chest that sent him flying into a car across the street. Static shook off the broken glass from the window he smashed into. The car's alarm began to sound, and Static dug his finger into his temple.

“Shut up.” He said as he fried the engine and ceased the alarm.

I don't know what's going on. Static thought to himself as he was unconscious. I could be dead right now. I can't hear, see, or feel anything. What if they know who I am and they're going to kill my family now? How could I have been so selfish and try to take on these three by myself? I let my ego get the best of me, making jokes and assuming that I could defeat them easily because I'm the hero. That's how it goes, right? That's how it's supposed to go. How could I be so stupid?

Static began to wake up. Everything was hazy, but he recognized Hot Streak in front of him. Once his eyes opened about half way, Hot Streak punched him in the face and blood splattered onto the pavement.

“You were in that coma long enough. I bet it's a familiar feeling. Y'know, kind of like when I shot you, right Virgil?”

“Francis--” Static tried to speak, but Hot Streak punched him again.

“Shut up! You don't say that name anymore.” His anger was replaced by a chuckle. “I gotta hand it to you; I never thought you would be able to fight like that. You really would have been better off just taking it all at once, like when I made your pal Jimmy into a pile of ash.” A tear ran down the side of Static's face. He tried to spark electricity out of his hand, but only a small buzz came out.

“Ouch. Got a little bit of static shock in there I guess.”

Alright then how about I try then?” A voice came from someone in the distance. Static couldn't turn his head to see, all he saw was a jolt of electricity knocking Hot Streak back. As Static's vision began to blur again, he saw Black Lightning come into his line of sight and grab onto him. “Come on; let's get you out of here.”