Almost Home

Charlotte looked at Jack, her heart still racing from that man, the knot in her stomach was still there unwilling to untangle itself. Then instead of being like a normal person and saying yes or no, she blurted out "Why'd you lie about your name?"

She slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide, mentally kicking herself, He just saved me and I couldn't have waited to ask about that? she asked herself with small sigh.

It wasn't the reaction Jack was expecting. He was sort of hoping that she didn't notice what that man had said. Looked like it didn't workout to well. He could of been a smart ass to break away the tension. She did seem pretty upset about not telling the truth about what his real name was. She had to of known John Doe wasn't his real name however. John Doe was just a way of naming an unknown person. Jack was unknown so the media had just always called him John Doe.

"Now hold on a sec! I never lied. I said that everyone calls me John Doe. I never necessarily said that was my real na..."

Before he could finish his sentence the stranger reemerged from the crater.

"You gotta be kidding me. Look I'll explain everything later."

The stranger had taken extreme damage. His neck was broken, his guts were spilling out, and one of his legs was turned the wrong way.

"You've only damaged the vessel Jack. This world will bow down to me. You've seen the final years of this planet."

"Who are you?"

"I am Harbinger."

With his last words. The stranger collapsed. It looked like that man was nothing more than a messenger for something even darker to come.

Charlotte looked at Jack then Harbinger, her eyes were still wide as she listened intently to what the man said, "What did he mean 'You've seen the final years of this planet'?" She asked, her forest green eyes filled with concern and worry. Her voice wasn't confident or strong, it was small and quiet.

Her eyes trailed from the Harbinger to the cracks of the pavement, her hands were in her pockets, all the while she was biting her lip knowing what Harbinger meant but not wanting to state it or even think it.

"It was a warning I think, but something strange happened. I'm not sure what. When he blasted me back there I could feel... or see something. Death, countless worlds being destroyed, and the universe dieing multiple times."

Jack could hear the sirens coming. Had to of been the police. They were probably coming by to check out what the commotion was.

"You should probably zoom us outta here before they get here."

Charlotte nodded "We'll go to my loft," she said softly as she walked over to the shadows with Jack by her side.
"Ready?" She asked looking at him.

"Yeah I'm ready..."

Meanwhile in space...

Harbinger was aboard his battleship, the Hand of God, in the throne room. He was looking out of the window towards his great empire of the void. The door to the throne room opened.

"My Lord... Did he perform as expected?"

"Even better than expected. His strength will go a long way in giving me more power. If one has that much power then I wonder how much all of them will grant me..."

"Mkay then," Char murmured taking his arm and bringing him with her into the shadows, a cold rush formed around them and then they were in her messy loft, paints, news papers, and clothes were scattered everywhere.

"Sorry 'bout the mess, I'm not the most neat person," She said as she threw some of her clothes into a hamper.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

In an instant they were in Charlotte's loft. At least in the city she was much faster than Jack. The mess didn't bother him at all either. In fact he was the same.

"It's alright don't worry about. I guess I owe you an explanation huh?"

"That'd be nice," Char sighed as she straightened some papers on her desk, reading one softly to herself making sure she could toss it.

"Alright. No sense in hiding it now since that guy revealed it. My real name is Jack Romero. Like that thing said I can transform my body... or actually I can condense my muscles and height to what I originally was before I changed into this."

Jack took a step back. His muscles began to morph into barely anything and he went from 6'2 to 5'9. At that point. He looked like a boney little nerd.

"Well this is what I look like when I'm not playing superhero."

She giggled, "At least you're still taller then me." Char grinned looking up at him, from her little 5'2.

She then looked at her little plant and smiled, her mother had given it to her a few weeks ago and it was almost dead then. It grew and now it was budding, she concentrated a little and one of the roses opened. She cut the stem and put it in a vase and some water.

"Wow! Usually people are quick make fun of me."

Jack released his muscle and size control. His muscles and tall stature returned quickly. At 6'2 he looked down on Charlotte as she went over to her plant.

"Damn you are short... Woah how did you do that? You giving that plant some kinda steroid to make it grow that fast?"

Char rolled her eyes "Short is a good thing, I don't bump my head on things." She explained with a laugh as she remembered the times when Kyle would always hit his head on her door frame.

She then snorted a laugh "Steroids, I haven't heard that one before, but I'm sorry to disappoint you but no I don't give my plants steroids, I merely..." She stopped thinking for a word "control them." she finish with another smile.

"So you can move through the shadows and control plant life? Jeez I bet you'd be pretty scary in the jungle."

Jack went to sit down on a chair near by. He really didn't need to stay, but it had been a long time since he had a friend just to chat with.

"So how did you get your powers?"

Char smiled, "Well, I was born with all 3 of them but Light and Dark just stayed dormant for awhile. I think it was just a random mutation to my DNA, unless my mom was rolling around in toxic waste when she was pregnant." She shrugged nonchalantly as she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe she went swimming in a public pool. Those places can be pretty toxic."

So maybe the public pool wasn't that bad, but if they're were kids in it then no doubt it was toxic. Someone would probably get pink eye the next day.

"I'm still not quite sure how I ended up with mine."