Title: Chapter Five: The Raid

Series: Emesen’s Child

Author: Jennifer Lee

Email: jesca10@attbi.com

Web: http://home.attbi.com/~jesca10/ *Fictitious*

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of the author and are not to be reproduced without express consent.

Rating: PG

Summery: Sometimes standing up for what you believe can have interesting reprocussions all their own.

Author’s Notes: Please email me if you want to put this or any of my stories on your website. I never say no, but I like knowing which sites are supporting my writing. Thanks!



Emesen’s Child 5: The Raid
By Jennifer Lee

It was hard for Carl to get used to not hanging out with Darien and Sandy. They had become such a big focus in his life; he wandered around his apartment and other places they used to hang out at. Sometimes he would see them at school, but Darien quickly moved Sandy away from Carl. Carl felt like he had lost a brother, but pride kept him from crying when Darien would be cruel.

Carl dwelled on it a few days, but after a while he tried hanging out with Marvin and Anthony more. They were pretty nice guys who appreciated his sense of humor. Carl started to feel pretty comfortable near them. Especially when they found out about his reading and didn’t tease him.

Although they were in classes together, the reading class was structured so that people from all different reading levels would get help. It was more one-on-one and individualized, so not everyone was reading the same thing. When Marvin spied Carl reading The Great Brain, one of Carl’s favorite books to try to read with, he didn’t laugh at Carl even though it was such a rudimentary book. Instead he helped Carl with the word he was struggling with at the time and congratulated him. Even though Carl was obviously reading at the fourth grade level, Marvin didn’t tease him. Carl really appreciated that.

Carl remembered back to times when he was still hanging out with Darien and Sandy. Sometimes they would all go out to Hot Lips to have pizza together. Usually, though, Darien would persuade Carl to sit at another table. He offered to pay for his dinner if Carl would just sit some place else. Carl thought it was a pretty cool deal, to get free dinner just because he was sitting at a different table, so he agreed. He tried to use the opportunity to practice his reading in peace, especially since the kind of people that gravitated towards Sandy was loud. All in all, he thought he was getting a pretty good deal. Until the teasing started.

Darien pointed out his two books, The Tale of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and The Great Brain. Those were his favorite books, and he was trying desperately to learn them. Suddenly he heard his name mentioned and he looked over in time to see Darien, his face screwed up comically, impersonating his reading. Carl frowned a little, hurt in his eyes. He closed the books and hid them in the bag he had brought them in and looked out the window the rest of the time. The teasing died down relatively quickly after that, but Carl couldn’t get the image of Darien imitating him out of his mind.

Later that night, when Darien walked him to his apartment, Carl asked him why he was so mean to him when other people were around but so nice to him when they were alone. Darien just looked at him for a moment.

“Because, Carl. We’re ashamed of you.” Carl looked down and nodded, understanding.

“Sandy too?”

“Especially Sandy. Think about it, Carl. She’s a cheerleader and a sorority girl. Every time people see her with you, it hurts her popularity.”

“I don’t mean to hurt her,” Carl said softly.

“So then you understand why you have to sit at different tables and stuff like that?”

“Yeah, Darien. I understand.”

He understood all right. But now, with Anthony and Marvin, he started to feel like maybe he could just be himself without hurting people.

Marvin and Anthony got picked on by, Them. Them included the sorority girls, the fraternity boys, the jocks, the cheerleaders, and pretty much anyone who thought they were better than the rest. Carl had thought when he got to college; he wouldn’t have to worry about Them. He thought that high school was the last year of Them. Finally, he’d be going to school with kids too old to tease. He found out that wasn’t true. Not only was there a Them, but his best friend, Darien, was now one of Them.

Marvin came home one day, throwing his books into the corner of the room, angrily. Carl looked up from the television and noticed that Marvin’s hair was wet.

“It is raining?” Carl asked with sincerity.

“No. I got cornered in the bathroom at school by Them.” He plopped down on the floor, a cross look on his face.

“Who?” Carl asked.

“Jocks from Alpha Beta.”

“What’s this?” asked Anthony, who came in from the kitchen.

“Alpha Beta decided to bathe me in the toilet today.” Marvin ran his hand over his wet hair.

