Above is Duskfall, enjoy the chapter!
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Jason shot up in his bed, he didn't know why he was shaking. He ran a hand through his tousled hair, breathing deeply. His heart was pounding in his head, giving a killer migraine. The eerie silence was comforting for him, he hated loud noises. Sounds meant crime, socialism, or an annoying tapping coming from nowhere. Feeling disgusting, Skull rolled off his bed and onto the floor. After Jason managed to regain most consciousness, he glanced up at the digital clock in the wall. It was 2:30...PM, so that meant he got eleven hours of sleep, decent. Peeling off his sweatshirt, Skull slid open the door to the bathroom. As soon as his fingers left the sliding door, his bedroom door opened. Night was standing in the doorway, looking as groggy as he felt. The girl wasn't wearing her armor though, she just had a t-shirt and jeans on. When Night wore regular clothes, she looked less like a killer vigilante, and more like a normal, raven haired teenage girl.
He watched heat rise in Night's face, as yet again, she walked in on him shirtless. Skull simply leaned against the wall, raising a teasing eyebrow. A wicked smirk found itself on his lips, crossing his arms.
"What is it?" He asked coolly, "come to declare your undying love?"
Night's expression was between a sneer and embarrassment, "Duskf- Derrick is back, he wants to talk to you."
"Thanks, love," he winked jokingly.
As Night quickly shut the door, he could've sworn she muttered "stupid six pack." Skull shook his head, laughing to himself. He went back to keeping himself busy, if he was without a task, he would grieve.

-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-•-

Derrick stood in the main corridor, dressed in surprisingly casual clothes. Jason had to blink a couple times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. His friend and Night were casually chatting about the best way to knock someone out. Derrick's unruly dark hair hung over his forehead, the white streak over his right eye. A quiet Vexen was wearing a red sweatshirt, the metahuman was boredly swirling purple energy between fingers as he watched the conversation.
"You wanted to see me, teen heartthrob?" Jason walked up to Derrick.
"Why must you always remind me of that?"
"It's fun."
Derrick rolled his eyes then turned solemn again, "I got a lead on your thief. There's going to be a heist at the Eximius City Credit Union tonight around midnight."
"Why that bank?" Night asked, "doesn't it get robbed every week?"
"Yes," Derrick nodded, "however today there was a shipment of money via armored truck straight into the bank. There's no way she could've stolen it during the process, too much security. The bank has motion detectors in all air ducts, doors, and water drains. Around the clock cameras are in every room except for private offices. If Psihcra wants to break into this bank, there are only two ways to do it.
"One, she steals a guard's ID and keys. This is less likely because she would have to go through a finger scan, but there is a manual override via master key. There are two people with the override key, the owner and co-owner. It's unlikely that she could've come in contact with either of them. Option two, which is more likely, is the elevator shaft. This is a five story building with a large underground area for vaults, so it has an elevator. The elevator does not go onto the roof, but when it reaches the fifth floor, the top of the car is exposed. She could pry open the top and get into the elevator."
"How many banks have you broken into?" Vexen muttered.
"Six," Derrick replied, "well, seven if you count going into one about to explode."
"I have no response to that," Vexen shook his head incredulously.
"Explode?" Jason tapped his chin, "was that the one in Raden City when Toxin rigged National Bank to decimate the whole city?"
"Yes."
"That was fun, that villain is so evil it was so satisfying to punch him in the face-"
"Off topic, Skull." Night interrupted.
"Fine then."
"If all four of us go it will be obvious," Derrick said, "we need stealth....Jason and Night."
"I'm wounded," Vexen's eyes stopped glowing, "really."
"They are the most experienced in silence, Vexen," Derrick replied, taking the joke seriously.
"It was a joke," Vexen laughed.
Derrick's face contorted in confusion, causing Jason to burst out laughing. Night smiled, he considered that a win.
"You..." Jason was gasping for air, "have...no...understanding...of sarcasm...whatsoever!"
