Jacob's moment of realization allowed him to fully understand the severity of the issue he and Larkin were facing.

"So," Jacob began, slowly. "Contingence means touch, and I have been warned about Contingence before. It's not just a noun. Contingence is a super villain."

Jacob watched as understanding dawned on Larkin's face. "I'm tired of all these stupid villains showing up," she said, exasperated.

Jacob nodded before he continued to explain. "At the debate, the mediator collapsed after George Fredericks shook his hand, right?"

"That's the touch! George Fredericks is Contingence― a super. Why did he kill the mediator though?" questioned Larkin.

Jacob thought about what he was supposed to have done a long time ago: kill Larkin's father. He knew that his dad wasn't the one calling the shots. It was that man on the phone he'd been talking to earlier. Another idea struck him. "Contingence wants to kill your dad. The mediator was a test. He wanted to see if he could pull off the kill-by-touch-method in front of an audience of thousands of people. And next Saturday, at the make-up debate, he'd going to go after your father."

For a moment, confusion crossed Larkin's face. "But didn't your father tell you to kill my dad?"

"Yeah, but I obviously haven't done that, and I don't plan on it either. So their solution is to have Contingence himself do it. That way, I won't be there to mess anything up."

"So George Fredericks wants to kill my dad because you couldn't, and if he succeeds, he will become the governor."

"Pretty much." Jacob sighed in frustration before setting his head in his hands. "And I have no idea how to stop him."

"We're so screwed."

()()()

For Larkin, Sunday night would be a late one. She had snuggled into her sheets, her mind still buzzing with the discoveries of the day. Larkin had tossed and turned, sure that it would take forever for her to fall asleep.

Finally, around eleven, her tired eyes had drifted shut, and her mind was at peace. She had started to fall slowly into the comforting, black abyss of sleep.

It was at that moment that Larkin was jolted out of her almost-sleep by a slight discomfort behind her eyes. Something was very wrong. She had felt this before, many times, in fact. This was the way she had felt on the day Sway/Magnolia had caused the ruckus on the streets of Markusville. This was the signal that told Larkin to go.

Realizing that someone or something in the city must need saving, Larkin forced herself out of her warm bed and changed into her super suit. She didn't bother with the door, but instead used her powers to run through the wall and jump one story down to the ground.

Larkin landed on the soft, dewy grass outside her home and tried to pinpoint where the distress call could be coming from. Even with her advanced hearing, Larkin couldn't hear any screams or crashes, so she hoped that no people were in direct danger. It's probably just a robbery, she thought.

The cool night air reminded Larkin how thin her suit was, and she briefly thought about going back inside for a jacket before deciding that time was of the essence. Hopping to her feet, Larkin took off at a sprint towards the downtown area. The sense of distress was the strongest from there.

As Larkin ran past houses and storefronts, she ran through a list of the most rob-worthy places in downtown. There's a jewelry store, multiple banks, a few high class restaurants, she thought as she hurtled a fire hydrant, all the while trying to pinpoint the place where the signal was emanating from.

She again used her advanced hearing and tried to distinguish the sounds of Markusville nightlife from those of criminal activity. Occasionally, she'd hear the clinking of glasses from inside a bar or the chatter of conversation from inside an apartment building. Those weren't the sounds of a crime in progress, though, so she continued to sweep the area.

After running for a solid three minutes at top speed, Larkin discerned the crunching of boots upon shattered glass and the high squeak of metal-on-metal. She told herself to run faster before skidding to a stop outside of a credit union on the edge of downtown. She recognized it as one she would often pass on her way to the library.

To her surprise, there was no alarm blaring, alerting law enforcement of the crime. It must have been disabled, she decided. This was obviously the scene of the crime, though. The front door of the bank had been shattered to pieces.

Larkin was about to enter the bank when Finn, dressed as Black Lightning, landed next to her. She couldn't see his eyes clearly through his mask, but she knew him well enough to tell that they would be filled with steely determination. Neither one of them spoke as to not alert the bank robbers of their presence.

Larkin pointed inside the dark building. She could hear scuffling coming from the back.

Finn nodded and stepped gingerly through the shattered doors, trying to minimize the sound he made. Larkin followed suit, and they both cleared the entryway and padded across the tiled floor towards the teller stations. Faint light from the lampposts outside on the street illuminated their way.

Larkin had been listening intently to all the sounds in and around the bank, but suddenly, everything went silent. Larkin froze in her spot, and she clutched onto Black Lightning's arm in order to tell him to stop. She listened harder, if that was even possible, but couldn't make out anything.

