Crystal Ch. 13

"How do you know the other villains haven't already captured her?" C4 inquired.

"Sorceress has been around as long as Dictator Jones and nearly took him out," Dr. Genie laughed. "They don't stand a chance."

*****

"Are we really going to have this discussion?" Commander Shinobay asked.

"It's a valid reason, Shinobay," Cinnamon replied. "Despite his attitude, Jasper asked a couple of very important questions about Dark Matter's state of mind."

"Yes, he did," Commander Shinobay nodded. "That was just after we took a journey in Dark Matter's mind. They were important, but already answered."

"I could understand the different minds . . . to some point," Raptor added. "But what about the altered memories? He could have changed his memories to gain favor with us."

"We're talking about one part of a split conscious that had no interaction with anyone else for like a decade and a half," Commander Shinobay reminded. "Are you suggesting that he's plotting something against his foster parents because of what they tried to force on him?"

"You know that not the reason, Commander," Solarium replied. "This is new territory that we haven't set foot on, so we're a bit . . . cautious."

"You heard it yourself, Solarium," the Commander said. "They are one and the same."

"Yeah, he's actually Sorceress's son," Icicle joined in.

"Argh! Don't bring that up," Commander Shinobay frowned. "Sorceress is an entirely different topic than what we're talking about. And since it is brought up, why are we focusing on Dark Matter when Sorceress is still on the loose? We need to come up with strategies on bringing her down, not arguing over Dark Matter's mental state."

"All you have to do is look past the illusions," Raptor shrugged.

"That's easier said than done," Commander Shinobay replied.

"That's because there's no training against it," Cinnamon said. "Even I couldn't beat it and we all know Dictator Jones has a hard time controlling me."

"Well, seeing is believing," Reaper said. "You'd naturally believe anything your eyes see since you really don't have much of a choice."

"Then how did you get her the last time?" Commander Shinobay asked.

"We waited until she was asleep before we bagged her," Raptor replied. "Seriously, after we literally tried every option available, we could only wait until she went to sleep."

"Unfortunately, we have no doubt she won't let it be that easy again," Icicle sighed.

"Then try something else," Commander Shinobay urged. "Gas her or something."

The other heroes looked at each other as the memory of attempting to gas her out of a building and ending in disaster played in their minds. They all shuddered. A knock at the door put the conversation on pause as the Commander let the agent come in. He passed over a sheet of paper to him and left the heroes to continue their meeting.

"Commander?" Icicle said as the Commander read the paper.

"It uh . . . ahem . . . it says that a couple was attacked by Sorceress during their honeymoon," Commander Shinobay informed.

"We don't have time to waste then," Solarium declared, "she needs to be brought in."

"Hold on, I'm not finished," Commander Shinobay replied. "The couple reported that during her attack, she was interrupted by the arrival of the group of villains, saying they're going to kill her and take her to Dictator Jones. As they tried to fight her, she effortlessly defeated them, one by one, without laying finger on either of them and left for whereabouts unknown."

"Told you," Cinnamon smirked. "That's similar to what she's done to us, multiple times."

"That's not what I'm concerned about," Commander Shinobay responded, shrugging off her comment. "What concerns me is that the couple were the foster parents of Dark Matter."

"She must've been upset that Dark Matter forgot her and tried to take it out on the couple," Reaper suggested.

"That may be so," Commander Shinobay nodded. "At any rate, we need to bring the Potenti couple in before Sorceress targets them again."

"You want them around Dark Matter again?" Cinnamon asked incredulously. "Remember, they're not on best terms with each other, not to mention Sorceress did attack them."

"It's either that or a police station," Commander Shinobay replied, laying out the options.

"I guess Dark Matter's in for big surprise then," Icicle said.

*****

As for Dark Matter in particular, he went on patrol while traveling to multiple places that his memories showed. Each and every place that he arrived at was one of the places he had been when he was younger and still living with his mother Sorceress. Of course, the memories were vague from being so old and forgotten, so it was pretty difficult for Dark Matter to find the exact location of where the memories had taken place. Fortunately, when he did arrive at the proper location, he would find himself watching the memory play itself out as if he hadn't forgotten it at all. He soon found himself walking through Greenbelt Park, although the only memory he had being here was when he had gotten lost.

"Reminiscing much?" someone asked behind him.

