"Coalescence! Coalescence! Over here!"

"What's your opinion on the shootings? Why haven't the supers found the culprit?" yelled another voice.

"Have you been working with Black Lightning on the case?" asked another.

Larkin stood behind the podium on the stage. She was being bombarded with questions, and no one was giving her a chance to answer any of them. Inside, she was panicking about how she was going to answer them, but on the outside, she had a calm, schooled expression on her face.

A brief silence fell over the sea of reporters, giving her a chance to respond.

"Black Lightning and I are working in close quarters with the police to find the person who has committed these heinous crimes. I am not permitted to disclose any information to the public without express permission from the police chief," she answered. Larkin let out a breath of relief as the reporters quieted down.

She quickly exited the stage before she could be assaulted with any more questions. Sitting down in a folding chair, she put her head in her hands and sighed. She didn't understand what was happening. Who could be the shooter? How do they keep getting away?

"Hey," said a voice, interrupting her thoughts.

Black Lightning was standing on her left. A grim look was etched into his face. He sat down on the chair behind him, and Larkin could hear his bones crack.

"I'm stumped," he admitted.

"Yeah," she agreed. "No one is smart enough to evade the police this long. It shouldn't be possible for no one to have seen the shooter," said Larkin. She stood up from her chair, frustrated. "No one even knows which direction the bullet came from."

She was tugging on her hair and pacing in front of Black Lightning. The sounds of cameras and reporters could be heard from the stage. The police chief was at the podium now.

"I've been doing stuff like this for a while now," began Black Lightning, "and I've never met a criminal that could evade a super for this long."

"Nothing makes sense and I-" Larkin cut herself off. "Oh my gosh! You're right!"

Black Lightning furrowed his eyebrows. "What exactly am I right about?"

"Um... Take me to a computer and I'll show you," she ordered.

"We could go to my base," he offered.

"That's perfect. Let's just skip the rest of this press conference."

"We can fly. You'll have to get on my back," he stated.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Let's go," urged Larkin.

The two supers found an exit to the outdoors quickly. They were standing in the back lot behind the building the press conference was taking place in. Weeds grew through cracks in the concrete.

Black Lightning turned his back towards Larkin. She got on as if he were giving her a piggy back ride. Without any hesitation, he lifted off the ground. Before Larkin realized what was happening, they were floating above the city.

"This is epic," she whispered. Her mouth was right next to Black Lightning's ear. Larkin was in awe of the sheer size of the city. The buildings sprawled out along the hills and valleys for miles. People on the sidewalks were the size of ants. She felt like they were above the whole world.

"You get used to it."

"I never will."

()()()

"Look right here," said Larkin. She pointed at an online newspaper article. It was written seven years ago.

"This is what I was talking about. We've never met a criminal who could evade a super for so long because they've all been regular people, not supers. We aren't dealing with powerless people here. This is a real life villain. One I haven't heard of in a long time.

On the computer screen, Larkin had pulled up an article written in 2008.

The supervillain, Imposter, was apprehended early this morning when he made a fatal mistake. For those that do not know, the Imposter uses his powers to disguise his true identity. The Imposter has the ability to take on the appearance of any person that he has made contact with. It then becomes impossible to distinguish the appearance of the original person from the Imposter. This power makes it extremely difficult to track and capture this dangerous supervillain because, until recently, we did not know his true identity. It was in this way that the Imposter was able to pull off a feat such as the Newman Murder in 2005.

In a lapse of concentration while running from law enforcement officers three days ago, the Imposter dropped his disguise and officers were able to identify the Imposter as Joshua Thomas. He was tracked to his home in a suburb just outside of Markusville and was arrested this morning. The villain was taken to the county prison at 2:30 A.M., twenty minutes after the officers located him at his home.

The Imposter's reign of terror had gone on too long without restraint. Finally, he has been brought to justice.

When Black Lightning finished reading the article, his brow was furrowed.

"He's in prison, though. The Imposter can't be our guy," he argued.

Larkin took a deep breath before revealing what she had been worrying about. "This isn't another criminal. A prison can't hold him for long," explained Larkin. "Like you said, no one is smart enough, skilled enough, or resourceful enough to avoid the sights of us and the police. It's the only explanation."

