The Conductor {Black Lightning}{Wattys2018}

Ch. 31: Hypocrisy

When Eugene got back to Gambi's place, it was almost two in the morning. She was changing into her pajamas when Anissa suddenly climbed through the bathroom window. Thanks to Eugene keeping the light off, she was blissfully unaware of Eugene sitting on the toilet.

"Well--" Eugene abruptly turned on the light, wearing the sweetest grin she could muster. "--look who it is."

Anissa stumbled backward into the radiator, covering her mouth to stifle the scream that probably would've woken up everyone in the building. Both of them shook from head to toe - Anissa from shock, Eugene from all-consuming laughter.

"That was unnecessary!" Anissa stared at Eugene with wide eyes as she signed, hands still trembling. "Don't do that to me again!"

"You deserved it," Eugene signed once she had calmed down enough to use her hands. "I woke up and you were gone. No note, nothing."

"Listen, Mrs. Weasley--" Anissa huffed through her nose, her shoulders heaving as she signed. "--I couldn't leave in the middle of the day. Anyway, it doesn't matter. You always tell me I'm not slick enough."

"Well, your slick ass gonna be dead in an alleyway because you so stupid ." Eugene's sides still hurt from laughter, but the humor in the situation had vanished. She couldn't even laugh at the Harry Potter reference.

"I wasn't doing anything dangerous--"

Eugene snorted. Anissa was always doing something dangerous. "Right. What were you doing?"

"I was at a cosplay party," Anissa signed, looking Eugene straight in the eyes so much so that it was slightly creepy. Maybe she thought that it would help cover up her lie or something. Either way, it wasn't working.

"This late?" Eugene glanced down at her watch. "The Ruby Red Lipstick closes at midnight."

"I went to another bar--"

"That's bullshit. You've never entered a straight bar in your life."

"Well, then after the bar, I went over to this girl named Grace's place--"

Eugene sank into another fit of laughter; Anissa was so bad at lying. She could never be a superhero because she'd reveal herself within a day and Tobias would have the piranhas eat her for breakfast.

"Okay--" Eugene pursed her lips to stifle her grin. "--you went to a cosplay party, I get it. What were you dressed up as, a cross between Spiderman and Supergirl?"

"Shut up!" Anissa bared her teeth at Eugene. "Stop laughing at me!"

"What do you mean? I'm not laughing," Eugene signed, laughing.

"Then wipe that stupid grin off your face!" Anissa pushed herself onto her feet and indignantly put her hand on her hip. "And you say I'm not slick. You're a hypocrite. I'm leaving."

"Yes, please do so I get off the bloody toilet in peace!" Eugene called after her.

***

"I'm gonna kill her."

Jeff's mouth set into a deep scowl as he stood up, his hand curling into a fist at his side. Gambi sighed and stood up just in case he had to stop Jeff from doing something else reckless. Not twenty-four hours ago, Jeff had threatened to "Black-Lightning" his ass. He had to be ready for anything now.

"Please tell me that was a hyperbole."

"No, I'm actually going to kill her," said Jeff, glaring daggers into the nearest wall. "She doin' too much. Letting Joey try to take me to Tobias and then when I finally fry his ass, out she comes pretending to be my savior when in reality, she's just tryna take me to Tobias. Although, I wish she woulda taken me to Tobias. I woulda killed both of them."

"First of all, we don't kill people!" said Gambi, his mouth agape. Of course, by "we", he meant Jefferson. Maybe he killed people, but the innocent boy he found on the streets wasn't supposed to kill people. "And second of all, in the state you were in, you couldn't have killed an ant."

"Well, first of all--" Jefferson smiled mockingly. "--I'm fine now, so that doesn't matter. And second of all, you don't kill people, but there's nothing stopping me."

"Uh, yes you do," said Gambi. "Murder doesn't just hurt the victim; it hurts the murderer too. It - it kills something inside of you."

"How would you know?" Jeff asked. "I thought we don't kill people."

Gambi's mouth went dry as his words stumbled. "We don't...but people aren't one-dimensional comic book villains. They don't just go from being a regular person to enjoying cold-blooded murder. You'll feel some guilt afterward; it's common sense!"

"Oh, don't worry," said Jeff. "I won't be feeling guilty."

"You don't know that, Jeff," said Gambi. "You know what it felt like to lose your father. You want to put someone else's family through that? You wouldn't be hurting her as much as you'd be hurting innocent people."

"Well, then when her family goes to the afterlife, they can ask her why I did what I did and she can tell them it's because she's a shitty excuse for a human being and she deserved it. So really, she's the one who would be hurting her own family. Not me."

"Don't do this!" Gambi stared up at Jeff beseechingly. "There are other ways to deal with them."

"What other ways?!" Jeff asked through grit teeth. "The police are paid off! Even if we do get them in prison, they'll find some way to escape."

"We'll find a way to block their powers," said Gambi. "Tobias has to have some weakness and your powers basically cancel out the Conductor's."

"I will cancel her out. Permanently."