After their brief conversation in the park, Larkin took Greta home. She knew that Mrs. Avers would still be pacing relentlessly in her kitchen, no doubt wondering why she had let a sixteen year old girl convince her to not call the police. So Larkin anxiously dragged Greta out onto the streets, and mercilessly left Finn without speaking to him or acknowledging his existence. Greta wouldn't understand why Finn had assisted her in the search. This was necessary to maintain her secret.

After Larkin told Greta to just "go inside because your mother will kill me if you stand out here all night" she opened the door and simply pushed her best friend through the door. There was no doubt in her mind that Greta would receive a warm welcome, even if she was grounded for going missing. Mrs. Avers loved her daughter too much to be angry at her.

Larkin retreated back to the sidewalk and listened to the exclamations of joy coming from Greta's house. She smiled, knowing that everything would be all right for Greta. Her family loved her. They cared about her; they actually would notice if she went missing.

Feeling melancholy, Larkin knew that she couldn't go back to her house just yet. She thought she could hear one of her parents still awake inside, and knew that she wouldn't get off easy if she showed up at home around midnight without explanation. However, if she went home when her parents were asleep, she could sneak into her room and tell her parents in the morning that she didn't actually go to Greta's and instead came back home and didn't tell them.

Deciding that the best way to spend the night would be as a hero, Larkin put on her suit and went back to the main part of town.

Almost instantly, she could sense a discombobulation around the storefronts two streets over. To her, it didn't feel as if someone was in trouble; it simply felt off. The shattering of breaking glass only confirmed her suspicions that something was going on over there.

She quickened her pace, running towards the origin of the commotion. She hoped that whatever it was wouldn't be too serious because she was tired. She was tired and grumpy and couldn't agree more with Finn that sleep was something that should not under any circumstance be disturbed.

However, before she made it to the scene, the offness of the situation disappeared from her senses. She froze in her tracks, feeling that there no longer was a problem for her to solve. It was very resolute and almost repelled her from the location. But Larkin was stubborn, and she needed to know what was happening. Conflict did not resolve itself.

Larkin forced herself to walk in the direction she had been going. Despite her head telling her that there was nothing there to see, she kept going because she knew that there was.

As she turned down another street, she saw the first broken window. She walked further and saw that another window two buildings down was also broken. Apparently, the window-breaking had been going on since before she could hear it. She went further, and counted a total of four broken windows.

She halted, deciding that whoever was doing this wasn't trying to break in. The places with broken windows were a bakery, an empty office building to be leased, a mom-and-pops-coffee-shop, and a law office. Usually, the criminals would go for banks. The cash registers of restaurants held significantly less money than them.

While stopped in front of the law office, the last of the four victimized buildings, she saw something rather concerning.

A man, dressed head to toe in a ragged grey super suit sauntered out of an alleyway next to a McDonald's. Did he break the windows?

Larkin involuntarily gasped, causing the masked man to shift his attention to her. Their eyes met, and for a split second, Larkin thought that she recognized those eyes. There was something akin to shock in his eyes when they met with hers, but their contact was broken when the man turned tail and ran down the street.

As a super, Larkin did have heightened speed. Alas, she was still a teenage girl, and that was still a grown man. She channeled her inner track star as she chased after him, hoping against all hope that she could learn something about him.

She had never seen him in her life, even if those eyes were familiar to her. She knew he was a super. Even as she chased after the man, there was that pervading sense that she shouldn't chase after him. It was the same sense that repelled her from the crime scene and made it difficult to keep moving forward.

It scared Larkin. This man was a super, and he was doing something to Larkin with his powers, even when no powers had ever affected her before. Honestly, she was scared. She wasn't as invincible as she thought.

What terrified her more was the fact that this man was in her city and she didn't even know of him. For the first time, her twitchy eye had failed her, and a super had somehow gotten in without her being alerted.

The man did not let up his pace, and soon pulled too far ahead of Larkin. He disappeared into the shadows where the streetlights stopped and the outer city began. She didn't often go back there, and hesitated before crossing the line from light into dark.