It wasn't a question who it was since Dark Matter recognized the voice. Turning around, he faced Sorceress, who had a hopeful smile on her face.

"Mom," Dark Matter simply said.

"You remember!" Sorceress cried in excitement.

"There's only a few things that I remember despite all the things we've done," Dark Matter informed. "But I do know I am your son."

"That's all that matters to me," Sorceress smiled. "Everything else will come back to your remembrance in due time, so don't fret the small stuff. Besides, you seem to be doing quite well remembering things."

"So are you really a . . . you know . . . a villainess?" Dark Matter struggled to ask.

"On the outside, yeah I guess you could say I am," she shrugged.

"What type of answer is that?" Dark Matter frowned.

"It's the truth," Sorceress replied.

"You can't be half and half, Mom," Dark Matter said, crossing his arms. "Right now, the other heroes are looking for you since you've escaped. And even though I'm your son, I can't let you go since you're wanted as a criminal."

"Momma's so proud of her big boy," Sorceress chuckled to herself. "Let me see just how big and strong you've gotten."

She made a handful of knives appear and sent them at Dark Matter, who effortlessly made a shield to deflect them. The shield then morphed into a tendril and shot forth towards his mother, but she made a giant pair of scissors appear and cut the tendril in half. Right after, she made spikes shoot out of the ground in an attempt to impale him, but Dark Matter levitated in the air and rained down his own spikes at her.

She dodged to the side and launched two boulders at him, but Dark Matter had his shield raised in time. He flew down to her and made a net to cast over her but she made a bigger net and caught him in it. Not relenting, Dark Matter cut himself free and made a giant hand to grab her. Right before she was grabbed, Sorceress made herself disappear and the hand grabbed nothing but air.

"No, you're not getting away," Dark Matter growled.

He made his powers expand at an extremely fast rate until he pinpointed his mother's location. Quickly, he flew at her and made another net fall on her. Her position revealed, Sorceress jumped out the way from the net and made two small knives as she ran for Dark Matter. Landing, Dark Matter made a pair of gauntlets as they drew for close combat.

He dodged her first swing for his eyes and easily disarmed her of that knife. However, he hadn't thought of the second knife until it went into his upper arm, just behind the elbow. He resisted screaming in pain and used his other elbow to hit his mother's face in retaliation. She stabbed at him again but missed as he twisted around her and kicked her in the back. Sorceress hit the ground and rolled, rising up with a pistol and firing all the bullets at Dark Matter. He had his shield up once again, though she kicked the shield against him and pinned him against the tree.

"You lose," she grinned as she backed off.

"I can still fight," Dark Matter panted as he slowly rose to his feet.

"And what were you going to do?" she taunted. "Throw another net at me? What was with that anyway?"

"It was to subdue you," Dark Matter replied.

"Like that's ever going to work," she rolled her eyes. Her gaze ended up on his cradled arm as he stumbled towards her, trying to continue the fight. "Why are you holding your arm?"

"You stabbed me, remember?" Dark Matter glared. "Seriously, can you not see the blood dripping down to the ground?"

"Nope," she simply answered.

"What do you mean, 'Nope'?" Dark Matter asked. "There's a big cut from where you stabbed me with that knife. I need to get some Rapid Recovery Medicine for this before it becomes permanent."

As he said that, he pulled the medicine out of his pocket and struggled to open it up. Before he got it open though, Sorceress snatched it out of his grasp.

"Mom, I need that," Dark Matter said.

"I'm telling you, you don't need this," Sorceress told him.

"And why not?" Dark Matter inquired.

"I'm an illusionist," Sorceress replied. "That means whatever I make doesn't exist, and thus, whatever happens with the things I make doesn't exist."

"But I have a wound on my arm," Dark Matter pointed out.

"You think you do," Sorceress said. "That wound is there because your mind believes it's there. If you don't focus on the pain, then it will soon fade away and you'll see past the illusion of what I want you to see."

"Huh?" Dark Matter stared at her.

"Focus on something other than the wound," Sorceress said. "The illusion of the wound will disappear after a little while and so will the pain. It's as simple as that."

Following her instructions, Dark Matter focused on his mother's eyes, finding himself once again going down memory lane of all the times they looked at each other. Whether upset or happy, annoyed or entertained, sad or joyful, he would always remember her dark eyes that spoke volumes of love for him. He shook his head to stop spacing out and found that his arm felt fine.