“What jerks. Today, one of the Alpha Delta Pi girls, Sarah, was watching me in the cafeteria. At first I didn’t know what she was looking at, but I knew she was looking at me.” He got a dreamy look in his eyes. Marvin and Carl both knew he had a thing for Sarah. “So I looked behind me to see if anyone was there. And there wasn’t. She was really looking at me! And not just glancing, I mean she couldn’t take her eyes off of me. I smiled to her a little, and she smiled back. Then she winked at me!” Carl and Marvin looked at each other and then at Anthony. His excited look dulled to one of hurt. “Then Steve Greene stood up and walked over. He asked me if I was flirting with his girl. I said no, that she was looking at me, and he accused me of calling his girl a slut. So he picked up my hamburger, took off the top of the bun, spit in it and then dumped ketchup down my new shirt.”

Marvin shook his head, putting a hand on his friends arm.

Carl’s eyes narrowed. “We should pay them back.”

Marvin and Anthony looked at Carl.

“How?” Marvin asked. “The minute they see us do anything they’ll beat us into a fine paste.”

“Well, we could let the air out of their tires,” Carl said.

“Right, Carl. That’s a lot of cars. Especially since we should get back Alpha Delta Pi too,” Marvin said.

“Hey, I got it,” Anthony said. “How about a panty raid on Alpha Delta Pi? Then we could sell the panties on the Internet for money.”

“Yeah!” Marvin’s eyes lit up.

Carl smiled, but then frowned a little. “I’m not allowed in Alpha Delta Pi.”

Anthony chuckled. “I don’t think any of us is welcome, but it isn’t like we’ll be asking for donations. It’s a panty raid!”

“Let’s think of something else,” Carl said. He was a little uncomfortable about this idea. He didn’t like going places that he wasn’t welcome, so he was hesitant about doing this.

“No, this is perfect. Come on, Carl. How about all the times Darien and Sandy have been jerks to you. What about the others? Don’t you ever want to just get them back?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, it was my idea to get them back. But I don’t know about this idea.”

“Ok,” Anthony said. “How about if Marvin and I go in, and you just stand guard outside.”

Carl thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded with a smile.

When the night came for the panty raid to take place, Carl was really nervous. The closer it got to the time, the more he was sure he didn’t like the idea. But Marvin and Anthony were stuck on it, and really all Carl had to do was stand outside. He didn’t think that was such a bad job, but he worried a little about his new friends.

Carl stood across the street from Alpha Delta Pi. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to warn his friends if anyone came, but he was willing to cause a diversion. He was good at those. People who passed by him looked at him funny for being over there. Most of the people who lived down that particular street were part of a sorority or a fraternity. He stood out like a sore thumb. He didn’t care though; he was too keyed up to care about what those people thought about him. What he did care about was the well being of his friends.

Carl looked at his watch. They had been inside for a while now. Long enough to do a panty raid, Carl though. He started to wonder if they got caught. His mind started to conjure up ideas about his friends being interrogated for the names of people who had helped them plot the raid. His eyes widened as he started to imagine what was going to happen if they told on him.

Carl was brought out of his daydreaming when he saw his two friends quickly, but still quietly, coming out of the sorority house. His eyes widened as they gave him the thumbs up. He smiled; they had made it. They quickly disappeared behind the house to get to their car, which was parked a block behind the street the sorority was on. As planned, Carl went in his own direction, walking to Hot Lips. Marvin said that they needed an alibi. He said to be seen by as many of the kids as possible.

Carl walked into the busy pizza house, his eyes moving from side to side. In his mind’s eye, everyone was looking at him as if he had just committed a crime. He swallowed back the worry. When one of the guys on the football team looked at him and stood up quickly, he jumped and turned, right into a girl and her plate of pizza.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Carl tried to wipe pizza off of her shirt while she yelled at him and swatted his hands away.

“Get away from me you stupid idiot!” She fumed as she gathered her plate and purse from the ground and stomped off. An employee came with a mop, ready to clean up the spill. Carl tried to help him but the guy told him to just leave it alone. Carl looked for the football player and saw that he had walked right past Carl, heading for the bathroom. Carl breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he had succeeded in making sure many people saw him though. Some were still laughing and a few were pointing. Carl looked down and turned to walk out.

His blue eyes traveled over and he saw Darien and Sandy, sitting alone, eating pizza. His face brightened up and he strode over to them.

