Solstice
I was the first hero to arrive at Woodland Heights High School. A few police officers were already on scene, working to evacuate students both the ones who had escaped the gym and those still wandering the school grounds, unaware of the chaos unfolding inside.
As I flew closer, I descended too quickly, forgetting to slow my momentum. I hit the ground hard, cracking the asphalt beneath me as I landed alerting nearby students, teachers, and a couple of police officers standing close to the impact site.
Their initial shock faded quickly, drowned out by hushed whispers of admiration.
"Is that Solstice?" "Wow…"
The police officers hurried over to me a moment after I landed.
"Solstice, sir. I'm honored," one of them said, his tone calm, almost starstruck, completely lacking any sense of urgency despite the situation. He reached out his hand, trying to get me to shake it.
I looked at the hand, then back up at him, trying my best not to scowl. His partner nudged him, and the officer quickly withdrew his hand, a faint blush rising to his cheeks.
"I'm sorry about that, sir. The presumed villain is in the gym," the partner said
"I'm aware. I've already been informed," I shot back, impatience slipping into my voice. "Have any other heroes besides me arrived?"
"No, sir," the officer replied. "There's only a handful of police on the scene. No heroes yet."
"How many hostages are in the gym? Are there any teachers? What class was it?" I asked, shooting off every relevant question in a single breath.
"Uh, we're not sure how many students were in the class," the officer replied. "But we think most of them made it out. As far as we know, all the teachers are still in the building, though we don't know how many exactly. And it was a Power Development class."
"I wish you had more information," I said, my impatience once again bleeding into my voice.
I sighed. "Did the escaping students sustain any injuries? Do we have a casualty count?"
One of the cops spoke up again, voice unsteady.
"N.. no injuries or confirmed casualties yet, sir."
"OK, I guess I'll begin," I said aloud, planting my feet against the ground.
With a burst of strength, I sprang off the asphalt, launching several feet into the air and flying toward the large, round, stadium like gym. Reaching the closest entrance in near an instant, I descended again, this time silently, careful not to alert the attacker inside.
As I landed, a cold, metallic tinge hit my nose even through the door.
I could smell it.
Blood.
I slowly approached the door, the air around me beginning to warp as I raised my hand.
Light twisted around my fingers, bending and shifting in color. As I pressed my hand to the door, the distortion slipped through the cracks like the air had turned into a liquid, its hue deepening from a light red to a vivid crimson as it moved farther from me.
it reached the hinges, making them shimmer and warp slightly, the edges of the door warping as the distortion made its way into the gym.
Through the light I had given mass to, now just barely peeking into the gym, I listened. The vibrations from the voices inside traveled through the air, catching on the light, alerting me to the conversation within like the flap of a fly's wings reverberating throughout a web.
"If you tell no, command your dog here to kill just one of these students, I'll let you go."
A voice spoke, calm maybe even amused.
Then another voice broke through, this one scared, desperate.
"Mara, don't. Please.""You don't have to do this."
This time, a female voice answered.
"Quiet," she said, her voice cracking under the weight of the situation.
Moments passed as the woman and the attacker spoke. Her voice wavered, her discomfort clear in every word. She didn't want to do it but in the end, she resigned.
I waited, tense, expecting the sound of an attack. Braced for movement. Listening closely for any sign of what she would do next. but instead she spoke again.
"Kill one of the students."
Vomiting sounds echoed from the boy as his footsteps moved farther from the door. As they began to slow, I withdrew the warped light I had pushed through the cracks and burst through.
The girl and the attacker froze, their heads snapping toward me. The attacker stood holding a boy suspended in the air by a black tendril, the goo wrapped tight around his leg.
I took in the scene for a brief moment.
I was standing in a graveyard.
Teachers lay scattered around the gym, multiple injured, others obviously dead, all clearly unable to fight.
And worst of all, beneath my feet... a pile of heads.
No matter how many times I smell it or see it.. death, I tell myself the next time won't be as bad.
But it always is.
I quickly gave weight to the light surrounding me, consolidating it toward my hands until a bright glow radiated from them.
Without anymore hesitation, I burst forward toward the attacker a man clad in black, pulsing armor. It looked alive. Its surface shifted and oozed like slime..
As I approached, I swung my fist toward the man. The tendril holding the boy dissolved, retracting and consolidating back into his body. The shifting goo that coated him suddenly froze, hardening in an instant as if bracing for the impact.
My punch connected with full force, tearing away a quarter of the armor across his front.
He was sent hurtling across the gym, crashing into the far wall like an unbalanced bullet tumbling through the air.
I paused and turned around to look at the remaining students, then shouted, "Everyone evacuate, now!"
I turned back, hearing the girl speak to the boy who had been moving toward the student the attacker had held in the air. I tuned them out for now. I'd need to speak with them after this was over.
Behind me, the few students left didn't hesitate. They sprinted in every direction, running towards different exits trying to escape. I again Burst towards the attacker, embedded into the wall farthest from me, the goo armor now completely repaired, on my approach the villain spoke
"Solstice. Rank 5 hero. Light manipulation," he muttered, his voice strained. "Good thing they hired me to do this, or they definitely wouldn't have been able to deal with you."