After a minute his laughed died down, Derrick still looked extremely flustered. Even though the teen was popular, he had no sense of humor. Guess people don't care about personality when you look like an angel. The white streak in Derrick's hair appeared after he was blasted in the chest with energy, back when he was fifteen. Jason was there to witness it, they were in Raden City together with Halogen. Even thought most people would be suspicious of a teenager having a white streak in their hair, it just made Derrick more famous.
"Human customs still elude me," Derrick murmured.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you were an alien," Vexen commented.
"Everybody thinks that," Derrick shrugged noncommittally.
"Um...why?"
A sword suddenly flew into Derrick's right hand, flying past Vexen's head. It had come from the weapons table all the way across the room. Derrick raised up the blade to nonchalantly examine it, then it flew back to the table.
"Can you just control metal or...?" Vexen trailed off.
"I can control almost anything," Derrick replied, "metals are better though. The more atoms in an object, the easier it is to control. I can't control gasses, but almost all solids I can move."
"So if you wanted to lift this entire building, could you?" Vexen raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Derrick's lips twitched upwards.
"Holy sh-"
Jason slapped a hand over Vexen's mouth and sighed, "yes, he is very powerful and we are glad he is not a villain."
"If he was we'd all be dead," Night added.
"How do you get powers like that?" Vexen said after Skull lowered his hand.
"You know the nuclear explosion that decimated Raden City?" Skull questioned.
"That killed five million people, yeah, of course."
"After that heroes became outlaws," Night muttered.
"I was next to Halogen when it happened," Derrick spoke up, his voice still tranquil, "I got blown fifty feet backwards into a lab. My armor held some of the explosion back, but eventually it got destroyed. When I rocketed into the laboratory, I hit a particle collider."
"How on earth did you survive?" Night surprisingly was the one to sound awed.
"Luck," Derrick's gaze softened.
"How did you explain this to your girlfriend?" Vexen teased.
Ooh, he's going to be beat up.
"I've never had a girlfriend," Derrick deadpanned, his eyes glinted with slight oppression.
"You...have never dated someone?" Vexen asked.
"Didn't say that," Derrick's expression hardened.
Vexen's eyes widened and he looked at Skull with bewilderment. All Jason did was give a half nod, not wanting to wrong his friend.
"Vexen, you look like an owl," Night snapped, "stop being rude."
Derrick didn't say anything, he just looked at the ceiling. Skull felt his stomach tighten, as he remembered how badly Derrick's last real relationship went.
"It's totally fine," Vexen assured, "really."
"It's not that," Derrick retorted with a hint of anger, showing one of the first signs of emotion so far, "it didn't go so well last time."
"I don't want to pry-" Vexen held up his hands.
"Your not," Derrick interrupted then sighed, "I should go. Call me if you need anything."
Before Jason could protest Derrick was out the door. Vexen looked crestfallen, staring at the door remorsefully. He was torn between snapping at Vexen and going after Derrick, so he settled on staying silent.
"I should I go say sorry," Vexen took a step forwards.
"Stop," Skull grabbed his shoulder, "no. You need to know everything that's happened to him."
"Knowing I hurt his feelings is enough," Vexen turned around frowning.
"He blocks out ninety nine percent of his feelings, he'll be fine."
"I just realized my name is like the word vex," Vexen sadly smiled, "which means to annoy."
"You are socially oblivious, it's fine. I'd be the same if I was locked up for seven years."
"Probably seven, I don't know how old I am."
"Eighteen or nineteen."
"Fine," Vexen sighed, "tell me the story of sadness."
They sat down against the wall, Vexen's eyes started glowing again. He noticed when Vexen was upset or angry his eyes glowed, stronger the emotion the brighter the glow.
"I met Duskfall when I was fourteen," Jason started, "we had both went to Winster City. In case you're wondering, it's on the southeast coast, on the border of Georgia and Florida. Winster is the second largest city in the country, after Taropolis. It's protected by Hailstar, she's watching over Taropolis while Derrick is gone."
"Skull," Night nudged him.
"Yeah, yeah, back on topic," Skull rolled his eyes. "A villain named Titus had two hundred people hostage, and if Duskfall and I didn't show up, he would detonate a nuclear bomb. This was a little while before I met Night, so I went in with no backup. When Derrick and I ran into each other outside the warehouse, we nearly killed each other."