“Hey, Darien. Hey, Sandy.” He smiled a goofy smile at them. He had missed them in the last few days that they hadn’t been seeing each other.

“Well, if it isn’t Carl,” Darien said. Although he was glad to have had a few days without Carl, he couldn’t say he was sorry to see him. He scooted over, offering the seat next to him to Carl. Carl smiled and slid into the booth.

“Hi, Carl,” Sandy said, smiling a little. “Have an accident?”

“Oh it happens to me all the time,” Carl smiled.

“I can imagine.”

“One time I tripped while carrying tomato soup and this girl was wearing a white dress-”

“Carl?” Darien interrupted.

“Yes, Darien?”

“That was Sandy you spilt tomato soup all over, remember?”

Carl frowned a little, looking at Sandy thoughtfully. Suddenly his face lit up when the memory became clear.

“Oh yeah! I remember.”

“So do I, Carl. So do I.”

“Well, anyway, like I said, it happens a lot.”

“To you. It happens a lot to you, Carl,” Darien said while rolling his eyes.

Carl shrugged and looked around.

“So what are you guys doing after this?”

“Probably going home,” Sandy said.

“Oh.” Carl looked a little down, knowing he couldn’t hang out with them there.

“Do you want a ride home?” Sandy asked politely.

“Yeah, that would be great,” Carl said enthusiastically.

Sandy looked at Darien.

“Well I’m done, what about you.”

Darien nodded. “Yeah, we might as well go.”

Carl slid out of the booth and left with Darien and Sandy.

Before they were able to leave the driveway, Darien’s cell phone rang.

“This is Darien,” he answered.

“Darien, this is Steve.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Your buddy Carl did a panty raid on the Alpha Delta Pi sorority tonight.” Steve sounded very upset. Darien glanced at Carl through his rear view mirror.

“Did he?

“Yeah. Couple of people spotted him acting funny in front of the house today.”

“I see.”

The other end was quiet for a minute.

“Do you know where we can find him?”

“Uh…no, actually. I don’t. I’m kind of out on a date with Sandy right now.”

“Ah. Sorry man. Well, no worries. Just because we can’t find him, doesn’t mean we can’t do a little pay back on his apartment. Thanks, man.”

“No problem.” Darien hung up. The expression on his face was grim as he thought about what to do. Finally he made up his mind as he made a turn away from the apartment complex. He didn’t think what Carl did was cool, but he wasn’t going to take him to his death, either. He knew that if he brought Carl home right now, the guys that were there would beat him senseless. Or, the other scenario was that Carl would transform into Polaris and blow his hero identity in order to save himself from the beating. Either way, he couldn’t bring Carl back to the apartment.

“Darien, where are we going?” Sandy asked, confused.

“Uh, well I thought we’d drive to the coast. It’s a nice night for a drive.”

“Darien, I have a test tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.”

“Ah, come now, Sandy. We’ll have time to get you to bed.” Darien looked over at her, giving her a smile. He knew she was getting irritated, but as much as he didn’t like Carl hanging around all the time, he couldn’t bring himself to turn the car around.

“Carl, you want to see the beach, don’t you?”

“Darien, it’s dark, we aren’t going to see much,” Carl said.

“Yeah, but it’ll be nice.” Darien got onto the freeway, heading toward the beach and away from danger.

“Darien, what’s gotten into you? Why all the sudden do you want to go to the beach?” Sandy asked, irritated.

“I just thought it might be a nice way to spend time together.”

Sandy glanced back at Carl and then looked at Darien pointedly. She wasn’t fooled. Darien always complained about Carl hanging around when they were trying to be alone, and now he wanted to take Carl to the beach with them? Something didn’t register. Sandy folded her arms and shook her head. Darien knew that she was on to him.

She looked out the window, her lips pressed together in growing anger. Darien knew that Sandy hated to be kept in the dark. He got the same look every time he got a late night call from the Defenders asking for Reaper’s assistance. It was getting harder and harder to hide from Sandy his secret identity. But he knew he couldn’t tell her. She hated Reaper. She constantly talked about him like he was a monster. He didn’t want to end the relationship that way, so he kept quiet. Instead he told her that his friends were in trouble and needed him, or his family. Whatever he could to keep her off his back. He started calling it ’business’, but since he didn’t go to work and Sandy knew that his sister, Michelle, actually ran the company he co-owned, that excuse was starting to wear thin. He worried that Sandy would think he was cheating on her.