Larkin knew she was safe. She was safe from all criminals, all bag guys. They couldn't hurt her. They didn't have powers.

She kept running, and she only knew that she was still following the man because of the sense that wouldn't stop plaguing her to give up. She knew that it was the man's doing.

Oddly enough, she couldn't decide if the man was good or evil. There was no hint at all. Most villains and heroes had an air about them that made them easy to identify, however some were more meddled than others. Take Jacob for example. Larkin wasn't able to pin him as good nor evil. He sat on a line somewhere in the middle, occasionally leaning to one side more than the other.

But Larkin couldn't even recognize the man as a super, let alone good or evil.

She continued to run, jumping over the occasional stray cat and scattering trash with her feet. She didn't dare pause to look at the ground to make sure she wouldn't trip, or else she would fall too far behind.

The outer city grew darker as she ran further and faster away from the beacon of light that was downtown. Larkin knew this place was seedier than almost any other location n Markusville, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why the masked man would run out here.

Because he's a villain, thought Larkin. It nagged at her as she dashed through the decrepit and ramshackle houses that adorned the winding streets. However, the thought of the man being a villain didn't sit with her very well. He didn't seem like a villain, and Larkin had learned to trust her senses after being a lone hero for so long.

Very suddenly, any sense of direction previously held by Larkin flew out the window when the pushing sense disappeared. She was lost as to which direction the man had gone. She had been relying on the feeling that pushed her away from the man to take her to him. It had worked for a while, at least.

Now, she was alone in a part of the slums she had never set foot in in her life. Despite the fact that she was a hero, meant to stop crime and save people, she had never bothered to watch over this part of the city. It was too dark for her, too damp for her. She had neared the edges of the main town on one of her rescue missions once and had been hit with the putrid smell of the outer city.

She never went back. Even a hero has her limits.

It was now, at this moment, that Larkin noticed the odor of the place and saw how the trash collected in the corners where building met. Even with her good eyesight, she strained her pupils to see further into the oppressive darkness, in hopes of finding which direction let out.

Her search was cut short when the sense came back full force. She felt it whoosh at her from all sides, and with a deafening thump like a palette of bricks being dropped on a concrete floor, it settled around her like a blanket. It pushed her down to her knees with the weight of the sky. Her hands dug into the disgusting stone walk that was beneath her, hoping to support whatever was pushing her down.

Larkin let herself go limp, for was not strong enough a match for this power. She had never felt so helpless. She let herself fall to her stomach, with her cheek pressed into the ground. A deep hum reverberated around her and made her ears pop.

She had never been so vulnerable as to crumble completely under one's control.

She knew that this was the work of the man in the grey mask. Larkin couldn't see him, but she was certain he was just outside of her peripherals. Larkin waited, unmoving, unable to move, for the man to do something.

He spoke, finally, but did not step out of the shadows.

"Just as I told your friend in the alleyway, I must keep balance, no matter the cost," he said.

Larkin briefly wondered who her friend in the alleyway was, but she was unable to open her mouth, let alone form words.

His tone softened slightly with his next sentence. "I am sorry for this, Larkin, but something important will happen tomorrow, and for the sake of all of us, I have to let it pass, even if I do not know of the intended outcome. Do not hate me for it, if we are to meet again."

Larkin was confused. She was light in the head, too. Whatever spell this man had put over her was making her tired. She fought to keep her eyes open. She clung to his next words like a life buoy that would keep her from drowning in her own mind.

"Rarely do I allow others the pleasure of my acquaintance, so setting formalities aside, as this isn't very formal at all, just call me Neutron, and that's all you need to know."

Larkin tried to nod, but couldn't. She felt as if she were an insignificant gnat caught in amber, frozen there for eternity. Her eyes drooped shut when he stopped speaking. It was all too much.

"Do forgive me for what might happen tomorrow, Larkin, but fate has its ways through me. Don't shoot the messenger," he pleaded.

Larkin slept.

Thank you to the three percent of you readers who are male. You're pretty cool. Actually, all of you are cool. Stay cool (but not too cool because that could lead to hypothermia).