The very next day, Luz was practically begging for school to be over. Not only was it Friday, but she just wanted to swing around the city again.

How could she not? It was power beyond anything she could have dreamed. She was stronger, faster, and magic!

The only thing that ate at her brain was not being able to tell her sister, her parents, and her friends. She could only imagine the shenanigans they would get into if they knew.

But if she was some kind of superhero now, she had to keep it a secret.

Then, the bell rang, almost startling Luz. She then grinned and rushed to her locker, grabbing her bag.

Vee walked past her and laughed. "Eager to get on the bus?"

"Ummm, not this time, Vee! Mind if I walk home again?" Luz asked.

Vee's eyes widened. "Again? But-"

"I won't be late this time! I promise, sis!" Luz smiled, fist bumping her as she began walking out the door. "See you at home!"

"...see you at home." Vee said, sounding a bit confused as she began walking towards the bus.

Luz then began to speed walk from school before making it to the same alley she had first started to climb. She peeked out and made sure no one was nearby before taking a deep breath.

"Backpack, if you were sentient? I'd hang on." Luz said as she transformed into her costume and leapt onto the wall, climbing up it and right onto the top.

Luz cheered before doing a few front and back flips just to show herself that she could. She then leapt right off the building and fired the all too familiar golden web, swinging right into the air.

"You know!" Luz said as she fell through the sky and then swung again. "It's weird how my hood isn't even falling off as I swing! And my cape's not getting in my face! Kinda defying physics- WHOA!"

She then just barely dodged a flagpole, managing to grab ahold of it with one hand and then swing herself back into the air.

"That was close." Luz said before swinging again. "Hmmm...I should totally add cat ears to the hood!"

Luz swung around for about 30 minutes this time before she actually began to swing home. She landed on a building and then looked around with a small sigh.

"Well. It was fun while it lasted, but I'd rather not Mama and Papa freak out again." Luz said before her head suddenly started to ring again.

And then? Nearby, there was the sound...of a gunshot.

Screams filled the air.

"Oh my god!"

"Call an ambulance!"

"I'm calling 911!!"

Luz hopped down into an alley and transformed back as she quickly rushed over, seeing someone run off as a crowd suddenly formed.

Her heart suddenly began to pound in her chest out of fear.

Someone just got shot.

"Sir, sir!" A man cried, seeming to tend to the victim, as another man moaned in agony. "Sir, look at me. You have to stay awake, okay?"

"Dios..." A...familiar voice moaned in pain, breathing heavily and beginning to cry.

Luz's eyes widened and she began running, shoving a few out of her way before she saw what was at the center of the crowd.

A police officer...and her dad.

"PAPA!!!" Luz screamed as she rushed over, sliding to her knees and looking at her father as her heart continued to pound with fear. "No, no, no, no! What happened to him!?!"

The police officer looked horrified that a teenager was present, and then he looked at her. "Honey, you should-"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAD!?!" Luz screamed as tears quickly formed in her eyes. She then looked at her father. "Papa, ¡por favor, quédate conmigo!"

Manny's brown eyes were dazed, and he looked at Luz, tears streaming down his cheeks. He was clutching his waist...and his fingers were becoming soaked in crimson.

"L-Luz...? Luz..." He whispered, whimpering. "What...what happened? I..."

"S-stay awake, Papa! T-the ambulance will be here! T-they will!" Luz said, trying to remember how to even stop a bleeding wound. "P-please just keep your eyes open...!"

Manny almost looked...confused as he stared at his daughter, and then, with a trembling hand, he reached up to touch her face.

"Tienes los ojos de tu mamá..."

Luz leaned into his hand as tears began to stream down her face. "Dad...Dad, keep your eyes open...please don't close them..."

Manny opened his mouth...and then? He began coughing with a few drops of blood spewing from his mouth.

"Oh, god..." The police officer turned him over, and then he reached for Luz. "Sweetheart, please-"

Luz shoved the officer away. "NO!!! JUST SAVE MY DAD!!! PLEASE!!!"

"Luz..." Manny sobbed, reaching out, tears streaming down his cheeks...

And then...his eyes began to gloss over. His hand fell.

The police officer immediately turned Manny onto his back and he quickly began performing CPR, pressing compressions to Manny's chest, and even trying to breathe for him, pinching his nose closed so he could try to breathe air into Manny's lungs, and repeating the process over and over again.

Luz just watched as she began to sob herself, desperately looking for any movement from her father. A twitch, a breath...anything...

The ambulance soon arrived. The paramedics quickly took out a defibrillator and raced over to Manny, attaching him to it.

"One, two, three! Clear!"