The silence in the car started to become oppressive. Darien racked his brain for something to say to Sandy, but he couldn’t think of anything, except the truth. He looked back at Carl, through the rear-view mirror. He looked like he was feeling the tension too. Darien’s eyes narrowed. If it weren’t for Carl, he wouldn’t be having this fight with Sandy.

“Sandy,” Darien said, his voice lowered a little, “please don’t be upset.”

Sandy looked at him, anger on her face. She just shook her head and then turned her face away from him again. His softened expression started to harden with anger of his own. He could only take so much of this.

“Fine.” He quickly pulled his car over to the side of the freeway. Sandy looked at him in surprise. “Want to know why we’re going to the beach? Carl is the reason we’re going to the beach.”

“Darien, she’s not going to buy that. She was here when you suggested it,” Carl said.

“Darien, what are you talking about?” Sandy asked.

“Anything you want to confess, Carl?”

Carl looked at Darien, genuinely confused. His mind was far from the raid that day, and he honestly had no idea what he would need to confess that would have anything to do with going to the beach. Besides, if there were something to confess, he sure wouldn’t want to confess anything.

“No.”

“Visit Alpha Delta Pi today?”

“Darien, you know I’m not allowed in there.” Carl started to get uncomfortable. His eyes started shifting. “Lets go to the beach.” He smiled, trying to divert the attention from him.

“Carl, were you there today?”

Sandy looked at Carl as Darien asked a second time. She was confused.

“No.”

“So you didn’t participate in a panty raid?”

Sandy’s eyes widened and she looked at Carl.

“I was across the street. I didn’t even go on their property.”

“And what were you doing there?” Darien drawled, impatiently.

“Being a look out.” Carl ducked his head a little, knowing he was going to get in trouble.

“Well that’s just great. You know Alpha Beta thinks you pulled it off yourself. They’re looking for you right now. That’s who called me earlier. They wanted to know if I knew where you were. That’s why we’re going to the beach, so they don’t find you.”

Carl looked worried for a moment, but when Darien indicated he was trying to protect Carl, his face lit up brightly.

“Thanks, Darien.” He felt renewed in his faith that Darien was his friend. Sure, he didn’t like Carl to hang around him, be seen with him or his girlfriend, or talk to him, but Darien proved he’d protect Carl if he needed to.

“Yeah, well don’t mention it. To anyone. No need for Sandy and I to get into trouble just because you had to go play some immature prank.”

Sandy was frowning at Carl. Darien was glad. It was about time she got mad at someone other than him for a change.

“Carl, why did you do a raid on my sorority?” Sandy asked.

“I didn’t. I just stood watch.”

“But why? What was the purpose?”

“In case a bunch of Alpha Beta’s came. You don’t want to be caught in the middle of a panty raid by the Alpha Beta’s. They’ll put you in the hospital!”

Sandy rolled her eyes. “I’ll remember that. I meant, what was the purpose of the panty raid.”

“Oh.”

Darien turned back onto the freeway. He intended to turn around at the first exit he came to. Steve and the guys were likely done by now.

“Well?” Sandy asked impatiently.

“What?” Carl stalled.

Sandy took a deep breath, her patience threatening to take a long vacation.

"Carl, just tell her why you and your friends did the stupid raid.”

“Oh. Well, it was kind of to get back at Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Beta for picking on us.”

“So you go steal girls underwear?” Sandy rolled her eyes.

Carl just shrugged. He wasn’t feeling so good about the raid just then. He didn’t like the way Sandy was looking at him. He noticed that Darien was heading back to the apartments. Carl wondered what was going to happen when he saw the guys from Alpha Beta at school. He only hoped that they didn’t know about Marvin or Anthony. He knew he could take what they would dish out better than his two friends.

Carl knew something was wrong when Darien wanted to follow him to his apartment. Sandy followed close behind. He wondered if Darien knew something that Carl didn’t. He slowly unlocked the door, not knowing what to expect. When the door swung open and the light was turned on, the apartment looked normal and there was no one in sight. Carl smiled a little at his own worry and stepped into the apartment. Darien and Sandy followed.

