NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: The Glass Box
Supergirl:
"So wait," Dr. Crane says as he and Iris apply some dressing to a cut on Leonard. "What happened exactly?"
"I told you," Leonard yells. "Sunglasses over there had a chance to--Ouch! Hey! I need that arm!"
"Sorry," Iris says after wrapping some more dressing around Leonard's right arm. "But keep still and you might be able to keep it."
"Enough," Leonard says, snatching his arm back. He takes his jacket from the table and puts it back on. "Listen here. I'm okay. Really. Those red guys, whatever they were, barely scratch me, and no one ever died from a scratch."
"I beg to differ," Dr. Crane says, putting the remaining dressing and putting it away.
"It's more than a scratch," I say, stepping up. "I x-ray you. Remember? Your bones aren't broken but they are damaged. You really should let the Doc and Iris finish."
"I'm fine," Leonard shouts. He zips up his jacket and pushes him off the table. "If anything, we should be more worried about Sunglasses. Where is he anyway?"
"That's uhh, a hard question to answer," Dr. Crane says. He adjusts his glasses as he heads for the infirmary's doors. "Uhh, follow me."
We all look at each other for a bit before following Dr. Crane. As Dr. Crane leads us for a little bit, he stops along the way and gathers everyone else.
"Why did you have to call us," Reverse-Flash asks, walking with crossed arms. "I wasn't asked to go outside and pick a fight with Raven or Felix Faust."
"Who is Felix Faust anyway," Jason asks. "And what was he doing with Raven?"
"Felix Faust is a sorcerer," The Man answers from within a suspended glass box. Without realizing it, Dr. Crane had gathered everyone and led us into a wide, circular room. Starting at the door is a bridge that leads to a large empty glass box suspended in the air by four glass pillars. For some reason, standing in the glass box is The Man.
"Higgin," The Man starts, taking into his cell phone. " Bring up the files I send you."
The Man then holds out his phone, and the screen comes out and floats right in front of us. On the screen, we see pictures of a man in a suit and another man in a dark blue robe. In the pictures, the man in the suit is teaching a class while the man in the blue robes is throwing orbs of magic at Flash and Wonder Woman.
"Many years ago, Felix Faust worked as a history professor at Gotham University. He was a respectful professor until he become a little too interested in magic."
"Magic," Jaime repeats.
"Hey, hey, hey," Barry says, snapping his fingers. "Now I remember why that name sounded so familiar. Felix Faust was an old enemy of ours."
"Ours," I repeat.
"The Justice League," Barry says. "You know. Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. Myself."
"Fun times," The Man says from within the box. "Anyway, from what Cold and I witnessed, it seems Faust had not only joined the One Earth Government but had been blessed with Lord of Order's magic."
"That is crazy," Kent shouts from the back. "There is no way the Lord of Order would give someone like Felix Faust even a faction of their magic. Felix Faust is a joke."
"He's a joke with powerful magic," The Man says. "And it gets worst."
"Worst than Faust having powerful magic," Dinah asks.
"Faust isn't the only one to get an upgrade. Raven got one too, and I'm afraid it's from her father, Trigon. I'm sure Cold already told you about the red guys with horns. Well, those are demonic minions. Usually, they can only be summoned by Trigon, and hence, only obey him. Since Raven was able to summon them, it means Trigon's magic had been unleashed."
"Is that bad," I ask. As I ask, all eyes turn to me.
"What do you think," Cheetah asks. "Even I've heard of Trigon."
"Well, I haven't."
"Trigon is Raven's father," The Man says. "He is the king of all demons and had very powerful and dangerous magic."
"What should we do," Dinah asks. "How can we beat Trigon?"
"If Trigon had been unleashed, then believe me, we would. I think only Trigon's magic had been unleashed. Not Trigon himself. My best guess is the Lords of Order use their own magic to give Raven a little taste of her father's magic."
"Awesome," Leonard says. "So now what? We got a powered-up wannabe Dr. Fate and a demon-summoning Raven after now."
"Now," The Man says, stopping to take a deep breath. "Now, I ask that all of you please split into different teams and go to different cities. Hub City. Star City. Jump City."
"What," I ask, "Why?"
"Because in our effort to bring down Superman and his One Earth Government, we have made a costly mistake."
"And what would that be," Selina asks.
"We drew too much of Superman's attention, and because of that, he had withdrawn patrols from cities all over. Crime had risen and without us, the people in those cities will be hurt."
"Not our problems," Cheetha says with a wave.
"It is our problem," The Man shouts. As he shouts, the glass box he is in shakes. It also shakes the bridge and knocks us around. When The Man sees this, he inhales through his teeth before shaking his head.
"It is our problem," The Man says again, "And if you want my help, then you will help those people got it."
"Yeah, yeah, Cheetah says, steadying herself. "I got it."
"What about you," I ask, looking at The Man. "What are you going to do? Better question, what are you doing in there?"
With my super hearing, I can hear The Man swallow.
"Everyone except Kara, please leave."
Almost immediately, everyone leaves the room, leaving me alone with The Man.
"Kara," he starts, putting his hand on the glass box. "Before I tell you anything, I want to say sorry."
"Sorry," I repeat, "For what?"
"For," The Man says before stopping and turning away. He clears his throat before turning back to me. "For what happened back on the Rusted."
As soon as I hear those words, I remember crying in the hallways. I feel my fingers digging into my palms.
"What about it," I say.
"Kara, there's something you need to know about me."
"That's a first."
With that, The Man brings up his arm. He points to what looks like pulsing black veins all over his arms.
"When I am like this, it means I'm too dangerous. When you or anyone else see this, please, run away from me."
I look at the black veins. As I do, I feel my fingers stop digging. Instead, they just fall.
"Kara, you know how you and your cousin can fly, have super strength, laser vision, frost breath, and a bunch more superpowers."
"Yeah."
"Well, think about it like this. To get all those powers, you cost you and your cousin your homeworld, and everyone you know. Right?"
"Right," I say, still not understanding what's going on.
"And as for Batman, what many refer to as the world's greatest detective, he lost both his parents. Well, for someone who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, can match both yours and Superman's strength, and can build a whole secret lair with more hidden components than number can reach, can you imagine how much I had to lose?"
Somehow, it feels like I was just kicked out of my body. Like I'm floating. Not flying, but floating. I don't know how but despite my legs feeling weak all of a sudden, I'm still standing. As I try to regain my sense, I swear I could hear The Man sniffling.
"These black veins represent raw, unfiltered power," The Man goes on. "And most of the time, most of the time, I can control them. However, there have been times when I couldn't. Times when I couldn't hold it back, and that's when people got hurt. Kara, I did want to kiss you."
"What," I say. I step back and hold my hands over my mouth. I take all my control to regain control.
"I did want to kiss you," The Man repeats, "But I can't. Because of the things I did. You deserve someone better."
I look at The Man as he lowers his head. I don't know if it was in shame or sadness, but I know I had to do something. Despite what The Man thinks, I think something else.
"Hey," I say, tapping on the glass. He looks up and sees my hand on the other side of the glass. My hand is across from his.
"I like that you're broken," I start, trying to remember the words. "Broken like me. Maybe that makes me a fool. I like that you're lonely. Lonely like me. I could be lonely with you.