"Told you," Sorceress smiled.

"I still have to bring you in," Dark Matter quietly said.

"Can I make a small request first?" she asked. He shrugged his approval, figuring it was going to be something about him visiting her. "Take me to the Heroes Tower first."

"That's too much, I can't do that," Dark Matter denied.

"Okay, I know how to get in anyway," Sorceress replied.

"I can't let you enter the Heroes Tower!" Dark Matter glared.

"Try and stop me," she smiled before running away with Dark Matter hot on her heels.

*****

Commander Shinobay entered the Meeting Room followed by the other Superior Six members. Already at the table were the Potenti couple, who had suspicious eyes following them.

"Before we begin, let me say that you two are completely safe and well protected from Sorceress," Commander Shinobay said. "If she were to get in the building, every attempt to neutralize her will be taken until she is effectively neutralized, even if it means death. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," the Potenti couple nodded their heads.

"Now, as a representor of every good natured, super powered individual out there, hero or not, I apologize to both of you that you had to undergo this tragedy, especially on your honeymoon," he continued. "I am Commander Shinobay, and to my left is Solarium, Cinnamon, and Raptor. On my right is Icicle and Reaper. I'm sure you know the reason why you're here, the missing heroine-turned-villainess, Sorceress."

"She attacked us!" Mr. Potenti blurted out immediately.

"I understand," Commander Shinobay said. "The reason you're here is for protection against Sorceress. Two of us a day will guard you, a hero for each of you, from the moment you leave your room to the moment you return to your room. We will continue this until Sorceress is brought to justice or is killed."

"How can we be sure you can protect us?" Mr. Potenti demanded. "If I'm not mistaken, you guys are currently retired and even when you weren't, you couldn't handle Sorceress on your own or as a team."

"What my husband meant to say is that it was a long time for Sorceress to be brought in," Mrs. Potenti explained. "We also saw her take out a whole team of villains that tried to kill her themselves."

"I know, but they didn't enough experience to fight Sorceress, if any at all," Commander Shinobay replied. "We do have experience and retired or not, we can still put up a fight."

"No offense, but why can't we get one of the newer heroes to defend us?" Mr. Potenti asked.

"Because they don't know much about Sorceress either, especially since they just met her a week ago," the Commander answered. "Besides, they're needed to patrol the country in case any villains makes an appearance, be on the scene to confront, and apprehend the villain as soon as possible."

"I don't have any problems with it at all," Mr. Potenti said. "I just want my wife out of harm's way."

"And we'll do everything within our power to keep it that way, for both of you," Commander Shinobay replied.

As soon as he finished, the alarms rang off, startling them all. Raptor immediately had the doors locked and moved the couple the furthest from the door. Commander Shinobay pulled up the Tower's Security Camera on the table to see the intruder. Of course, it was no surprise seeing Sorceress taking the elevator to the second highest floor in the tower.

"All heroes, report back to the Heroes Tower for defensive combat on the twentieth floor," Commander Shinobay ordered.

The heroes each gave their reply and rushed back to the tower as they had been ordered. One by one they arrived and the Commander had them stand at the ready in front of the elevator for when Sorceress showed up. Even Dark Matter was there amongst them, ready to take on his mother again. The elevator dinged upon arrival and opened, allowing none other than Sorceress onto the twentieth floor.

"Move kids, I need to speak with the Commander and the other heroes," Sorceress demanded.

"You can speak with him when you're back in prison," Cherry glared.

"I wanted to get this over with without a fight, so I'm going to get this over with without a fight," Sorceress muttered to herself.

Immediately, the building started shaking, knocking the heroes and heroines off their feet. Despite the advice he had gotten from Sorceress herself, Dark Matter found himself falling alongside the others every time he struggled to stand up. It's not real, it's not real, he thought.

"Jasper!" Dark Matter yelled as Jasper pulled him down.

"Help me up," Jasper pleaded.

With them off their feet, Sorceress stepped around their tangled legs as she advanced to the Meeting Room. She pushed against the door, but found that it was locked. Stumped for a moment, she suddenly got an idea when she saw Shell struggling to stand. For a brief moment, she made the building stop shaking to let him gain his balance.