After a few steps into the apartment, Carl froze. Something didn’t feel right. He started checking the apartment. Darien followed him into the kitchen, only to see nothing out of place. Carl called out to Marvin and Anthony, but no one seemed to be home to answer. He went back into their rooms, worried about them, but no one was in there. As Carl came out of Anthony’s room, he looked over at his room. The door was ajar.

Slowly he made his way to his darkened room. Darien followed. Something felt wrong, and he wanted to be close in case fraternity boys jumped out at Carl from a darkened corner. Having Carl beat up was a bit drastic, and he desperately hoped that he would not have to stake his newfound popularity to save Carl from a beating, no matter how much he thought Carl deserved one.

When Carl slowly pushed the door open and turned on the light, he froze. From behind Carl, Darien looked with widened eyes to the room. It was completely trashed. Darien was relieved. They took it out on his room, which to Darien meant that they wouldn’t be beating Carl up for revenge.

Carl’s eyes moved around the room. His clothes were torn and scattered across the room, the stuffing of his mattress woven into the mess of the room. His room had the least amount of things in it, due to the fact that Carl was so poor, but at the moment the room was full of trash. He could hardly afford to eat and pay the rent; he had no idea how he was going to replace this stuff. His budget was tight without having to replace almost everything he owned. Dollar signs and high-end estimations floated in his head as he calculated the damage done to his room and how much the Alpha Beta boys had just cost him. Carl knew that his financial aide would likely not be able to cover this mess. The only reason he was able to pay rent and eat was because of Darien, although he didn’t know that.

When Darien had approached Marvin and Anthony, they were very surprised. He explained to them that Carl would never take charity, willingly, so Darien had been lying to Carl about how much rent was. He agreed to continue paying his share of the rent if Anthony and Marvin made sure that the food and utilities were split in such a way that Carl would pay the least amount. Darien was well aware of Carl’s financial standing. Carl’s only income was what was left over from financial aide, and it wasn’t enough to live off of unless you had help. He was certain, from a lifetime of experience that Carl would never ask for help and it was important to Carl to go to school. So Darien made it possible. But Carl didn’t know that. He could never know that. The moment Carl found out he was accepting charity in any way, he would wise up to the amount he was paying and figure up how much he owed Darien. Then he would likely starve himself to pay back his multi-millionaire friend money that Darien didn’t need, but Carl did. Although Darien and Carl’s relationship was a bit rocky with Sandy in the mix, Darien did care about his friend, in his own way. Besides, he knew he could afford to be charitable.

Darien was trying to think of some clever way to give Carl a new bed and some clothes. He would need them, as it didn’t appear like Alpha Beta left anything for him. He knew that the fraternity didn’t realize the severity of what they had done. They were used to dealing with kids from well off families. Tuition at The Academy was not cheap; therefore very few truly poor students went to school with them. Carl was as poor as poor could get, though. He didn’t have more clothes to replace the ones that lay scattered over the floor. He didn’t have a new bed, or any way of getting one. He didn’t have anything but what was in this room, and was now destroyed.

A noise from Carl snapped Darien out of his thoughts. Carl quickly made his way over to his two reading books. They looked unharmed, and Carl was glad. He picked them up, rescuing them from the scattered remains of one of his favorite flannel shirts. The grip he had on both books failed him, as he didn’t seem to get a hold of the bottom cover of the second book. Pages started to slip out, slowly at first, until one by one a small shower of torn pages covered the floor.

Sandy peered into the room beside Darien. She gasped at the mess that was made. Her eyes touched on Carl as she saw the stricken look on his face. He dropped the now empty book cover, devoid of all its pages. He slowly opened the other book; he gently turned it upside down, watching its pages flutter about to the floor.

Sandy wasn’t sure, but he looked as though he would cry if he were alone. His breath was faster and heavier than usual as he just stood staring at the pages of his reading books that were scattered over the floor.

Carl’s mind raced. He was just getting through them. He was finally learning how to read, and now his books were ruined.

Sandy slipped into the room, walking a little in front of Darien. She wasn’t really very shocked about the room. She knew that Gabe and Steve had done stuff like this before. It was a childish prank, and not that big of a deal. But she knew how much his books meant to him, and the unreadable look on his face told her that he was mourning their loss.

“Carl, I’m so sorry.” She put her hand on his arm.

He flinched away from her touch. He bent down and grabbed some of the pages. He looked at them, his eyes narrowing. His hand crumpled the pages as he fisted his fingers together. He slowly looked up into the face of the startled Sandy.

