Atomic: Rebooted

5. Tenebrous

CLAIRE

Every muscle screamed at me to run. I managed to push myself up and off the ground. My vision was blurry and my ears were ringing, but I still had to move. I stumbled forward a few feet before falling to my knees again. I stood, head pounding as I decided that I had no more running left in me.

I blinked a few times as my vision cleared. No one was looking at me— all eyes were on the tram and something above them that hadn't quite come into focus yet for me. . .

That means no one knows that I have superpowers, I realized as I looked down at my hands. I blinked and shook my head. My hands were covered in blood— my blood, I realized as I looked down to my knees.

Guess I picked the wrong day to wear my ripped jeans to school.

I reached a hand to my forehead, and came away with more slick blood.

A head wound— great.

Probably multiple, I thought, remembering how I hit my head against the pole when the tram first stopped.

I finally managed to crane my neck up to see what had captured everyone's attention, sparing me what came with powers in New Kingsbury.

Of course it was none other than a fight between supers.

I squinted up at the blur of flashing lights and fast-moving limbs. I could make out two up there—and I recognized the great black trenchcoat with a crimson patten on it like the lines of a cracked mirror.

I groaned—of course it was Tenebrous.

Most of the heroes and villains had left New Kingsbury when City Hall burned down, if they didn't disappear or die int he wake of the war against Dark Titan.

But there was always some new branch of evil ready to the take their places.

Tenebrous was the kingpin and the most powerful of all of them. With the long-lasting Dr. Electra and the other minor villains of the city by his side, he used both his destructive powers and impressive technology to wreak havoc on New Kingsbury.

While others had come and gone for competition, Tenebrous' faction were the only ones to avoid capture by the Sentinels.

Well, the only villains.

Because the hero fighting him had avoided the Sentinels for about the same time.

Well, hero was one word for him.

Renegade was in a class all his own, a rogue with no alliance to good or evil—although I guess more often than not, you saw him fighting villains. But every now and then he was caught on camera stealing from museums and jewelry stores. Definitely a criminal, maybe a villain.

What made him interesting to those who studied things like superpowers was that he had two power sets—something that most of the Mutated didn't have. It was something that had only recently started popping up here and there.

Renegade was interesting for how he used his abilities— he had similar ones to what Tenebrous had, with the ability to shatter anything with a single touch and control the debris created from. His costume, made of sweats and a jacket were even the same color.

But his second power set was the one that put him apart from Tenebrous and was the one he took far more delight in— his ability to create portals.

Above the tram the two were fighting in a blur of lights and a whirlwind of debris from the tram and the monorail line. It hurt my eyes to look at it— Renegade was using his powers to jump through portals and telekinetically fling rocks while avoiding any attempted hits by Tenebrous.