It’s been three weeks since we last heard from the mysterious crystal thief. He hasn’t performed any other heists since I made a reappearance as Hyperion, but you can never be too careful.

Meanwhile, I was researching these crystals any chance I got. I started working with Professor Lee, since his crystal was the first to be stolen. Of course he doesn’t know the reason I’m asking all these questions now.

Alex doesn’t either. I feel bad, because I can tell he knows I’m hiding something. But it’s not that easy to tell him.

“Hey babe. You working on homework?” I hear him ask, wrapping his arms loosely around my neck from behind the couch. I shake my head and he sighs. “You and these stupid crystals. Why are you so invested in this?”

“I just.. I don’t know, they’ve become very interesting to me recently. I mean, aren’t you curious as to why this guy wants them?” I ask, looking up at him.

“No, I couldn't care less, John.” He states.

I pause and then shrug. “Yeah, but he stole from my professor. We were studying that exact crystal, so now I’m trying to find out why it would be worth anything, and if there really are more of them out there.”

“It’s just a stupid rock. Plain as that.” Alex says, moving from behind me to come sit on the couch next to me. “You never cared about this thing before, and now all you do is look for things about the crystal.”

“But what if this guy is dangerous? I mean, we could very well be close to meeting our doom, and we wouldn’t know it.”

Alex looks at me for a moment before hopelessly chuckling. He rubs the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. “See? You’re going crazy over these damn rocks. At the very least, you need to take a break.” He stands up and holds out his hand for me. “Come on, I have the perfect distraction.”

I look up at him hesitantly. I really shouldn’t go, I have so much to do here. Not to mention a nightly patrol. But Alex needed me, and I had to make sure he didn’t suspect anything. I smile gently at him and take his hand, setting my computer to the side and closing it.

“Okay, let’s go. Let’s do it.” I tell him.

Next thing I know, Alex and I were at the movie theater. The movie hadn’t started yet, so Alex handed me the popcorn.

“Okay, you go get us a seat, near the back preferably, I have to go to the bathroom.” He kisses me on the cheek and then walks in the opposite direction.

I smile slightly over at him and then head into the theater for the movie we were watching. I choose a seat in the back and set the popcorn in my lap as the previews play. I look around, determining that no one was around me, and pull out my phone.

I open up google and continue to look at the articles I was looking at before. I know Alex wanted me to take a break, but I was too close, I couldn’t stop now.

In the middle of typing, I notice the lights around me all turned off at the same time. I thought it was normal at first, since it was a movie theater, but the lights didn’t dim the way they usually do, they just shut right off. I look up at the screen and see nothing on it. The theater was practically pitch black.

Something wasn’t right.

Suddenly I hear a scream and stand up, the popcorn flying out of my lap. I find myself running, using the walls and railings to guide me out of the theater. When I exit, I notice the power is out in the rest of the building, too.

He’s here.

I duck into the janitor’s closet and use my phone as a flashlight so I can get into my bag. Yes, I had my super suit with me, I had no choice but to bring it with me everywhere. It was in camouflage with the rest of my items in my bag, though, so nobody would ever see it.

I quickly change, pulling the hood up over my hair and placing the mask on my face. Leaving my bag and phone in there, I rush out of the closet and towards where the scream had come from - the projection room.

When I get up there, I see the mysterious man. I glare slightly at him. This time, I wasn’t in my civilian form, I didn’t have to hold back. I look at the employees in the corner, him looking down at them.

“I told you I wanted the crystal, where is it?” He asks, though it sounded more like a threat.

“What? You mean you don’t have some GPS pointing you straight towards these crystals?” I ask, crossing my arms slightly.

He freezes and turns around. There was a dim lighting in this room, allowing me to see the smug look on his face. “I was wondering when we’d get the chance to meet. It took you this long to find me?”

“I was having a little vacation from this life, you know. I don’t really appreciate you forcing me to come off of that for a silly little rock hunt.” I say, glancing at the people behind him slowly crawling towards the exit. I had to distract him a little longer so they could escape, then I could fight if needed.

He laughs gently. “Well, Hyperion, I hate to bother you. You are more than welcome to go back into retirement. After all, I’m just on a… silly rock hunt.” He says, repeating my words.

I shake my head at him. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Why don’t you save us both the trouble and tell me what you’re really after?” I ask, seeing the people getting right next to the door.

“Awh, but that would take all the fun out of it.” He says. The three people manage to open the door, and two of them get out, but the man in front of me did his little windy trick and pinned the third guy against the wall next to him. He looks over at him. “You know what I’m looking for, and I suggest you give the answer now.”