It was too eerie for her liking. Larkin was used to fast paced fights and dodging bullets, or simply knocking out the robber and waiting until the police could arrive. This situation was different. The robbers had stopped making noise, and all she could hear was the steady in and out of breathing. She gestured for Finn to start walking again and was about to take another step when she was deafened by two simultaneous crashes. One sounded like shattering glass and the other one sounded like someone had dropped something metal.

First, the lights outside on the street went out, and Finn and Larkin were plunged into complete darkness. Someone must have broken the lights. Larkin was completely blind. Despite all of her special abilities, none of them allowed her to see in the dark. Next, a rush of cold air told her that Finn had taken off in the direction of the second crash.

She decided to follow him to the back of the bank: where the safe was. She reached out a hand and hoped that her eyes would adjust to the darkness soon. When her hand felt the edge of the counter where the bank tellers usually sit, Larkin decided to try and jump it to get to the back. By a miracle, she managed to hoist herself over the ledge and flop onto the ground. As she stood up again, she was glad it was dark to preserve her dignity.

She then noticed a glow coming from around the corner that led back to the safe. She ran to the wall and peeked around it, and was greeted with the image of Black Lightning flinging a rope of unforgiving electricity towards one of the masked intruders. Larkin could see a total of two from her vantage point, and even though she knew there was no way the robbers could beat Black Lightning with their puny knives and guns, she decided to enter the fray.

However, before she rounded the corner completely, Larkin picked up some of the pieces of shattered glass scattered on the floor and used her powers to absorb them. They would serve as wicked projectiles.

Larkin turned the corner, coming up to the left of Black Lightning. He was about five feet away, crackling with energy. His opponents wouldn't be able to dodge the lightning bolts for long. Larkin turned her focus to the robber who was trying to get close enough to Black Lightning to stab him.

In the din of the fight, Larkin couldn't hear the footsteps coming from behind. She simply squared her shoulders and shot one of the glass shards out of her hands, hitting one of the robbers in the thigh and bringing him to the ground. His scream of agony masked the gentle hiss of metal scraping against fabric as a knife was slid out of a waistband. Larkin was ready to let Black Lightning finish off the second robber when, again, the crackle of electricity covered the noisy footsteps approaching the two supers.

Larkin tensed her muscles, ready to help Black Lightning if it appeared that he needed it. She had both hands stretched in front of her, ready to release the shards of glass at lightning speed. She was ready for almost everything.

She was not ready when, in a moment of quiet, she heard the crunch of a foot upon glass and a fourth heartbeat that she was unable to hear earlier while fighting. She turned her head towards the unexpected sounds.

She saw a third robber. The one who put out the lights. In the flashing, skittering glow of Finn's lightning, the glint of light on the edge of a knife poised to be thrown immediately caught her attention. The knife appeared to be aimed directly at Finn's back, and in that moment, Larkin knew that she couldn't let him get stabbed in the back.

Without another thought, without it even registering in her mind, Larkin launched herself through the air in the direction of Black Lightning at the same time the knife was released from the hand of the third robber.

Time did not slow down for Larkin as she flew, arms stretched out, into the path of a knife. It was not dreamlike; her life did not flash before her eyes. It was all very real for Larkin as pain blossomed in her upper arm. A scream left her mouth and she fell to the floor with a heavy thump.

She kept her eyes open. She watched as the fight continued around her. By this time, Black Lightning had noticed his second attacker and was attacking him with renewed vigor. Larkin just laid on the ground, clutching her arm below where the knife was still embedded in it.

Surprisingly, Larkin was unfamiliar with what one was supposed to do when one was stabbed or shot. Usually, she let things like bullets and knives pass through her without causing her any harm. This time was different, however. This was for Finn. She stopped that knife for him.

Within a minute, Finn had downed the two robbers and was kneeling beside Larkin.

"Oh my God, that's a lot of blood," exclaimed Finn. "I googled how to treat stab wounds once but honestly I can't remember any of it right now."

"That's very reassuring," whimpered Larkin. "Just do something." She couldn't stop looking at the knife sticking out of her arm and was beginning to feel nauseous.

"Okay. Okay. Keep your eyes on me. We need to get you professional medical help because if I try to help, I might just end up hurting you more." Finn made sure keep his voice steady.

"It doesn't hurt that much anymore."

"You're probably just going into shock," Finn said. He maneuvered himself to kneel on the side of Larkin that was uninjured. "I'm going to pick you up and take you to a hospital."

Larkin could only manage a nod as Finn lifted her and flew out of the bank to the nearest hospital.