Manny's body jerked as they pressed the electrodes to his chest...but he didn't move.

"Again! One, two, three! Clear!"

He jerked again...but nothing. Just his eyes staring into the sky...but not actually seeing it.

"Again. One, two, three! Clear!"

And, they kept repeating the process over and over again, desperately trying to revive Manny...but he remained so...so still.

Luz was deathly silent as they kept trying...but the moment they stopped, she fell to her knees and began to sob, clutching her father's cold and still hand.

The police officer stayed there with her, looking as heartbroken as Luz felt. After a moment, he knelt down and held Luz's shoulder. "Honey...they have to take him now."

Luz just screamed, unable to stop sobbing as she clutched her dad's hand tightly.

Another officer came in and with a broken heart, slowly pulled her back.

"NO!!!" Luz shrieked, effortlessly breaking free...but she felt weak in the knees and just fell as her tears dropped onto the street.

The first police officer gently picked her up, and then he began carrying her to his police car, trying to cover Luz's eyes as the paramedics covered Manny's body with a white sheet.

Luz just sobbed even harder, her heart only shattering more and more...and then?

She heard something from the police officer's radio.

"The shooter's hijacked a car downtown. Three vehicles are in pursuit."

"Roger that, Martinez. I have the victim's daughter with me. Taking her to the station for questioning."

Luz's sobbing began to slow suddenly...and something she hardly ever felt began to fill her veins. Something that was slowly starting to fill her mind.

Rage.

Luz suddenly ran out of the police officer's arms and out of sight, ignoring his calls for her. In a few seconds, she was already away from him thanks to her powers.

She then transformed and quickly climbed up the wall, flipping right onto it as rage kept running through her mind and body.

Sirens sounded. She fired a web and began swinging towards them.

She spotted a red truck speeding down the road, desperately trying to get away from the three police cars chasing it.

The eyes on Luz's mask suddenly began glowing as she swung right onto the truck. She then screamed as she punched a hole through the roof of the truck...and ripped the entire thing right off with her bare hands.

The driver screamed, looking up at her in absolute terror. Struggling to keep his eyes on the road, he scrambled for his weapon in the glove department, and then he pulled out a pistol, aiming at her.

"YOU'RE COMING WITH ME." Luz boomed suddenly as she webbed the pistol right out of his hands and threw it. She then grabbed the wheel and forced the truck to drift to a complete stop.

Then, she grabbed the driver by the shirt and threw him into the air. She hopped up and punched him across the face before grabbing him again and swinging off with him.

The man was screaming, frantically throwing punches into Luz's face and neck, trying to break free.

Luz struggled a bit, but she did not let go. But then, she suddenly kicked him in the face.

She and the man fell through the sky for a moment before she fired a web and swung with him still in her grasp.

Then, she spotted an abandoned hotel that was likely going to be torn down soon. Luz screamed as she swung towards it and then effortlessly threw the man through the window and into the empty lobby.

The man landed on the floor, crying out as several glass shards rained down on him, slicing through his clothes and cutting him.

Luz then landed right across from him, her yellow eyes still glowing as she stood tall. "...pathetic...GET UP."

"Pl- please-"

"I SAID GET UP!!!" Luz ordered as she stomped over, grabbing him by his jacket and forcing him to stand. "MANNY NOCEDA..."

The man's face went pale. "I-I didn't mean to-"

Luz then held him up by his shirt, her yellow eyes staring into his. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO!?! YOU SHOT HIM AND HE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!!!"

The man's eyes welled with tears, and he began sobbing. "I-I JUST WANTED HIS WALLET, MAN! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!"

Luz was deathly silent at that and her rage began to slow down...but only a little. Her grip tightened. "...you're going to rot in prison...and if you ever think of grabbing another gun...you'll wish you were on the other end of that gun...got it?"

The man was sobbing hysterically, and he wailed. "O-okay...just please let me go...!"

Luz snarled as she heard sirens outside. She then suddenly laid him against the door before she hopped right out of the window that she smashed him through, swinging away before the police could even say 'freeze'.

The police officer, the same one who had been with Luz and Manny, watched the mysterious swinger go. "What the hell...?"

Another officer rushed inside. "Officer Blight, I found him! He's...holy cow, he's crying. Someone beat him up real good."

Officer Blight hummed, and then he looked at where he saw the masked swinger once was. "I think I know who..."

Luz swung up onto the tallest building she could and sat on it as the sounds of the city slowly began to become non-existent to her.

She tore her mask off her crying face, her eyes puffy and her cheeks red. She then curled up, crying as if she was the only person left in the world.