“In the Good Book it says, ‘the candle of the wicked will be put out.’” Carl stood and stormed out, pushing past Darien. Darien recognized that look in his eyes, and something akin to fear knotted in his stomach. Not fear of Carl, but fear of what he was about to do.

“This is not good,” Darien stated into the silence.

“He’ll calm down before he gets to Alpha Beta. Don’t worry. They’ve already paid him back, they probably won’t hurt him.” Sandy took a last look of the room and then looked at Darien. He didn’t look reassured.

“I’m not worried about what they’re going to do to him. I’m worried about what he is going to do to them.”

“Carl?” Sandy asked in amusement. “He’s not going to do anything to them.”

“Sandy, you don’t know Carl. I’ve only seen him get this angry a few times, but let me assure you, it’s not pretty.”

“Are we talking about the same, Carl? Come on, Darien. He’s harmless.”

Darien watched Sandy for a moment. She wouldn’t say that if she knew that Carl was Polaris. But she didn’t, and he worried about making too big a deal of this. He didn’t want to tip her off that Carl was other than he was. Especially since Darien had a sinking suspicion that Carl would be using Polaris’ help to reap his revenge on Alpha Beta.

“You’re probably right, Sandy.” Darien put his arms around her and kissed her on the top of the head. His mind raced towards what Carl might do. He was pretty easy going most of the time, but if you really upset him, he was unpredictable.

********

Carl flew over the houses, making his way to the fraternity house. He originally thought about blowing up their house, but decided on the way there that he wasn’t going to do that. Finding housing in the middle of the school year was nearly impossible, and he knew he’d regret doing it later.

He thought about all the possible ways he could repay Alpha Beta for this. Even though he knew they had gone too far, every idea he had seemed too harsh. He didn’t want to regret whatever he did later.

His mind was racing and his heart was pumping. Instead of wearing his usual Polaris costume, he was dressed in all black, from the top of his head to his black boots. He didn’t want to be recognized. He knew Darien would know it was him who attacked Alpha Beta, but he didn’t want to tarnish Polaris’ growing reputation on a moment of anger.

He landed on the fraternity house, overlooking the street where fancy cars were parked for the night. He saw a few people walking around in front of the houses, but no one saw him. He crouched low and waited.

While waiting, he saw a number of cars slowly drive by and park in parking lots or on the street. At first he just ignored them, but after a few minutes an idea came to him. He caught sight of Steve Greene’s shiny black sports car. It was his pride and joy. His fingers itched to extend themselves and shoot out the aqua colored energy that would destroy the car. His lips were curled into a smile. But he hesitated.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he started to argue with himself. Really this wasn’t going to show them anything. They would think this was a freak accident that had nothing to do with Carl Williams. This wouldn’t show them that they couldn’t bully people around and that was really the point.

But, Carl reasoned, it would make him feel better. They destroyed his books. They destroyed everything. He didn’t know what he was going to do about a bed or clothes. All he had was what he was wearing. Although part of him knew he could instantly transform his clothes into different ones. He did have that ability. But he hated to take advantage of his secret powers. He tried very hard to keep him and Polaris separate. It just didn’t seem right to take advantage. But he knew he would probably have to this time, at least to get some clothes.

He looked out at all the cars lining the street and in the parking lots. If he did this, no one would get hurt and he would get his revenge. But it was at the thought of revenge than the smile started to leave Carl’s face. He suddenly knew he wasn’t doing this to stop them from picking on Marvin, Anthony, or even him. He wanted to do this purely to make them feel the loss that he did. Carl hung his head. He couldn’t blow up their cars. That just wasn’t him. As upset as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Carl sighed in frustration. He stood up, ready to fly off, when he heard a scream from across the street. His head turned sharply and his eyes focused on the big man who was handling one of the girls so roughly. He was about to intervene when he heard Steve Greene’s voice. He decided to stay put and allow Steve to handle it. Having a super hero rescuing people from normals was overkill. Still, he stayed and watched, in case.

“Hey, you!” Steve yelled. “Let go of my girl.”

Carl’s eyes focused on the girl and noticed that it was Sarah, the same girl who set Anthony up in the cafeteria. Part of him thought maybe this was karma, but he instantly felt guilty for that thought. He knew that no girl deserved to be attacked.

