Ember

Ember (Story of an Ex-Superhero) -9-

Hypnotically flashing across the screen was a photograph of herself. It was not recent, for her face was still round with childhood and her eyes still possessed the slight naivety of childhood. Though, one could argue that Ember's childhood was the sort that no child should've ever endured.

A woman with a husky smoker voice talked over the photos as they coasted across the screen, providing details of Ember's childhood that even she didn't not seem to remember.

"-a child of a teenage mother, whose name we will not reveal for privacy reasons, was raised in the San Marino Orphanage for the duration of her infancy. At the age of three, she was taken into a foster family but only stayed for two months for the parents claimed she was a difficult child. At her second foster home, the parents returned her, saying she was responsible for starting a fire that nearly burned their entire house down After being passed along a variety foster homes until the age of nine, officials at San Marino Orphanage decided to allow her to room in the dorms at their headquarters. While she stayed at the orphanage, there were several instances of aggressive behavior--"

The woman kept on droning about her, about her problems growing up and how she was never a good role model for the children and citizens of San Marino. The way they talked about her--calling her unstable and troubled--light a fuse of anger in Embers body. With all the energy she had left, she launched herself off the bed and at the television. Pieces of dry wall and plaster settled in her hair, like flakes of prosthetic snow, as she ripped the television off the wall and chucked it out the window, glass raining all over the floor. As she watched the TV falling to it's death onto an alleyway below, she pretended it was Reno and as it smashed into the pavement, she even came close to smiling. She thought of leaving, knowing someone probably had heard the sound of the window shattering, but her body ached and her powers, still dimmed from the effects of the drugs. She could barely keep her eyes open before collapsing onto the bed and finally drowning into a painful, heavy sleep. The last thought on her mind was of revenge.

She would be able to smile once she had a taste of it.

-----

"We need to get rid of her," was the first thing that came out of Reno's mouth as he settled into the back of the limo, the heavy door cutting out the thousand screams of admirers. Through the tinted glass, their faces blurred, nails clawing at the car like a pack of hungry wolves. It was all for him. It took awhile for Reno to realize the effect of his hero status had on people, particularly teenage girls. It was almost sobering how they devoted themselves to him, how they worshipped the very ground he walked on.

"I know," Mr. Bones said from the other end of the car, "But it needs to be quiet."

"No it doesn't," Reno grinned, placing his hands behind his head.

"That stunt she pulled at the award ceremony yesterday is already all over the news," Mr. Bones said, eyes narrowing behind his rectangular spectacles.

"That's a problem?"

"The fact that she's back in the eye of the public makes it harder to get rid of her, despite the fact it isn't good publicity she's getting,"

Reno's smile faded quickly and he leaned forward in his seat, focusing his glare on Mr. Bones,"She's a threat. If she gets out, who do you think she's going to go after?

"Us?"

"Exactly. You and me,"

"We have protection Reno. I don't want you making a mess of things. I'm going to end up cleaning it up,"

Reno leaned back in the leather seat, "Tell me then, what plans do you have to get rid of her?"

An uncomfortable stretch of silence passed between them, their challenging glares burning from each end of the car. This sort of thing transpired between both of them often, for there were ways that Mr. Bones and Reno were too much alike and that made it very difficult when it came to decisions.

"Driver, stop the car," Reno pressed the intercom on the armrest. As quickly as he said it, the car pulled over, screeching to a halt. Reno gave Mr. Bones one last fleeting glare before opening the car door.

"Reno! Where are you going?" Mr. Bones yelled after him.

Reno turned and gave him a slow, dark grin, "Where do you think?" before shutting the door in his face.

-

For Reno, it was not very hard to find her. With a hood pulled over his head, finding his way through the rehab the city dumped her was for too simple. The fact that he found her conked out on a bed facedown, vulnerable and disconnected from the world, made it even easier. He neared her slowly, rotating her body so she lay face up. He dug into the pocket of his coat, keeping his eyes carefully trained on Ember, and pulled out a switchblade. He grinned as he tossed the open knife into the air. If one had walked into that room right then, they would've noticed the air had suddenly gotten heavy, ripe with the static energy Reno emitted as the knife hung in the air, as if suspended by an invisible thread. With a flick of his fingers, he angled the knife towards her heart. All he would need to do was blink, and Ember Davis would be no more.

He didn't care what it would look like. No one would care if he murdered Ember. Though still, no one would find out either. This would be the end and Reno wouldn't have to deal with her sorry ass any longer. He raised his left hand, the knife trembling under tension and brought it down hard.

But Ember was faster than the knife, and it was only a millisecond between the time it took Ember to artfully roll off the bed and when the blade sunk handle deep into the mattress. The next thing Reno knew, Ember had him backed against the wall, her body glowing like a hot coal, eyes angrily dancing behind her eyelashes.

"You are no hero," she spit, singeing the edges of Reno's jacket. The air around her became hot, like Reno was standing very close to a fire, but not too close to get burned.

Reno, his face a cool mask of serenity, was not the slightest bit scared of her. He even grinned, leaning his face down to Ember's, so close their noses almost touched.

"And neither are you," and flung her against the far wall, as easily as one might toss a paper airplane.

As her body crushed against the flimsy drywall and fell hard onto the floor, she pushed away the pain, the hurt and morphed it into adrenaline. She pushed herself up, dusted the plaster off her shoulders and threw an enormous sphere of fire at Reno before he could blink. When he narrowly missed it, she threw another and another. Fire rained down onto the room as the bed burst into flames, along with the stupid rickety nightstand next to it. Ember didn't care about that, or the fact that security was on their way. All she wanted was to hurt the bastard so he couldn't move anymore. Reno danced around the roar of the flames, nearing the doorway as he hurdled a lamp at Ember's head before completely disappearing into the hall.

Ember followed, fingers twitching with the uncontrollable fire that coursed through her body, but she did not see him anywhere. Only dozens of frightened faces that looked at Ember like she was some sort of demonic monster. As she neared them, searching for Reno, they cowardly backed away, one girl tripping over her own feet in fear. She didn't care what they thought, for these were the people that admired her only a few months before, the ones that respected her, the ones that threw her away for Reno.

"You'll regret the day you replaced me," was all she said before igniting into brilliant scarlet flames and crashing out of a window, taking off into the sky.

Whatever kindness Ember still possessed that day, would remain dormant for a very, very long time.