The Conductor {Black Lightning}{Wattys2018}

Ch. 17: Off the Hook ...For Now

Silence fell over the parking lot as the Conductor disappeared into the night and Jefferson stared at Anissa, eyes wide with shock. Her shirt was covered with bullet holes, but somehow she still stood upright as though nothing had hit her.

"You're welcome," she said breathlessly, grinning up at him.

Jefferson scoffed. She had just been shot and she was grinning? If she hadn't been bulletproof, she would've died. Nothing about this situation was good. Lynn would kill him for the powers alone.

"I had everything handled without you," he said gruffly.

Anissa looked down at the ground as she made a disparaging noise. "Yeah, if being pinned to the ground at gunpoint is what you call 'handled.'"

Jefferson spluttered. "Did you just suck your teeth at me, little girl?!"

Anissa snorted. "Okay, Dad."

Jefferson opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to respond. After a few moments of awkward silence, Anissa cocked an eyebrow at him.

"You good?" she asked.

"Jeff, she was being sarcastic," Gambi said through the intercom, sounding half exasperated, half amused. "She doesn't actually know your identity."

"How do you know?!" Jefferson growled.

"Okay," said Anissa, "now I know why people are iffy about you. But it's not because you're violent. It's 'cause you crazy."

"Look, just because you finished the fight doesn't mean you all that and a bag of chips! Your stupidass hood wasn't doing anything to hide your face, so that girl who attacked me? She knows who you are and what you can do. And now she's gonna go to her boss and tell him! And then they're going to come for you and your family and kill all of you. You want your family to die?"

Anissa's eyes blazed with defiance. "No, that's why I'm going to protect my family."

"You ain't gon' do nothing. Leave it to the professionals," Jefferson told her, before taking off into the night to find the Conductor.

"Some professional you are!" she called after him.

***

Eugene's heart pounded as she entered Tobias' living room, making sure to stay close to the door in case she needed to make a quick exit. Tobias looked up at her expectantly.

"Is he dead?"

"No." There was no point in lying. Eventually, Mr. Pierce would show his face again and she would be in even more trouble for lying.

Tobias' chair slammed against the back wall as he jumped to his feet and stormed towards her, harpoon gun in hand. Eugene stumbled backward, aiming for the door, but hitting the door instead and falling on her back

"Well, why the hell not?!"

"It's not my fault! It's not my fault!" Eugene cried, using her elbows to push herself into a sitting position. "It's the new suit! He sucks out all my electricity and stores it in his suit!"

"Well, why didn't you power it down and kick his ass?!" he demanded. "You forgot how to control electricity?!"

"Like, I told you. It's the suit!" It was a bullshit excuse and Eugene knew it, but she couldn't let Tobias find about Anissa. At least Mr. Pierce had some experience; Anissa had just discovered she was bulletproof and didn't know how to really control her powers ninety percent of the time.

Just as Eugene got to her feet, Tobias whipped out his harpoon gun and shot her in the shoulder. Eugene let out a loud yelp, rolling on the floor in agony.

"That's right, blame the damn suit!" he growled.

"It wouldn't let me," she insisted, gripping her shoulder to stop the bleeding. "If I could - If I could figure out how it works, I could beat him. We - we just need to figure out who made the suit."

Tobias grabbed the harpoon, twisting it slowly as he dug it deeper into her shoulder. "You seem to be pinning this on everyone but yourself."

Tears clouded Eugene's vision. Mom's life depended on this, dammit. She needed him to believe her bullshit. Everyone else had for the last nine years. Why couldn't he?

"I tried my hardest!" she said through grit teeth. "I'm not just doing this for you."

"You better try harder," said Tobias, "because one more failure after I see the suit maker and I won't come after you. I'll come after your mother and you'll find her dead on her living room floor."

"O-okay."

"And get your bloody ass off my floor."

"O-okay."