The man was still grabbing at Sarah’s arms, trying to pull her in between the houses while she was squirming and flailing her arms. She yelled for Steve to help her.

“Hey, man, I’m not telling you again! Let go of her!” Steve yelled, as he got close.

The guy looked over at Steve and let go of Sarah with one of his hands. Instead of letting her go though, he shot that hand outwards towards Steve and a black energy beam shot out. Steve dived for cover, the energy beam barely missing him.

Carl’s eyes narrowed as blue and gray started to replace the black suit he was wearing. Soon he was sporting the large white star on his chest that was his trademark. Polaris leaped off the building, almost like a swan dive, and at the last minute he flipped in the air to land on his feet in the middle of the road.

“You want to try that with me, tough guy?”

The guy looked over and his eyes widened when he saw Polaris. Picking on fraternity boys and sorority girls was one thing, but Polaris was not supposed to be part of the package, he thought. He threw the girl down, making both hands readily available to fight. He couldn’t fly, so he knew that he had no choice but to stay and fight.

His hands came out, black energy flowing towards Polaris, who dived quickly out of the way. He landed on his knees next to a stunned Steve Greene. From his own hand, he shot an aqua colored beam at the villain. It wasn’t strong enough to kill him, only to stun him. This guy didn’t look to be a very powerful villain, and Polaris merely wanted to contain him. But the energy beam didn’t reach him, as the guy dove for cover.

“Get her out of here, now!” Polaris commanded. Steve nodded and ran for Sarah, bringing her to the sorority house for cover. Polaris felt much more comfortable with the civilians out of the way.

Another black beam was aimed at him and he rolled to the side, hearing an explosion as the energy hit something.

“Hey! My car!” Steve yelled from the porch of the house. Polaris glanced behind him to see the car in flames. He knew he needed to do something before someone got hurt.

Polaris had the ability to make himself desolidify. When he was desolid, there was no outward indication that he was, but when someone tried to hit him or touch him, the attack would go right through him as if he wasn’t there. He quickly went desolid and charged after the guy, not worrying when the guy tried to shoot him. The beam went right through him, taking his attacker off guard. Polaris heard another explosion behind him as another car went up in flames. Polaris found himself looking to make sure it wasn’t one with an innocent in it.

“Look out!” Sarah screamed as Polaris turned to face his attacker.

The man swung hard, causing his hand to pass through Polaris. He backed up, fear on his face as he started to shoot wildly towards Polaris. All of his energy blasts went right through the hero, but Polaris could hear property being destroyed behind him. He knew he had to stop the guy from shooting, so in between blasts, he quickly solidified himself and threw a punch at the guy’s temple. When the punch connected, pain and surprise showed up on the villain’s face. Without hesitation, Polaris shot the man with his aqua energy blast, knocking him out for good.

People started to cheer and clap as they saw Sarah’s attacker wasn’t getting back up. Polaris looked up and slowly looked around at all of the college students that were hanging out of their windows to applaud him. There were people on the street and standing on a few of the remaining cars. Some of these kids were the same people who continued to pick on him and his friends.

His eyes caught sight of the destroyed cars. Three cars looked beyond repair and many other cars sustained some sort of damage from being too close to the explosions. He looked back over to the people on the porch of Alpha Delta Pi.

“Is everyone alright?” he asked.

Sarah practically leaped off the porch and ran towards him, throwing her arms around him in thanks. She gushed over him, thanking him profusely for saving her life. Polaris thought about the girl whose arms were around his neck and how she had participated in teasing him and his friends. He looked over at Steve who walked over, offering his hand in friendship to Polaris.

After gently pulling Sarah away he took to flight, slowly rising above the people. He heard sirens in the background. Likely it was the fire department coming to make sure the cars wouldn’t cause a bigger problem. Carl knew he didn’t have much time.

“Doesn’t feel very good to be picked on.” His voice was loud and reached most of the people who he could see. “Hopefully you all learned a valuable lesson in this and you’ll remember what if feels like to be picked on when the opportunity to be the attacker comes up in the future. Especially for those of you who lost something tonight.” He looked directly at Steve. “It doesn’t feel good to lose something precious to you.”

The crowd was stone quiet as he dropped down beside the unconscious villain. Leaning down to make contact with him, the two disappeared, leaving the students in a state of contemplation.



To Be Continued...