I run in between them and the person behind me drops to the ground, like I had interrupted the air flow between them or something. He scurries out the door and the man scowls at me. I quickly run in front of the door so he can’t follow after them.

“Get out of my way!” He shouts, raising his hands.

“I thought we were having a nice conversation going, why not just keep this between the two of us?”

“Because you don’t have the information I need. You’re useless to me.” He waves his hand in an attempt to throw me against the wall - again - but I dodge it and dash behind him. He looks side to side, seeming confused.

“Well, that’s not very nice.” I say, kicking him in the back. He falls to the floor and quickly flips over on his back, looking up at me.

“I wasn’t exactly trying to be your friend.” He springs up and pushes me to the side.

I ran into a desk, it temporarily knocking the wind out of me. I then fly up and stand on the desk, turning to look down at him. He smirks up at me.

“You know, I realized, I don’t think this is very fair.” I say, flying over him as he runs towards me. He turns around. “You’re sitting here fighting me, but I don’t even know your name.”

“There’s not much time for introductions.” He says, grabbing something from his pocket. Before I could see what it was, he flung it at me. I was quickly bound by some sort of rope, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the ground. “Besides, I don’t go around flaunting my presence to the news like you do.”

I roll my eyes and break out of restraint, only to be met with him standing right over me. I look up at him. “I don’t flaunt my presence, the news just happens to love me.” I swing my feet around and knock him down, pinning him to the ground.

He looks up at me, and I expect to see a bit of fear. I mean, I had him pinned, he couldn’t do anything.

But instead, he wore that same smirk on his face. “You just think you’re the best thing to ever happen to mankind, don’t you?” He asks.

“I never said that.” I tell him, slightly out of breath from the fighting. It had been a while since I had used my powers, and I’d never used them to fight someone who was just as strong as I was.

“You didn’t need to.” He chuckles before grabbing my wrist.

Before I could question what he was doing, I felt a pain I had never experienced before. It kept me immobile for a good five seconds, before making me collapse to the ground. The man shoves me to the side and stands, placing his foot on my chest to keep me down.

He raises his hand, showing electricity zapping between his fingers. “As fun as this is, I have more important matters to attend to.”

With that, he electrocutes me one more time to secure his exit. As he runs out of the room, the already dark room gets darker and I close my eyes. He had bested me.

I cannot let that happen again.

I stand weakly and decide to not go after him. I didn’t have the strength to this time.

While the theater is still in a blackout, I limp back to the closet I had left my stuff in, and change out of my suit. I sit there for a moment, knowing I had to pretend I was alright for Alex. Either that, or I could lie and say I was caught in the midst of the attack.

But I didn’t want to worry him.

Once I regain some of my energy, I take my stuff and rush to the bathroom. As I get in there, the lights turn back on.

“Alex?” I call out, worried he had somehow been found or something.

He opens the last stall door slightly and peeks out. When he sees it’s me, he rushes out and hugs me. “Oh, thank God. The power went out and I was afraid something had happened to you, but I knew it’d be safer to stay put.”

I wince slightly but hug him back. “Good, I’m glad you stayed in here.” I say.

He pulls away and looks up at me, a worried expression plastered across his face. “What’s wrong? You don’t sound so good.”

“I.. I was worried when the power went out, too. I tried running to you, but it was dark and I couldn’t see the stairs.” I lie to him. “I’m okay, I just need to rest for a little bit, I think.”

He nods. “Well, why don’t we go back home. Maybe the movies weren’t such a great idea after all.” He wraps his arm around me and helps me walk out of the bathroom. We get into our car and start driving back home, most of the ride was in silence. I didn’t know what to talk about.

“Do you know.. Was it him?” Alex asks, sounding slightly afraid.

I hesitate but nod. “Yeah, I saw him. Luckily, he didn’t see me, though.” I sigh and shake my head. “It’s clear now, though, that he is not someone to mess with.”

He nods slowly. “I’m sorry for downplaying it before. I guess.. I didn’t realize how dangerous he really was.” He says. “I’m just glad you didn’t try and go after him again.”

I look over at him and smile gently. “My main focus was making sure you were alright, not whatever this guy was doing.”

He smiles back at me. “Well, that’s good to hear. I’m very lucky to have such a caring boyfriend.”

I nod and look away. I hate lying to Alex. For a moment, I contemplate telling him. As long as he didn’t freak out, and kept it a secret, there shouldn’t really be anything wrong with it.

But that’s just wishful thinking. I have to keep this from him, for his safety.

One day I’ll come clean, but not until this mysterious villain is dealt with.

2125 Words

Fight scenes are so incredibly hard to write in case you were wondering