He let out a soft laugh, clearly in pain from the impact.
No need to listen to him, I thought to myself. He's just trying to distract me.
I closed the distance again, now just inches away.
Channeling light into my hand, I let it gain speed while maintaining its mass, then launched another strike.
This one missed.
The wall behind him exploded, completely torn apart by the force of the blow. He dodged to the side, and sent a razor sharp blade of black goo slicing toward me.
I let the light around my fists dissolve, redirecting it to bend and distort around my entire body.
The blade slowed, its momentum falling as if it were moving through water, trapped in the distortion I'd wrapped around my body. Before it could reach me, it came to a halt.
I began slowing the light around me further, warping it until the air shook unnaturally. The distortion deepened, making me barely visible.
The only trace of me left were the flickers of green, red, and blue hues floating in the air as I backed away from him.
When I got a good distance away, I drew the light back to my hands, concentrating it once more. I increased its speed further, if I had to guess, I was nearing 0.00005 percent the speed of light.
I let out another punch.
This time, I didn't need to be close for it to land.
The force displaced the air itself, sending a shockwave that blasted toward him, striking with enough power to launch him backward on impact.
Taking advantage of his unsteady footing, I rushed forward and drove an uppercut into his chest.
The goo around him shifted, pulling away from his back and consolidating to shield the point of impact, right where my fist was about to land.
It didn't matter.
My punch connected, and the impact launched him straight through the ceiling.
Most, if not all, of his goo armor shattered on contact, fragments scattering as he tore through the roof.
Only a small amount of goo remained just enough to keep his face hidden from me.
Unfortunately, as I floated up through the hole I'd torn in the ceiling, I saw him again.
The man was once more covered completely in goo, though it clung to him thinner than before. He was clearly injured, streaks of crimson leaking through the black sheen.
He groaned as he stood on the roof, pain evident in every movement.
The steady thrum of helicopter blades echoed above us now press and emergency crews circling to record the event unfolding below.
We faced off once more.
He was weak I could end this now.
But before I could react, the man cocked his shoulder back. A spear began to form in his hand, the goo tightening around his arm, enhancing his muscles.
Then, with a boom that rippled through the air in a visible shockwave, he hurled the spear straight at the news helicopter overhead.
I didn't hesitate.
redirected the light to my feet and launched upward. As I closed the distance, I focused the energy into my hand and grabbed the spear midair, slowing its deadly ascent.
But the moment I touched it, black tendrils lashed out, wrapping around me.
I reacted fast, channeling my energy into a defensive field, slowing any more tendrils from gaining a hold.
But it was too late. They already had me.
If I dropped my defense to break them off, I'd be injured maybe worse. But if I kept it up, he'd get away.
As I began to fall back toward Earth, no longer able to redirect the light in a way that could keep me airborne, I saw it..
A black border of goo assembling around the roof, thick and rising fast.
He wasn't just trying to escape.
He was trying to cut off my access to light.
He wanted to kill me.
I struggled to reach into one of my pockets, the tendrils constricting my movement.
After a few agonizing seconds, I finally fished out a small plastic ball, similar in shape and color to a ping pong ball. I fumbled my fingers over its surface, searching for the button.
Click.
It lit up instantly, glowing with a heat so intense it made me squint.
Just as I hit the ground, I tossed it into the air. The barrier sealed above me a second later, but the light was already inside.
I crashed down, the impact dulled by the defensive light still enveloping my body.
The man stood in the corner of his grotesque creation, the goo armor around him now visibly thinner, worn. The majority of his goo spread out to make the barrier.
He let out another cocky laugh and began stepping through the barrier, turning his back to me as if I was no longer a threat at least.
As he turned away, I quickly shifted the energy around me from defense to offense.
The photons that had once shielded me now sharpened into blades, each one slicing through the tendrils like paper. Holes opened briefly in my protection, spots the tendrils could have exploited if he'd been paying attention.
But he wasn't.
The tendrils tried to react, sensing the shift, but it was too late. They shredded apart in an instant.
One still managed to catch my side before dissolving, leaving a small, stinging gash.
With the tendrils gone and the glowing ball of light falling back toward me, I harnessed the ambient light, pulling every ounce of radiant energy toward my core.
The air around me was electric, trembling as I focused my eyes on the villain's back.
I raised my fist, light pulsing in and out collapsing on itself.
"Supermassive Punch," I muttered under my breath.
Now channeling 0.0003 percent the speed of light, I let it go.
The world seemed to pause for a moment.
Then
Boom.
The barrier shuttering and then It imploded, collapsing inward like a sub under pressure, the fragments of goo and compressed air screaming as they were sucked into the force of my strike.
The roof split open, beams twisting and snapping under the force. Even the windows inside the gym exploded outward, glass raining down like hail.
The shockwave tore through the goo barrier as if it were paper, peeling it backward in ragged strips.
It ripped the goo armor clean off the man's silhouette, layer by layer, until he was trapped in the mess. caught in a mass of collapsing debris.
Then, after a moment... he was gone.
If he made it out alive, he was seriously injured.
But I doubt he could survive that.
And even if he did he won't survive for long.