Seeing that he was the only one to be able to attack, he charged at Sorceress to tackle her. She jumped out the way with a moment to spare, leaving Shell unable to make such a sharp turn and crashed into the doors, bursting them wide open. With no one else in her way, Sorceress stepped in the Meeting Room with a smile on her face.

"This brings back so much memories," she said.

"What are you doing here, Sorceress?" the Commander demanded.

"I wanted to see you guys," she answered. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"Of course it is," Cinnamon declared.

"Oh well, it's not like I care," she shrugged. "Actually, I really came here to speak with all of you."

"The same way you spoke with the Potenti couple?" Commander Shinobay growled.

"Oh, so you heard about that, huh?" Sorceress smirked. "I'm telling you, they had it coming. I don't hear one word of what happened to my son and you expect me to let that fly? They deserved it."

"We did nothing wrong!" Mr. Potenti screamed in fury. One by one, the heroes and heroines sighed and face palmed themselves as the Potenti couple's attendance was revealed.

"I was going to let you guys live in fear of my return while not actually doing so, but now I've changed my mind," Sorceress glared. "I'll break you inside and out and leave you to rot."

Before she could attack the couple, Dark Matter flew straight into her and they crashed against the wall. She pushed him back but he spontaneously made a cage appear, trapping her inside before she could attack again.

"Max!" Mr. and Mrs. Potenti cried.

"For the last time, it's Dark Matter!" Dark Matter scowled. To Sorceress, he said, "As for you, you're going back to prison."

"You don't tell your mother what to do," Sorceress spat.

"But I can," Solarium stepped up. "Sorceress, you're going back to prison right now."

"You think I'm going to do what you say, Solarium?" Sorceress laughed. "You have a better chance with a pile of rocks than with me."

"Slim chances or not, you're going and that's final," Solarium glared.

"I'm not going nowhere," Sorceress declared.

"She's delirious," Cinnamon said.

"Delirious? Delirious?" Sorceress laughed again. "No, I'm completely sane. What's delirious is how I ended up like this in the first place."

"You're STILL holding onto that grudge?" Icicle sighed.

"What grudge?" Osprey asked as he and the other heroes walked through the busted down doorway.

"Sweet, everyone's here," Sorceress grinned. "It makes everything much easier when everyone gets on the same page."

"Ignore her," Raptor said.

"Just like how you guys ignored me when I needed your help?" Sorceress replied.

"What's she talking about?" Dark Matter asked looking at the Superior Six members.

"Nonsense," Cinnamon answered.

"Me pleading for your help is nonsense?" Sorceress fumed. "I guess there's no point in being a hero or a heroine if all we're doing is saving people who need our help in escaping dangerous situations."

"What's she talking about?" Dark Matter asked again, still looking at the Superior Six members.

"A delusion that she had a long time ago," Reaper shrugged.

"A delusion that I made sure you all had as well," Sorceress snickered, earning her the glares of the other Superior Six members. "I'm still waiting on my thanks."

"Thanks?!" Cinnamon yelled. "You think you deserve thanks after what you did to us?"

"Yep, I sure do," Sorceress replied. "Now you have an understanding of what I went through."

"What is my mother talking about?" Dark Matter demanded.

"She's talking about a time when she was formerly a heroine," Reaper answered. "She had a delusion that she was assaulted by some random dude with a gun."

"That's the truth!" Sorceress screamed suddenly as she shook the cage. "I was held at gunpoint by a psychotic stranger who thought I was a prostitute that wouldn't put out for him!"

"If memory serves me correct," Raptor scratched his head, "we went to the theatre to watch a film about a serial killer hunting virgins after he raped them. This could've been a nightmare based on that movie."

"That has nothing to do with what I'm talking about!" Sorceress declared as tears gathered in her eyes.

"She says it has nothing to do with it, but she also can't seem to tell us any other details about what happened," Cinnamon sighed. "Like what the stranger looked like, where it took place, or why she just didn't use her own powers against the crook."

"Black jacket and sweatpants, Fort Dupont Park, and she did use her powers but he saw through them," came the answer. The answer, however, came from Dark Matter.

"How do you know that?" Sorceress asked, shocked that her son saw what happened that night.

"You weren't there by yourself, Mom," Dark Matter replied. "I was just coming back from the bathroom when I saw it. I was scared what would happen if I showed myself, so I ran and called the cops to make him leave."