"What exactly does that mean for us?"

"Well, considering the fact that we are two teenage superheroes, I'd say that we have a decent chance at finding the Imposter. I don't know about you, but considering the fact that I have never dealt with an actual villain, let alone a villain with as much skill as the Imposter, then I would change my mind and say that this is going to be extremely difficult," she said.

Larkin didn't really know what she was up against. She only knew what she had read from news articles online from the 2000s.

"So, what kinds of things did the Imposter do?" asked Black Lightning.

"From what I've read online, I know that he's not your average criminal. He doesn't rob banks or jewelry stores or any of that typical criminal stuff. He's more into the behind-the-scenes, conspiracy, let-others-do-the-dirty-work kind of plans. He's been known for putting his people in places of authority and infiltrating the system that way. Also, there's the infamous Newman Murder, but I'm sure you've heard all about that by now," said Larkin.

She snapped the lid of the laptop shut and stood up from the cushy chair. Black Lightning moved it back to the wooden roll-top desk sitting in the corner of his treehouse.

"So he wants either Richard Knolls or George Fredericks out of the system. George has been shot twice already, and Richard was the target of the initial attempt, and who knows how many tries it will take before he succeeds at killing either of them," concluded Black Lightning.

Larkin had to swallow her worry about having her father involved in something as dangerous as this, but it was what it was, and she was unable to change it. Now, she should focus on solving this problem.

Larkin, being the genius that she was, came up with a plan within seconds.

"I have a plan," she began, "but it's risky. People could very well die, including us, but if that's the price I have to pay for protecting my town, I will pay it. Every last penny."

()()()

The boy watched the two supers through the window. He could hear their conversation crystal clear. Besides his mind-twisting abilities, the boy had also been granted the gifts of silence and advanced hearing. He figured he could have gone inside the treehouse and simply concealed himself from them, but he didn't want to take any chances. Instead, he stood on a sturdy branch and watched the backs of their heads bob up and down through the glass.

He twisted his hands together, palms clammy. They had it all wrong. Yes, the Imposter was back, and he was the one behind these attacks, but he wasn't after George Fredericks. Only Richard Knolls. The boy took a deep breath and tried to calm his frayed nerves. This could ruin my whole plan, he thought.

As their voices drifted to his sensitive ears, he pondered his solutions. What they were planning was risky, not to mention extremely dangerous. He couldn't let them go through with it. Luckily, the supers didn't know about the variable that was him. They wouldn't know what had happened until everything good and just had fallen into place.

Why don't you just reveal yourself to them? You're not really a villain, argued the little voice in the back of his head. He shushed it quickly. He knew they would judge him. He was the offspring of one of the most hated criminals the world had ever seen. The boy's father had certainly left a legacy to remember.

Only his desperate plan could save the town, even if it meant divulging his deepest secret and facing his darkest fears.

()()()

Larkin sat in her room, deep in thought. She had almost no options except for the dangerous plan Black Lightning and she had created. She reviewed the plan in her head.

It would start off with one of them trailing the candidates for governor at all times. That was the easy part. They would try to stay hidden and out of sight. Eventually, one of the candidates would lead them to the Imposter. That's when the complications began. Neither of the two supers had ever encountered the Imposter, so they had almost no idea what they were up against.

Larkin's thoughts were cut off by a sharp ding. Larkin glanced over to her phone, sitting on her desk. She grumbled before dragging herself off her comfortable bed to grab her phone. The screen was lit up, and it had a text from Greta on it. You wanna come over for a sleepover tomorrow night? We could go see a movie first. I haven't gotten to hang out with you in a looOOOoong time.

Larkin pondered her options: boring Friday night alone, or a wonderful sleepover with her best friend? The answer was obvious. Larkin quickly responded, saying that of course she would be there.

Before dozing off on her soft bed, Larkin realized that she had only seen Greta at lunch and on the walk to school for the past week. They hadn't done anything together since before school started.

Saving people is my priority, she thought to herself.

The words didn't comfort her like they used to. Larkin knew she had been neglecting their friendship. Sure, she was good at saving people, but could she save a friendship?