"Didn't he have powers though?" Vexen raised an eyebrow, "how'd you fight him?"
"Besides what you might think, Derrick isn't all powerful. When he's using telekinesis to lift large objects, he can't walk around. Plus the object can't be going really fast or be in constant motion. Derrick can't stop fast cars or trains, but he can stop a running person for instance." Skull explained, "I also had powers at the time, but I still didn't know how to use them. Usually I would accidentally walk into shadows at random times. My martial arts skills countered his powers pretty well. Once we agreed that both of us were heroes, and that we were allies in that situation, we went in together."
"Did you save the people?" Vexen kind of seemed like a kid listening to a fairytale.
"You don't see Winster City demolished do you," Skull grinned then remembered the second story, and his smile fell. "A year later we met up in Taropolis. In that year we had multiple team ups, almost all of them in Eximius. He was with a hero named Vortex at the time, I didn't judge of course. Vortex was mostly human, but he could control water. It wasn't the best superpower, but his high intelligence and combat skills made up for it. Derrick, Vortex and I were fighting the villain named Toxin," he paused, letting out a deep sigh. "Toxin is a chemical mastermind; he can cause huge explosions, drive people rabid, or we found out...turn people evil."
"I've never heard about this happening before," Vexen said, "is that what happened to that Vortex guy?"
"Yes," Skull stared at the floor, "it was one dose, highly rare chemicals, all of them illegal. After that night I tracked down the remaining main components of that toxin and destroyed them. When Vortex was turned, he was confused and enraged. It wasn't just making his darkest emotions come through, Toxin was also controlling him. Derrick was never the same after that. He never laughed anymore, lost contact with me. I didn't see him much, just phone calls and emails. Derrick brought Vortex to jail, and it killed him on the inside. Vortex was a great hero, and we can't cure him. Everyone that goes near him he attacks, unless it's Toxin. That's why Derrick is so emotionless, he lost himself that night."
"His mind," Vexen's voice cracked, "it's so...empty. He literally doesn't feel anything anymore, not mentally. There's...a literal hole where his heart should be."
"I know," Jason winced, "trust me, I know."
"Now can I apologize, you sentimental jerk?" Vexen said.
"Go for it. Like I said, he's already over it."
Vexen walked out of the room, the door softly shutting behind him. Night was up in the rafters again, sitting on a metal beam. She frowned, stating at a random spot on the ground.
"What are you brooding about?" he asked carefully.
"Why didn't you tell me about Vortex?" Night's glare was petrifying.
"I thought you knew," he replied sheepishly.
"He was my friend too you know."
"I'm sorry," Jason jumped up onto her rafter beam, "that year was busy, and you never asked."
"What was I supposed to ask?" Night narrowed her eyes. "Hey, is my friend by any chance evil now because of an illegal chemical?"
"It slipped my mind, I'm sorry!"
"Fine," she huffed, glaring at the wall, "I forgive you, because this is a stupid thing to fight over." Night paused, "I didn't know he was dating Derrick."
"Really?" Jason was taken aback, "I thought it was obvious."
"Not really."
"You didn't see Derrick staring at him all the time?"
"You really can't see Derrick's facial expression through his visor you know."
"Still, he fell for that black haired hero hard."
"Why does everyone we know have black hair?" Night looked at him funny.
"It's a common hair color?" He shrugged, "Vortex had that blue streak though, I bet he dyed his hair black anyways."
"Damn, I miss that nerd."
"Reminds me of Brian," Jason mused.
"Always telling us random facts we really don't need to know, making a fool out of everyone, being a legal genius," Night counted on her fingers, "yeah I'd say they're alike."
"Our lives are weird."
"You," Night nudged his shoulder, "are just now realizing that?"
"We're casually comparing our now evil super powered friend to a human super nerd."
"As a human, I'm offended."
"Sounds about right," he jumped down from the beam, "now we have a bank robbery to stop."
"To the batmobile," Night said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "golly gee."
"Let's go stop Derrick from killing Vexen."
"Yep."